I've long had a section on Brakes including the handbrake on my website
(http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/wn_brakesframe.htm). In 2007 someone wrote to me
saying if the levers inside the drum that the handbrake cable are attached to
are fitted to the wrong sides of the car the effect is to make the cable too
long and it can't be adjusted. The writer said his were marked with the part
numbers (different for left and right) and also L & R. Subsequently I checked
my levers and couldn't find any L & R. They did have numbers but I didn't
look to see if they were the part numbers or not. In July of this year
someone else wrote to me saying he had spotted in one of my photos showing the
orientation the shoes that his levers were the other way up to mine, i.e. on
the wrong sides, and putting them on the same sides as mine solved a
long-standing handbrake problem that neither he nor various other people had
been able to resolve. I had never considered this situation before, so I
updated the web site with their findings. In the last couple of weeks I have
heard from someone else saying he was confused as my photo showed them the
other way up to various manuals and web sites, which was something I hadn't
noticed before. His were as shown in the manuals, and he was having problems.
Putting them as per my photo, i.e. the other way up to the manuals, resolved
his problems as well. He also said that his levers didn't have any L & R
markings either, and although they had numbers stamped on them it was the same
number on both i.e. not the part numbers.
On closer investigation the Leyland Workshop Manual and Moss US do show the
levers on the wrong sides i.e. upside down, but they only show the Banjo axle.
If you look at the Moss Europe site it shows *both* axles, and it shows the
Salisbury/tube axle levers as being the other way up to the banjo axle levers.
At the moment I am unable to confirm whether on the banjo axle they should be
the other way up, but as Moss Europe agrees with the workshop manual I suspect
they should be.
The upshot is that on the Salisbury/tube axle the short lever that goes
through the back-plate must be *under* the long lever, as shown here
http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/rearbrakes.htm (4th image, this page also shows
the correct orientation of shoes and springs, and a new-stock lever that had
to be ground down before it would allow the drum to be refitted). Whereas on
the banjo axle the short lever must be *above* the long lever.
Note that to confuse things even further, the Leyland Parts Catalogue which
also shows both axles and has the short lever above for the banjo and below
for the Salisbury/tube axle, but has managed to get the left-hand levers shown
with the right-hand brake assembly!
PaulH.
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