> Regarding Midget brake adjusters:
> Face it, pal, you're done. They are not going to respond to any external
.....
> Jack up the end of the axle so all (well, most) the gear lube
> drains back to the pumpkin. Take off the bearing nut (left side of car is
> left-hand thread!) and pull the halfshaft. Remove the brake cylinder with
> that #$@$%^%#$% circlip that holds it in. Take off the backing plate and
> either soak it in boiling WD-40 for four years or use it for a frisbee.
> (Joke alert! Don't try to boil WD-40 and then sue me when you burn your
> garage down.) Seriously, when this happened to me, I was lucky enough to
> find a backing plate in my junkpile, er, Spares Bins, that had an adjuster
This must be more common to Midgets than I thought. I had the same problem
on mine a couple of years ago when the brakes adjusters were totally
seized in the backing plate. No amount of Liquid Wrench, heat or friendly
persuasion with a hammer managed to budge the little blighter !!!!.
Eventually I resorted to taking the whole backing plate of, bought a
set of VERY sharp drills and proceeded to drill the adjuster
screw out. (I also bought a drill sharpener !!!!) It took a long time, but
if you are carefull and drill perpendicular to the the backing plate,
eventually there is so little metal left, that you can cold chisel the
remaining pieces of the brake adjuster. I found that I did not damage
the treads on the backing plate, and a new brake adjuster slipped in
easily. Now, every time I adjust the rear brakes, I remove the brakes
adjuster, clean it up and replace it - I never want to go through
this again.
The other brake adjuster, I managed to do the same, but did not have
to remove the backing plate from the car.
Gerry
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