itty-bitty annoying adjustment screw on mtb brakes

Ok, nitty-gritty question coming up. I started to adjust the brakes on my commuter mtb cos they were rubbing a bit on one side. (Turns out the sidewall had a large crack so I had to ditch it but my "spare" wheel had an ancient hub causing me a lot of switching and swapping and greasing. Anyway.)

The adjustment screw on the one side of my front brake was declared dead, as the head would barely accept a screwdriver and the screw itself was royally bent. :confused: :confused: So I got a wrench and carefully twisted it out, and went and got one that looked identical from the hardware store.

But. It doesn't seem to be "adjusting" as well. I've tightened it well towards the bike, which should bring the brake outwards toward me. It does, but not as much as I'd hoped and there's still a little rub that I can't remove by adjusting on the other side.

Does anyone know if I somehow disrupted the adjustment mechanism by removing the screw completely? I haven't taken a brake apart before so I don't know how the screw works.

Are these linear pull V-brakes or cantilevered brakes? The mechanism shouldn't mess up by replacing the tension screw (did you check that the threading on the new screw was the same as the old?) but sometimes the tensioning screws doesn't do the job. If you have canti brakes, sometimes you have to make the adjustment by moving the brake pad in or out (the brake block post are plenty long to do this). If V-brakes, you might have to move the spring away from the brake arm and use some persuasion on it, ie. bend it so it provides more tension.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lph

Ok, nitty-gritty question coming up. I started to adjust the brakes on my commuter mtb cos they were rubbing a bit on one side. (Turns out the sidewall had a large crack so I had to ditch it but my "spare" wheel had an ancient hub causing me a lot of switching and swapping and greasing. Anyway.)

The adjustment screw on the one side of my front brake was declared dead, as the head would barely accept a screwdriver and the screw itself was royally bent. :confused: :confused: So I got a wrench and carefully twisted it out, and went and got one that looked identical from the hardware store.

But. It doesn't seem to be "adjusting" as well. I've tightened it well towards the bike, which should bring the brake outwards toward me. It does, but not as much as I'd hoped and there's still a little rub that I can't remove by adjusting on the other side.

Does anyone know if I somehow disrupted the adjustment mechanism by removing the screw completely? I haven't taken a brake apart before so I don't know how the screw works.

---

Thanks, Deb. The threading looked identical, only difference was I got a longer screw as I had to choose between that and one shorter.

They're V-brakes. Good tip about bending the spring! Maybe I can attach the springs "lopsided", there are 3 holes to choose from and at the moment I have them on the same one on both sides (the one that gives most tension).