The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Replaced shoes on my 1500 last October time, but the handbrake is suspect and with the MOT fast approaching want to get it sorted. Currently handbrake pulls right up and when fitting the retaining kit there wasn't much resistance in fact replaced two of them using fingers only! Feel like replacing the springs and fitting kit is the way to go, handbrake is working but no where near what it should be for MOT purposes. Any tips greatly appreciated or recommending where I might find a full shoe fitting kit?
Thanks Rich..

_________________
1981 Dolomite 1500 Auto

Dolomite handbrakes are rubbish.

Have you got the little H pieces by the operating arms? Not sure what they do but clearly there for a reason. The springs should be tight, are you sure you have the right ones fitted? Or are they fitted correctly?

_________________
Mark

1961 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon
1980 Dolomite Sprint project using brand new shell
2009 Mazda MX5 2.0 Sport
2018 Infiniti Q30

The springs are pretty good but the retaining springs are very weak imo. Was wondering if that's why the handbrake is weak because not enough pressure to put on ratchet operating arm therefore not turning ratchet wheel? Hand brake was OK before removal and renewal of shoes and cylinders but self adjusting just doesn't seem to be working properly. Have stripped both sides out twice and reassembled using leyland book instructions but cannot get handbrake to engage any lower then fully up and even then it's not good enough.

_________________
1981 Dolomite 1500 Auto

MVC in oban road ,ask for Andy on desk usually on right hand side as you go in ,he will sort it .... or Halfords have kits .

Thanks Will give them a ring now.

_________________
1981 Dolomite 1500 Auto

Sounds to me you have too much slack in the handbrake cables.

I always wind the U shaped bracket on the end of the cable up so that I have to slightly pull the operating arm to get the clevis pin to drop in. This minimises the amount of handbrake lever travel before engaging.

My hand brake is fully on after only 3 or 4 clicks & works very well.

Just check the brakes are not binding when the handbrake is released, if they are you have taken up too much slack & will need to back off a bit.

_________________
Modified Dolomite Sprint MSO 662P VA485 1973 Mimosa Sprint

Ok Tony that makes sense as handbrake was ok before new parts installed. Probably be Thurs or Friday now before I get chance to have another look.
Rich

_________________
1981 Dolomite 1500 Auto

If the brakes are correctly adjusted and the shoes all centralised and with the handbrake cable disconnected you should be able to
lock the drum with slight hand pressure on the handbrake lever, and then the drum should immediately free off when the lever is released.
This of course assumes the wheel cylinder slides properly on its clips which must be correctly fitted. The curved clip acts like skis against the
reverse side of the backplate. If these are wrong the cylinder will jam as it attempts to slide.

If its not like that then I suspect a missing H shaped shim in the shoe, which means the lever has to move too far before moving the shoe.

You can turn the self adjusting toothed wheels with a screwdriver. They should be free to rotate and the threads cleaned and a bit of copaslip to keep them free. With the drum off you can see if the wheel is turned with its lever when you work the handbrake mechanism.

I find dolly hand brakes to be fine if properly adjusted. Most of the time when they don't work its down to poor maintenance or incorrect fitting.

Jonners

_________________
Note from Admin: sadly Jon passed away in February 2018 but his humour and wealth of knowledge will be fondly remembered by all. RIP Jonners.

Me too, they don't come with new shoes...