handbrake quadrant toothless on 1927 touring

[Victor Borg]

the quadrant on my wife's 27 touring has gotten pretty toothless and i need to replace it. i guess it was originally bolted or pinned in somehow but somebody welded the riviets (how the hell is rivit spelled???( with copious blobs of weld stuff on the quadrant side.i've tried a bit of hack sawing on the blobs because i can't fit any kind of cutter in there.my questions are:if i cut or grind the blobs of stuff off the quadrant side will the pins or whatever they are come out? next can the new quadrant just be bolted to the frame,or am i looking for trouble down the road ? additionally,i see in the catalogs 2 different quadrants priced quite differently..i guess the high priced one must be lots better,or i hope so.any advice for this newby???( (v ic borg

[jiminbartow]

You might be able to fit a 4”angle grinder grinding disc in there to grind off the heads of whatever fastener was welded. Be sure to use eye protection. The difficulty of removing the fastener depends on the depth of the weld. Once you have gone deep enough to remove all of the weld, you should be able to drive out the remaining shank of the fastener. Rivet shanks are usually very tight and may have to be drilled out. While the quadrant was originally riveted, bolts with locknuts will work just as good. I forgot if A high profile fastener, such as hex head bolts could create a space factor, preventing the pawl from working properly so, I would try using a low profile fastener such as carriage head bolts with the square shoulder below the head, tapped into and wedged in the round hole. Jim Patrick

[Scott_Conger]

I just did this job for the umteenth time. I used a cut-off blade in my grinder and gently and carefully eroded the head off INSIDE the frame. You can then punch the rivets from the inside as well as use a straight crow-bar to lever on the quadrant. It will come off.

The first time I ever did this job, I took the rivet head off from outside the frame...that allowed me to lever the quadrant off but left the rivets firmly (and seemingly impossibly) stuck in the frame. At that point I could not drive the rivets out due to the dust apron keeping me from a staight shot, and so had to resort to grinding from the inside (like mentioned abover) but without the benefit of having the quadrant to pry on.

Live and learn.

[Allan]

Can I add two points. Some reproduction quadrants appear to be stamped out. This makes the 'teeth' on the quadrant rather rounded off on one side, making the 'teeth' somewhat narrower. The laser cut ones are much better, though more expensive.
Secondly, 26-7 quadrants have just two fasteners. If you use a button head bolt and nut to fix the quadrant in place, the socket hole in the bolt head is easily filled, and when painted over, looks just like a proper rivet job.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

[Scott_Conger]

Allan

that is good advice and exactly what I do on mine. It is the only place I use modern fasteners, using a Nyloc nut on the inside of the frame, mated to an alloy button head screw. I'm an originality type guy but in this case, originality goes out the window. It's expedient, safe, and nearly invisible.

[Victor Borg]

thank you all very much for your advice and experience...thanks to this forum i will not do something stupid to my wife's precious DAISY,at least not this time...

[hah]

Thread hit bottom....
Roto-burr....attached to die grinder.

[TWrenn]

When I replaced the quadrant on my former '12 Touring, I found that by loosening the brake cross-arm on the passenger side, and completely unbolting it from the driver side I was able to lower it enough on the driver side to be able to get my dremel in there and grind off the heads, then punch the rivets-- btw..that's how they're spelled Victor...LOL....and it worked wonderfully. All this took less time than it took previously fighting with the lack of space! I was initially going to do that, but too stubborn, but I finally gave in and wished I had sooner!! And yes, I BOLTED the damn thing on rather than use rivets! Also, don't buy the cheap quadrant...bite the bullet and get the better expensive one. You'll be glad you did.

[John Warren]

I see no reason to ever re rivet the quadrant on. Im sure that bolting it on would have been an excepted repair. I did use period correct bolts, castle nuts and cotter pins.

[Original Smith]

That is not an easy job! I would only recommend doing it if you do it correctly. Any kind of bolt would not look good. Should you decide to consider rivets, take measurements of the originals before replacing them. Don't assume the replacement rivets are correct. Doing that job is a two man operation.

[tdumas]

Use a good 3 corner file and recut the teeth.