Stripped thread on V brake tension adjuster - advice please?

[LikeClockwork]

Have discovered that the reason my V brake is missing an adjuster screw one side is as the thread in the actual brake itself is stripped. Obviously, it's a pretty fine thread and a pretty small screw/bolt that goes in there in the first place, so what can I do?

I'm wondering if it would be OK to get a self tapping screw of a slightly bigger size...? :shock:

(Bodge job I know, but as long as it works) Brake is quite fancy so want to try and salvage it, but without spending anything really.... :facepalm:

 

[ishaw]

I've had brakes where previous owners have done this to the cable clamp so I suspect it could be done as theseen don't need to hold a cable in place. Never done it myself though.

 

[Muddy paw]

Hi Kaz , i've got the same issue with some Exage country canti's i think they are and was contemplating doing the same with them as i don't see why it shouldn't work tbh ..

 

[Gaddmeister]

Re:

There's the tension spring, the bit of thin metal that tucks behind the lug? Sorry not easy to describe, but if you just unhook ot and bend it downwards to give that canti extra spring and then use the screw on the other side to compensate? Or experiment with the three spring holes on the frame or fork. Worked for me! :-D

 

[greencat]

This is going to sound like a bizarre solution, but something I have done in the past under similar circumstances is get a tiny sliver of matchstick, put that in the affected hole and then screw into that.

The sliver of match stick being wood is soft enough to provide a bit of additional grip for the screw but hard enough that the screw stays put.

 

[hamster]

You could also try fitting the screw with threadlock, with the brake arm off the bike. Leave it overnight to set.

 

[LikeClockwork]

Re:

Brilliant solutions, thanks chaps!

I did wonder if the more sensible thing to do would be bend the spring arm/mount in a different hole, but I'd still like the back up of a tension adjuster of some sort....

Cheers!

 

[hamster]

Is it on that Avid Ti set you have for sale? IIRC the bodies of them are Magnesium, so appallingly soft and unsurprising the thread stripped. I had a similar problem with a Tesco BSo where squeezing the brake lever caused all the adjuster screws to be pushed out of the plastic brake body :facepalm: . The optimum solution is to helicoil the thread. Then you will end up with the adjuster screw fitting onto a steel thread.

As a bodgy sort of solution not as drastic as a self-tapper, you could tap and fit an imperial screw marginally larger than the metric one. There are enough weird sizes to find something suitable.

 

[LikeClockwork]

Re:

Yes.... :facepalm: I've decided to keep and use it, it's worthless now to anyone else....

Me old Dad can probably help with tapping, etc, he'll relish a challenge like this. The bolt the other side is starting to strip too, I took it out to prove the other side was stripped, putting it back, can see little bits of metal coming out.... :roll:

 

[FSXStumpy]

My daughter's bike had inexpensive Vbrakes with plastic adjuster housings... And they stripped, as you describe. I hunted thru my screw collection, found a screw with a slightly larger diameter, and forced it into the stripped hole. Worked a treat.

J