More teething troubles with Ruby…..

[David Stepney]

Surely the wing nut is used to adjust the brakes. Tightening it will bring the brakes on sooner. Tighten it too much and the car won't go!
Our brakes need readjusting. I shall slacken the wing nut until the cross-shaft returns to its at-rest position and make sure the cross-shaft is completely free in its bearings. They do tend to tighten up.
Then tighten adjust the cables the remove unnecessary slack. Once that is done, and the brakes balanced, tighten the wing nut until there is little or no free play at the pedal.
The wing nut is then used to take up lost movement at the pedal as the brakes wear.

I concur with Jim's comments above, but would add that:-
1. Everything on the front axle should be in reasonably good order, otherwise the front cable geometry can go awry. (e.g. brakes coming on when going backwards or on a full lock, or, indeed both!)
2. The brakes should only be adjusted to ensure that all the wheels are perfectly free to spin.

I usually like between 1/2 and 3/4 in play at the pedal (to ensure that the stop lamp switch operates correctly) and 4 notches on the handbrake fully on. My car's handbook recommends that the handbrake should be capable of being pulled on 1 notch without starting to apply the brakes and I adopt this.