Tiger Rear Cylinders - Manual vs Self-Adjust

[Tiger]

On the subject of Tiger rear brakes, specifically rear cylinders, I'm interested in the differences between the manual adjust and self-adjust versions. I'm sure others have pondered whether the cylinders are interchangeable, with or without minor adaption. If interchangeability is easily accomplished, are there advantages or disadvantages with the OEM self-adjust design. I'm not interested in other cylinder designs or calipers. (I currently have the manual adjust version which work just fine, so asking this question more out of curiosity).

 

[bernd_st]

I have the self-adjusting rear cylinders on my Alpine SV and can tell you they are crap. Braking itself works ok, but the self adjusting mechanism never really works. Either the adjusting levers are bent or the gears are stuck/worn. The idea to make them adjustable through the outer brake drum inspection hole is nice in theory, but once you give them a bit to much they are hard to turn backwards. In summary not a bad idea, but never really working in the way the engineers intended. If you ask me don't swap them with the earlier types...

 

[65beam]

I have the self-adjusting rear cylinders on my Alpine SV and can tell you they are crap. Braking itself works ok, but the self adjusting mechanism never really works. Either the adjusting levers are bent or the gears are stuck/worn. The idea to make them adjustable through the outer brake drum inspection hole is nice in theory, but once you give thrm a bit to much they are hard to turn backwards. In summary not a bad idea, but never really working in the way the engineers intended. If you ask me don't swap them

Our series 5 has the self adjusters and many years ago when Doug at Tiger Auto restored the car he told me to continue to use a small amount of anti seize on the moving parts of the cylinder. If you pull the brake drum you'll find the adjusting arm makes it very difficult if not impossible to back off the adjuster without being able to move the arm. That's a hard thing to do thru the small opening in the drum.