need help plz with brake springs on rear 67 sprite

need to know the correct position for the springs , tried couple ways springs rub

don't have any photos handy, but here it is in words if it'll help:

there are two springs. They both hook to the shoes from the inboard side (the coiled portions are almost not at all visible to you once the shoes are installed).

The longer one is not symmetrical (the long straight piece in the middle is offset from the centerline of the coils. This one goes at the top, hear the cylinder.

That offset, straight middle portion goes "up" (so that it will clear the bearing hub).

Oh, and the Haynes manual has the RH brake shown in the first image, and the LH brake shown on the second image but fails to mention which hand is even being shown in either one of them. Terrible, I know, but you can just barely tell because the parking brake lever points REARWARD, and it is just barely visible in each photo.

This is one area where the Bentley manual totally sucks (no meaningful picture whatsoever). So, as weak as the Haynes is, it trumps the Bentley.

hope this helps,
Norm

1 working on brakes,do one side at a time
so you got a mirror image for reference,,
front or rear.

lets try this.

Picked it off the net so I make no claims to accuracy

thanks for posting that Peter (pictures are so much better than words),

note the top spring has an offset, middle portion?
It is upside down in the photo, it has to be flipped over so that it will not interfere with the hub (note that the hub is not yet installed in that photo!).

(and, FYI, that photo is of a left hand side, you can just barely make out the parking brake lever peaking out from behind the backing plate at about 2:30 O'clock)

Oh, and the rear shoe is upside down.

:D

Norm

Well, other than that, it shold be fine!

I put the disclaimer in there because I had some sus[iions. The two pear shaped holes should not be on the same side if I recall.

Not too long ago I was asking the same question as you. I should go have a look and see what I did. I do know that the images on my cardomain are wrong.

Johm Twist does a video for the B rear brakes that makes it very easy to re-assemble. Not sure that it will translate to the midget.

Pete

FWIW, I had my shoes on backwards for years.

I put them on correctly at first, and then a few years later, got tricked by the sloppy way Haynes has them illustrated and went back in to swap them around. It wasn't until this year (like, 15 years later), that I realized that my second time was the wrong one.

To be honest, I never felt a difference one way or the other (and I was very attentive to the feeling when I swapped them that time, expecting to feel something remarkable. The rear brakes do such a small amount of the braking, I guess I am not surprised.


Norm

I went and pulled the drum to see what I did. Not sure if you are having toruble with the top or the bottom spring. The springs are really hidden on these cars. This site only allows a single image. Let me now where the issue is and I can get more images.

Pete

Not to confuse the issue, but...

The "do one side first so the other is a reference" rule is pretty good with one caveat:

The DPO (including myself) who last worked on it would have had to put it together properly!

I have often found two sides to have been done differently, necessitating some careful use of brain-juice ('cause I only got so much, ya know?) to puzzle out the correct one or even if either was correct.