You remember the old style trailer hand brake? The one with a long arm and a ratchet. It used to attach via a wire to a plate which held 2 wires going to the brakes.
My question is what did each of those 2 wires attach to at the brakes end? Were they direct to the hubs or did they pull summat else to put the brakes on
There was a pulley in that plate that was connected to the top holes in the slack adjusters, one end of the wire was anchored to the chassis and when you applied the handbrake it pulled the slackers thus pulling the shoes against the drum!
I cannot even find a diagram on google for you!
I happened to be at an ATF last year when one turned up for test on an elderly triaxle low loader with I think 15" wheels. It was amusing to say the least since the ratchet handle was mounted between axles 1 and 2 so the entire mechanism had been exposed to road salt and dirt for the last 12 months. There was insufficient access and leverage to apply enough effort to meet the required readings. Once the usual allowed cheat had been performed of applying the footbrake 1st it still failed, but now it wouldn’t release so it was stuck on the rollers for about 10-15 minutes. Being a low loader it was impossible to get anywhere near the offending ratchet or compensator.
So is this right?
Lonewolf Yorks:
So is this right?0
Normally there’d be a fabricated channel between the slack adjusters on the top hole above the chamber yoke .
Lonewolf Yorks:
So is this right?0
The “triangular” piece has a rod running through it and fastens between the slack adjusters
I’m not picturing this, can anyone annotate my diagram?
The thin lines on my diagram are wire, I remember seeing wires.
I can remember the swearing and skinned knuckles when someone had wound the cable round the back of the pulley as tight as a guitar string!!!
Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk
Ok this is all I can find online. Swap the brake lever for a ratchet and is this suitable for a 1960s York trailer?
When you were dropping a[ empty] trailer it allways paid you to put the[ hand]trailer rachet brake on as if you remember, trailers were lible to lose air,and that did not mean the brakes would come on ,esp on merriworth single aexel 40ft trai;ers you would end up chasing the trailer trying to hitch up…this is in the `1970s,can not remember if the blue line was in force■■?.
"Also as stated "if you knew who was picking the trailer up after you had dropped it,and you were not quite best of mates you would ratched that trailer brake as hard as you could. and blame the shunter the next day ,some of thr firms i worked on there could be as many as 30 odd trailers so you just looked out for your self, and had a ring spanner to pull the trailer bakes up, sequance=hand brake off on trailer, and on the unit ,in gear, BUT took the keys out of the ignition in the cab, then under the trailer to pull them up…nice when raining…
THE VACUM brakes were the scarryest,scammel coupling four in line trailer,dead man was a little pull up leaver by your right side near the floor.i have forgoteen what hand brake was on as ratchet and you had to bang it down to relise like throw it down, it was a momouth major or leyland octopus1969/70 irmc…dbp.
And who has backed under the trailer, given it a tug to make sure the pin’s secure, climbed up & put the suzies on, climbed down & walked up the near side & kicked the ratchet off & then had the heart stopping moment as the whole lot starts to roll away because you forgot to put the park brake on the unit 
I have 
Luckily the yard only had a very gentle slope, & I was a lot younger then, about 21, & sprinted round the back of the trailer & up the offside yanked the door open & reached up & pulled the brake on, Leyland Buffalo so the brake was just inside the door at top of dashboard!!! I never did it again 
Chris
Hopeless things, in most yards (especially during the winters) the sodding things would rust up solid, either that or some clot would ratchet the thing up tight but with the cable off the spool by a couple of turns
I usually backed up to a trailer and put some air in via the red line to make sure the brakes would work before trying to hitch up.
Always carried a 9/16th ring spanner and little hammer, chances were the brakes were out of adjustment and a couple of minutes would nip them up.
The one good thing about those old braking systems was the third (blue) line, so you had the option to use the secondary dead man to brake if there was danger of possible locking of drive axle, and if you happened to have a Scania 110 you had the separate trailer brake handle to play with 
Spot on Dan, We had a Whitehead Tri Axle trailer , One of the last ones with this type of handbrake , The lever was located at the near side rear axle. The trailer had good brakes and allways passed first time, Allthough once at the testing station the tester qrestioned why this trailer had a mechanical hand brake with spring brakes, So I told him it was one of the last ones to be manufactured before the goal posts were moved 
, He just shook his silly head and walked away, But like I said It allways passed first time, Regards Larry.
Two pics here of my 40ft York model showing the handbrake mech. The wire rope went from the handbrake pulley mounted on the chassis through a short tube that was slightly curved to alter the angle of the rope, it then went to the angle shaped compensator, made up from two pieces of plate of the same shape with a pulley wheel between at the pointed end and a tube between the base end, welded here. A rod ran through the tube, each end of the rod went into the top holes of each Slack Adjuster and washers and split pins secured the rod ends. The rope went around the Compensator wheel back on itself and both ropes were clamped together with two small ‘D’ clamps about six to nine inches apart, the tail end of the rope could then be cut leaving about 3 ins from the second ‘D’ Clamp. That was it a simple mechanism, Ratchet up and the brakes were applied with any difference in brake lining wear took up by the Compensator, Release the pawl on the handbrake and brake shoe spring tension returned the slacks to off position and released the brakes. The coloured pic isn’t too clear so I’ve marked the parts, let me know if you need any more info Wolfie. Hope this helps Cheers Franky.
I don’t know if this thread makes me feel old having had experience of these trailers with mechanical handbrakes, and the various problems…but it does make me feel proud of the fellow TN members of our age group who still have the knowledge and wherewithal to explain with diagrams how the mechanism works.
Cheers all, I simply couldn’t remember exactly how they worked
gingerfold:
I don’t know if this thread makes me feel old having had experience of these trailers with mechanical handbrakes, and the various problems…but it does make me feel proud of the fellow TN members of our age group who still have the knowledge and wherewithal to explain with diagrams how the mechanism works.
Err which age group ,I’am only just 42 
Only trailers I ever worked on were the old Scammell coupling type but those diagrams a spider has presumably drawn seem exactly the same as the system on my Wessex trailer I tow behind my van and also most caravans.
Pete.
I remember a new driver where my dad worked dropping a trailer on a hill behind the yard and didnt use the handbrake.The air dropped and with 22 tons of baled cardboard the wall of the premises and the car behind had seen better days. Mind the company then started parking their old van next to the wall thinking history may repeat itself. My dad always used the handbrake but also a couple of building brilcks behind the back wheels
