VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Hand brake band

Hi Ho all, just pulled down my wheels on my 28 to adjust the hand brake mechanism and replace the worn clevis pins to find both hand brake bands are bent in at the bottom, has any one come across this before and any clue as to why, RAY see link to a picture . [img]http://www.shop.raycycled.com/?wpsc-product=chev-4-hand-brake-band[/img]

Looks like the hand brake band has been distorted from a hard application/s,as these bands "float" making them pretty well self energising.Just re-shape it to the bore of the brake drum by carefully bending over something roughly the same diameter.

That's about what happens. I remember over 20 years ago going over to Lenny Benny who lived over your way at Revesby and he picked up the bands and a large mallet and gave them a quick bash.

Thanks gents, I did that and 5 hours later have re bushed all the rods and taken out the slop, much better, but i will think on a way to prevent it happening again as it seems all the force is only applied to a limited area of the bands. I also installed a pair of New Billy Possum axles so that re jigged the position of the brake drum . RAY

I have had the same thing happen to my '25 tourer mechanism when I was getting the car inspected for a roadworthy. The tester hauled the brake hard on when the car was moving backwards(not even walking speed). "lets see how the hand brake works" They sure worked, making the car instantly lurch to a stop as the bands knotted up inside the drum. Lesson: do not apply Chev hand brakes when the car is moving backwards! They indeed are self energising in this direction to the point of self destruction. The tester was however impressed at the rapid stop in reverse. Luckily he did not then test it going forward because they would not have worked at all! A big hammer fixed the damage.