I spent the morning removing wheel and master cylinders from
my friends 140 DHC.I have looked for help in the few books I
have as well as a forum search. I have some questions:
There are some coil springs which retain the shoes to the
backing plate. How are they best removed and installed?
I had an awful time removing the brake clevis pin
attaching to the lever, mostly because there wasn’t enough
room to remove the pin, and the clearance hole in the
retaining bracket was not in line with allowing then to pass
through. What is wrong here?
Can someone please describe the best sequence for getting
the brake lever installed, the pin holding the lever to the
cylinder body, pin holding the lever to the cable the rubber
boot etc? Thanks for any help!–
Mike Moore 63 S1 OTS #878877
Morgan Hill, California, United States
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Mike M;
If you are talking about the “Beehive Springs”, these are
simple… The large coil of the spring pushes against the
brake shoe… Down thru the center of the “Beehive” is a
straight section with a bit of a “hook” on the end… this
“hook” goes thru a hole in the brake shoe and thru
another hole in the backing plate and simply catches on
the lip of the hole… just use a standard pair of pliers to
grip the “top dead center” of the spring, push in and
“unhook” the spring!
You may have to cant the “straight section” to get the hook
released.
On the “Front Let-Off Springs” go to an auto parts store
that also sells high quality auto-repair tools… brand-name
tools, not chinese junk… (I suggest you find a “MAC” or
“Snap-On” truck to try to locate a heavy-duty [18 wheeler]
version of the tool.)
I forget the exact name of the tool, you should be able to
ask the clerk for a “Brake Spring Removal Tool”… Which is
often available is a combination tool where one part is used
to remove the brake shoe springs, the other part is used to
install the brake shoe springs… (it’s a weird looking tool that
has a part that looks like it should be used to install rings in
bull’s noses!!)
Now the down-side… these tools were generally designed
to work on American and “small” Japanese cars (pre’70’s
unually with four wheel drums or disc/drum combo)…
The XK120’s front brake springs are ultra heavy-duty… they
require the help from two gorillias and an elephant just to
be able to get them off their pegs. (thus the suggestion for a
H-D version of the tool)
Lastly, I would strongly recommend that you purchase new
(repop) front “Let-Off Springs”… The originals, having been
in the same position for nearly a half dozen decades, WILL
be deformed in shape and will likely be more difficult than
normal to refit…
Check the Service Manual, it is of some help.
Charles #677556,----- Original Message -----
From: “Mike Moore”
I spent the morning removing wheel and master cylinders from
my friends 140 DHC.I have looked for help in the few books I
have as well as a forum search. I have some questions:
There are some coil springs which retain the shoes to the
backing plate. How are they best removed and installed?
I had an awful time removing the brake clevis pin
attaching to the lever, mostly because there wasn’t enough
room to remove the pin, and the clearance hole in the
retaining bracket was not in line with allowing then to pass
through. What is wrong here?
Can someone please describe the best sequence for getting
the brake lever installed, the pin holding the lever to the
cylinder body, pin holding the lever to the cable the rubber
boot etc? Thanks for any help!
–
Mike Moore 63 S1 OTS #878877
Morgan Hill, California, United States
Charles, thanks so much for the tips.I do have such a
spring remover. It is quite old. I use it on my old
Chrysler.
I just shipped all of my neighbor’s cylinders out to Apple
this morning. I had a heck of a time getting the rear
cylinders out because of the lever clevis pin connecting to
the cable not being aligned with the hole. I wonder if I
can disconnect the cable at the other end to help that. I
assume the cylinder gets assembled to the backing plate
with the lever installed, then the boot is installed. Then
to get the clevis pin connected! What service manual do you
use? Two so far (an old Glenns and a very expensive coffee
table book) are useless. I need something like the E-Type
shop manual with sequential procedural instructions. I
appreciate your help.
Mike Moore–
The original message included these comments:
‘‘hook’’ goes thru a hole in the brake shoe and thru
another hole in the backing plate and simply catches on
the lip of the hole… just use a standard pair of pliers to
grip the ‘‘top dead center’’ of the spring, push in and
‘‘unhook’’ the spring!
I forget the exact name of the tool, you should be able to
ask the clerk for a ‘‘Brake Spring Removal Tool’’… Which is
often available is a combination tool where one part is used
Mike M;
On the E-Brake Clevis reinstall… Yes, disconnect (or
loosen the tension adjuster at the “horse shoe” looking
yoke) the cable from the e-brake “linkage”, this should give
you the slack to work in the tight confines of that “square
brace” on the rear backing plate… When I took the e-brake
cable off my 120 (same basic set-up), I was about to go hire
a seven year old with tiny hands, but I managed to get the
split-pin, clevis pin and spring disconnected with a collection
of long-nosed needle nose pliers, a couple of hemostats and a
long skinny punch (to tap out the clevis pin)… I now have
some 3-4" (long) Vice Grips that might hold the e-brake
cable and the cable spring compressed and make life a little
easier when I reassemble said e-brake cable…
I learned a LOOOONG Time ago, the general “coffee table”
books and generic “Haynes” (and the like) service manuals
were (1) totally useless for “real” service work, and (2) often
truncated knock-offs of the originals… AND often at or above
the same price!!
I generally tell folks there are two “must-have” books, a
Factory Service Manual and a Factory Parts Catalogue…
You can do no wrong with having these “Factory” books!!
On the “Service Manual”, you NEED a copy of the Factory
XK120/MKVII Service Manual… It covers a high percentage
of items on the 140… There is also an XK140 Supplement
that is suppose to “fill-in the blanks” on the stuff the
120/MKVII SM doesn’t have for the 140… (on the 140’s I’ve
worked-on, I never needed the supplement…)
VGC original Factory XK120/MKVII Service Manuals
are seen on eBay with regularity… High quality reprints
can also be found… Watch-out for this one eBayer who
sells “original copies of the original” SM’s for five times
what a VG real original SM sells for… He also offers
“original copies of the original” parts catalogs for rip-off
prices… XK’s Unlimited offers “page-for-page”, high quality
reprints of the 120 OTS (“master”), FHC and DHC Parts
Catalogs for $38.76, $15.38 & $21.46 respectively… I only
found 11-0115 Parts Manual, XK140,
All (Does not cover A/T Or O.D. for $63.36… The 11-0116
Parts Manual, XK140 & MK VII With Automatic Trans is
$28.48. The 140 O.O. Manal is #17.05. (eBay could be
your friend!)
Bill Bassett offers an XK120/MKVII Service Manual for
$63 and the 140 SM Supplement is a bank-breaking $8.70
(NOT a typo!!) Bill also offers the 140 Parts Catalog for
$48.00… (covers the OTS, FHC & DHC models LH & RH
Drives) Guess where I buy my parts??
Hope this helps.
Charles #677556.----- Original Message -----
From: “Mike Moore”
In reply to a message from @cb11 sent Thu 25 Aug 2016:
Charles, thanks so much for the tips.I do have such a
spring remover. It is quite old. I use it on my old
Chrysler.
I just shipped all of my neighbor’s cylinders out to Apple
this morning. I had a heck of a time getting the rear
cylinders out because of the lever clevis pin connecting to
the cable not being aligned with the hole. I wonder if I
can disconnect the cable at the other end to help that. I
assume the cylinder gets assembled to the backing plate
with the lever installed, then the boot is installed. Then
to get the clevis pin connected! What service manual do you
use? Two so far (an old Glenns and a very expensive coffee
table book) are useless. I need something like the E-Type
shop manual with sequential procedural instructions. I
appreciate your help.
Mike Moore 63 S1 OTS #878877
Morgan Hill, California, United States
Charles you are correct but those are pirate copies–JCNA has
obtained a license to reproduce. Do what you feel right!–
George Camp
Columbia SC, United States
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There are no special tools necessary for brake shoe replacement on either
front or back. There is a simple “trick” if you will, where the shoes
are linked together with only their heavy pull back springs. Adjuster
bars (later car fronts are disconnected from the pivot end as the
friction and ratchet can be benched.
The shoes are offered up so that the lower shoe engages both the piston
and back slot on one cylinder. The other shoe is then engaged into the
piston slot and levered into the back slot with the aid of a big
screwdriver (s).
The shoes are then connected and retained on their opposing adjuster
studs with the “horse shoe” crimp retainer.
Rear shoes and held to the backing plate with original style “beehive”
springs or domestic “flattened nail” style replacements but they too can
be levered into place with a screwdriver…
These spring removal pliers where one jaw digs into the friction material
and the other is supposed to hook over (or under) the pull off spring
don’t work well on these cars as the spring hooks are rather small and
hug both sides of the hole in the shoe. Somewhere in the archives,
there is a better explanation of this simple installation procedure.
You do not have to replace original pull off springs. The only time you
would need to replace one is after you break the hook off one end with
that “special tool” you just bought.
Charles,
Thanks for the good advice. The 140DHC belongs to the
wife of a friend who passed away several years ago. He and
I were working on his E Type when he was struck with
Parkinson’s. I continued to work with him as he became
less mobile. Earlier, we had all 4 driven down to SLO for
XKU’s car show and Andy and his wife drove the 140. The
wife is now retired
(a mental therapist) and now has time to work not he car.
She has proven to be an enthusiastic wrench turner and I
will continue to help her until get it done, Oh yes
meanwhile, before we got back to the E Type, she said the
140 wouldn’t start. he had it towed to a local garage, who
managed to bang it into the E Type, bending both cars. The
brake job looked like a $4000 problem. I looked at the car
at the shop and would not begrudge the shop their labor or
parts, but it was too expensive. So I told her I would
help her with that also-exept I know nothing about 140’s
except I like them. She does have cabinets of reference
books and I expect she does have that manual. That is what
I need. I think another PIA I have is that all the
hardware is so rusty.No body rust, just hardware.–
The original message included these comments:
I generally tell folks there are two ‘‘must-have’’ books, a
Factory Service Manual and a Factory Parts Catalogue…
You can do no wrong with having these ‘‘Factory’’ books!!
Great description, Rick. This is exactly as I have done it. Well
explained.–
Etch, Etype S1 coupes, XK140 roadsters, Ariel Atom, 911
Spring Hill. fl, United States
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