16-02-2019, 01:39 PM
Having a Late Ruby special and a Big 7 both on full Girling brakes. I have found in the past they were quite good on braking. The Big 7 I restored in the early 70s and the special I built in the early 80s. After the JOGLE in 2012 the brakes on the Big 7 were in need of some servicing so stripped all down and replaced all bearings and clevices and had the groves in the shafts welded and turned back to size. A new cable was fitted at the front and the brakes all reset with all 4 wheels off the ground. The result was worse brakes than I started with. I have chatted with my brother Denis about a thought I have. That new front cable when you brake pulls the twist in the cable slightly like a spring and don't pull the leavers as tight as they should. Eventually they reach a point where they are fully stretched and can't stretch any more then you can adjust the leavers without loosing the adjustment lost by untwisting. If you have followed my reasoning. Why I feel this might be is that when I built the special I used some second hand cable that had come off a winch used to pull cars onto a trailer at the front and this cable would have fully stretched. The brakes have always been good locking up all 4 wheels. The Big 7 also did this quite easily and I reused the original cable in the 70s it when I restored it. I might be barking up the wrong tree but it is a thought.