!971 Franklin Regent braking system

[retro70]

Hi all,
 Currently have my 71 Regent in at pedders having things checked over, got a very confused call earlier from the guy there saying he was looking at the brake parts and they seem to him to be from something like a Triumph Stag or T2500?   does this sound right, I was under the impression that they would have been Holden brakes at the time ??  Any help appreciated  Cheers Bryan

[snoops]

I would have though standard trailer brakes of the era which should be easy enough to fix, or at least replace with nwer stuff. Assuming hydralic we are taking here? It's not expensive to get a whole new set from backing plates forward in a stud pattern of choice. Couple of hundred dollars would see you with brand new brakes.

[retro70]

Thats what I would have thought too, yes we are talking hydraulic. Problem is I'm not all that technically minded in this area so being guided by "the experts". I'll have another chat with him tomorrow and see what we can work out, don't want the dollars disappearing into something that isn't needed.

Thanks snoops.

[planner]

Retro70

Franklin may have used whatever parts were cheap at the time of construction.
Our 76 arrow has Holden rims, but when I went to replace a brake slave cylinder, the bloke told be they were Valiant brakes At least I could still source them.

[Mustang]

Jan 11, 2018 16:44:19 GMT 10 snoops said:

I would have though standard trailer brakes of the era which should be easy enough to fix, or at least replace with nwer stuff. Assuming hydralic we are taking here? It's not expensive to get a whole new set from backing plates forward in a stud pattern of choice. Couple of hundred dollars would see you with brand new brakes.

I agree, with litigation/insurance these days you need to be on the right side of safety.

If your van is over 800kg I would be looking into electric so much smoother than hydraulic. 

[retro70]

Jan 11, 2018 16:44:19 GMT 10 snoops said:

I would have though standard trailer brakes of the era which should be easy enough to fix, or at least replace with nwer stuff. Assuming hydralic we are taking here? It's not expensive to get a whole new set from backing plates forward in a stud pattern of choice. Couple of hundred dollars would see you with brand new brakes.

I think that this is the track we are trying to go down at present....the longer I wait the more nervous I become

[Mustang]

Jan 15, 2018 12:27:08 GMT 10 retro70 said:

Jan 11, 2018 16:44:19 GMT 10 snoops said:

I would have though standard trailer brakes of the era which should be easy enough to fix, or at least replace with nwer stuff. Assuming hydralic we are taking here? It's not expensive to get a whole new set from backing plates forward in a stud pattern of choice. Couple of hundred dollars would see you with brand new brakes.

I think that this is the track we are trying to go down at present....the longer I wait the more nervous I become

When you do go down the "electric" path, buy a decent controller, a cheap controller is as bad as cheap brakes. "Tekonsha" is a good brand.
See this link about sufficient cabling  link

[planner]

Jan 16, 2018 8:10:49 GMT 10 Mustang said:

When you do go down the "electric" path, buy a decent controller, a cheap controller is as bad as cheap brakes. "Tekonsha" is a good brand.
See this link about sufficient cabling  link

I'm led to believe that there are good and bad Tekonsha's as well.
Dad has had nothing but trouble with his older (about 10 years) tekonsha. At the auto-elec he was told get rid of the that **** and buy a redarc, but not the cheap one. He replaced it with a redarc and loves it.

I think it pays to buy the premium controller, regardless of brand. Just my 2c.


Planner

[snoops]

Teshonka P3 is brilliant, any higher end unit will work well too - Redarc stuff is bulletproof too, but I steer clear generally as they do post some BS about certain items which puts me off but I have used plenty of their gear without issues. That’s just me and what I’ve learnt from being in the industry for 20 years though.

As mentioned DON’T be tempted to save a few bucks here and buy a cheaply from EBay or something.

[78466noM]

The thing with changing to any new brake system is the adapter plates that the backing plates bolt to will most likely have to be changed if so check the size of your axle if it isn't solid or is only a 40mm it may be easier and only a little bit extra to go for the solid 45mm or bigger axle just to mention the larger axles as far as I know is only for 4x4 wheels and bearings and the 45mm is for the ford bearings but you can get the Holden stud pattern brake hubs.

[snoops]

Yes, there's a few different types. If the current system is hydraulic then electric brakes won't bolt up without cutting the old plates off the axle and welding new one on. If the old setup is cable operated, these are the same as modern electrics mountings - so I've been told.  I'm doing this exact conversion (cable to electric) in the morning so will report back on if it is true. 😊

The new electric setup has 4 bolt mounting as does the cable setup.  The guy I bought the brakes of assures me they will bolt up, even on a 50 year old van.  I'll be dropping in to chat to him on Monday if he's wrong... 😁

[78466noM]

mine was originally cable and had to get new adapters for the new cable brakes ( over ride brakes ) these adapters also fit the electric brakes that I eventually changed to due to being safer for the wife to tow makes it easier for me as well. The bolt holes for the 1978 millard backing plates were in a slightly smaller radius not too safe to elongate the holes.

[snoops]

I'm not overly worried if they don't bolt straight up, I'll just cut the old ones off and fabricate new ones and weld them on. Metal is my material of choice. 😊

[78466noM]

I swapped out the old axle as it had a small bend in it slightly off set from center It was a stationary van from new from what I can find out as never registered so I assume it may have hit a brick stump or something similar removing it from a site anyway before I found the bend I tried to fit the new backing plates for the over ride brakes they wouldn't bolt strait up as I was cutting off the first adapter I found the bend.

[retro70]

So a quick update, I picked up "Franklinstein" from Pedders this week, new brake system new backing plates new slaves and master, new lines, new shiny parts all roud Total cost $1442, bit pricey but hell only doing it once and it pulls up beautifully behind me now so I am more than happy. We have used Pedders in Bendigo for other things in the past and there motto is so true, no Bull*#!t. I would use them every time, no nonsense, job done once and done right. Off to bega we go in a couple of weeks Thanks all for your input and suggestions !

[snoops]

Thought I'd post this here as it fits with the theme of the thread. Just completed one side of Viscounts front axle to modern electric brakes. As per a previous post I was advised the new backing plates would bolt on as the previous were cable brakes - even on an old van. WRONG!!!! 😆

We were all sort of expecating that though weren't we...

There's a couple of things to trip you up if you're doing this. Fist is you will need new backing plate mounts, secondly if your axles are like mine, the new mounts will be in a completely different position. The old backing plates are straight, but modern ones are recessed so the mount is a lot further out than the old ones - exactly 1" i nthe old money - a smidge over 25mm. Fixed this by cutting a 25mm section of pipe that woukd fit over the stub, then welded this to the new mount.
A0E3BB3E-F5C2-4CF5-ACC0-962D425F766D by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr

Then slipped this onto the stub, welded it to the old mount (I trimmed this down to make kife a bit easier but didn't remove it entirely. Then welded on the inside of the mount to the stub. This is how I was advised to do this by my locak Engineering firm who make specialty trailers for a living. Result is very strong and I'll have no dramas with it I don't think. Weld looks a bit crap as I started with the arc as it was too windy for the mig, but I managed to cock that up while welding upside down. By that time the wind had gone, so I dragged the mig out and went over the top of everything I'd done - yuck to look at, but it's not going anywhere and only the spiders that move in there will see it.
8BFC3660-DE72-4BE7-9AAE-C7D7C464A905 by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr

The only other thing to note is that the new setup pushes the track out marginally - a bit less than 10mm but enough to notice. Wheel still fits and has clearance under the guards, but it is worth noting. Ideally and in the long term, I think a new axle would be an easier option. Hard to tell by just looking but when I put a straight edge on it it was fairly noticeable.
FD03A442-6E70-483C-8239-27C5099DCF95 by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr

2A29E899-53F2-47E7-B1D9-330CE786CD11 by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr

Based on what I've learned and done, I think the OP paid a fair price for the amount of work involved. A quick note on at is that if you aren't confident in your engineering skills and welding, leave this one to the experts.