Aiberdonian

That's good information but those diagrams show the spring pushing down on the cross bar - what is the correct way ? When I reassembled my brake shoes I couldn't get the drum back on because the tang on the spring was resting against a collar on the reverse side of the brake shoe spring pin which meant the shoes were being held apart by the thickness of the spring. I bent the spring so that it rested on the pin rather than the collar and managed to get the drum back on only to find that the brake cable has stiffened up to the extent that it no longer moves easily, I think it may have frayed inside the outer casing. Here we go again !

HOLD IT - I'm wrong! I raked out an old backplate and shoes to try the hand brake mechanism and found that your initial set up with the spring pushing upwards on the cross shaft is correct. If you look at this photo you can see that I modified the brake shoe with a bolt and collar to prevent the cross shaft from being pushed off the pin on the shoe. I then removed the spring and turned it round to correct position and when replacing to back plate discovered that the spring was fouling the boot on the wheel cylinder which explains why I modified it in the first place, I have now bent the spring a little to clear the boot and it seems OK now. As far as the anchor pin is concerned the brake shoes fit directly to the pin followed by double spring (thackery) washer X634 then plain washer X566 before fitting the circlip 7191. X 634 is 1 5/16" OD x 7/8" ID x 1/2" non compressed X 566 is 1 1/4" OD x 7/8" ID x 0.062" thick Fitting the circlip is a real PITA as the spring needs to be fully compressed before the clip can be fitted. I made a tool from a piece of thin section tube with 1" ID as below Damn I've loaded it twice, however by placing this against the plain washer with tags at 12 and 6 o'clock and using a G Clamp you can compress the spring and get the circlip started in the slot and then tapped down to meet the top tag as below Slacken clamp and remove before tapping the clip fully home.

Fired up the wood burner in the workshop this morning, discovered the trolley jack low on oil, topped it up and removed the wheel and drum from the Gloria to find that the spring does act upon the cross shaft. It actually pushes down on the shaft as above, I couldn't see where the tang locates and I was not about to dismantle it to find out but you should be able to figure it out as you assemble it to the brake shoe. I had to use my steam driven phone as my camera has decided it has had enough and the screen has gone blank and if you have read my post about my sympathetic restoration of my Gloria in this section you will already know that modern technology and I don't get on very well. Which model of Gloria are you restoring ?

I found my spare handbrake mechanism and spring today but I still can't remember how it is assembled, it was 2006 when I did the rear brakes before finding the ash frame was in need of repair and was another 10 years before I found the time needed to get it done. It looks as though the temperature is going up a bit at the weekend, I'll take a wheel and brake drum off and let you know. The old fingers don't like the cold these days.

Try-umph, It has been a while since I did the rear brakes on my Gloria and I can't really remember where that spring fits but it is there to pull against the hand brake cable which connects to the slot on the lower arm so it must push against the lower arm just above the slot . It certainly does not fit against the cross arm which pushes against the shoes. I would offer to take a look at mine but it is - 8 deg C at the moment and does not look like rising above zero for a few days.

I'm still following this thread and must say how much I admire your skill and patience in making such beautiful things like these taps. Keep up the good work.

Wishing all at MOM a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It's blowing a gale out there I hope Santa stays on course!!

Jack, I bought mine from the Pre 1940 Triumph Motor Club, you have to be a member before you can buy spares but they do have quite a lot of re-manufactured parts available. They are quite expensive but are good quality. Richard.

Very sad news indeed RIP Norm.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. Still above the daisies, recovery from storm Arwen is ongoing.

Some really nice and interesting machines. So what do you do with an old Lister D that's lying in the shed - build it in to a motorbike of course, that is brilliant!

Bit late to the party this year but a Happy New Year to everyone.

Merry Christmas to all on MOM

Survived last night with no drama, just a bit hard on the rum and tobacco. Have arranged tele-handler and retired professional wood cutter from up the road to come and remove tree from workshop next week but will wait until Monday to see which day will be the best weatherwise.

Sitting here with the tin hat on listening to the wind howling through what's left of our trees It's coming from the south this time but no guarantee the trees will fall northwards.