Brake cross shaft assembly

[mike houston]

I am currently refurbishing the brake cross shaft prior to replacing it on the chassis of my 30 saloon. There is a lot of play in the two end brackets as well as in the cross shaft bearing. I can see the bushes in the brackets need replacing, but can someone please tell me where I can obtain them? To my surprise Sports and Vintage don't have them. I can't actually see a bearing surface in the cross shaft bearing,(perhaps it's all worn away!), is it white-metalled or do I have to obtain a complete bearing/bracket assembly? Again some help and advice would be much appreciated,
Regards to all, Mike.

[Ian Grace]

Hello Mike,

Don't worry! The looser these bearings, the better! On the M Type, the 'bearings' don't exist - for good reason.....

Let's say you conscientiously get rid of all the play in these three bearings.

Great. Now you drive the car.

On the road, the chassis flexes, as it is designed to do. You will find that the flexing causes the nice, neat geometry of the brake shaft bearings to go to hell and the bearings will pinch the shaft and very ignificantly reduce your braking operating efficiency. Kimber realised this, so, after he had sliced off the running board chassis outriggers for the M Type - which inconveniently incorporated the brake cross-shaft bearings - he mounted the cross-shaft in apparently really 'crude' plate steel brackets bolted to the chassis side rails - somewhat behind the location of the Minor's cross-shaft (which, sadly, is why M Type brake cables are useless for Minors!).

Crude? Yes. But under this scheme, it was impossible for the brake shaft to lock up under chassis flexing - even on trials.

So I wouldn’t worry about free play in these bearings – unless the wear in the cross-shaft is so dreadfully bad that the hollow shaft is actually in danger of snapping under load. Just get on with the rest of the restoration and get the car back on the road, and start enjoying driving it!

[DF9053]

Early M types do have cross shaft bearings - lovely bronze castings bolted into the chassis. you have to be careful to adjust them so that they do not clamp the cross shaft as Ian says when the chassis flexes. The cross shaft is bigger in diameter and there are only two bearings to support it.

cheers
Jeremy

[Ian Grace]

Hi Jeremy,

I've never seen a bracket like that on an M - maybe this was a later mod? All the ones I have seen (and owned) have had steel plate brackets - bent at 90 degrees and bolted under the side rails. Can you say more?

[DF9053]

All I can think Ian is that the ones you had were later M types (or early cars converted) with full cable brakes that run inside the side panels, I agree with you completely on these.

This example and all the similar ones I have seen and photographed are the early long cross shaft versions with rod and cable brakes that were stopped in about October 1929. You can just about make out these bearing on the factory M type chassis picture that is in the McComb MG book.

cheers
Jeremy

[mike houston]

Thankyou Ian and Jeremy for your contributions which have put my mind at rest! I think that it must be the only time that worn bushes are acceptable, and now that I have the shaft back on and greased it does feel right, even a bit stiff so I guess it will loosen up with use. Thanks again, I know I can always rely on the forum for some quick accurate answers. I have attached a picture of the new installation,
Regards,
Mike.