The Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register Forum

The rear wheels on my MK2 are quite difficult to turn by hand, and I would like to free them off a little. Am I able (and if so how) to adjust the brakes with the drums on? It's been off the road since February.
I am in the process of doing some basic pre mot checks, don't want it to fail on anything simple. Thanks.

After jacking up the rear of the car and removing the wheels what I usually do is release the hand brake and remove the cable from the o/s back plate. Then to adjust the brakes I press the pedal to push the shoes out listening for the adjuster clicking, then I re-connect the cable. This is ok so long as everything is free and working inside the drum, if not then you will have to remove the drum anyway and as you mention the wheel being difficult to turn I personally would have a look in there.
Other points are that you may need to adjust the cable at the centre adjuster to get the correct travel on the lever and I always support the car beneath the trailing arms to keep the cable in the same tension as if the car were sat on the ground.
All the best,
Mike

Hi Mike, thanks for the quick reply. The problem I have is the rear drums are very difficult to remove without resorting to brute force. Surely disconnecting the cable and pressing the pedal won't release the brakes, but make it more difficult to remove the drums? Or have I missed something? Unfortunately I am no mechanic,lol.

Undoing the hand brake cable might give you just enough to get the drums off. Have 2000 drums got a hole in, it's been so long since I looked at mine I can't remember ? On some cars that do you can unwind the self adjusting mechanism a bit. Normally it's the unworn bit of the drum that the shoes don't rub on that cause the problem getting the drums off.
Last time I fixed the brakes on a car with drums I carefully ground the unworn bit off the drum with a drum sander. It's better to get the drums machined or replace them if there is a lot of wear.
With that sorted out you can easily slide the drums on and off and adjust the self adjusting mechanism by hand as they never work very well.

Hi Steve, I will give that a go on Sunday. Yes, the brake drums do have holes in them, I shined a light through them but couldn't see anything. Thanks for the help.

It really is a long time since I have worked on my car. They don't have the type of self adjusters I thought they did !
It should still be possible to release the toothed lever though. It's a case of studying the workshop manual and doing it by feel I think.
If they don't adjust when it's all back together sometimes a tap on the drum with a rubber mallet while someone holds the brake pedal down helps.

No need to pull in the adjusters, it's really difficult to do with the drum on.
Undo the handbrake cable. Pull the handbrake lever fully off towards the back plate. Give the drum a good smack or 10 with a hammer and it will come off.
Holding one hammer against the drum and smacking diagonally opposite it with another usually does the trick.


Alan Chatterton
Chairman
Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register

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Thanks Alan. Unfortunately I didn't see you at Pimperne, on the rbrr. Some lovely cars there, my favourite being the yellow( del lines?) saloon with the webasto sunroof. Seen it before aanand I know he's a register member ( cant think of his name). There was also a French blue 2.5 saloon that was very nice.I was there between 2and 4pm, so guess you were running late?

Running a bit late, arrived about 4.30 at Pimperne.
Yellow car is Andy Roberts, our President. It is a Del Lines car, same as mine but saloon not estate.


Alan Chatterton
Chairman
Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All done, rear wheels are now rolling freely. Thanks for your help.