Subject: Re: Brake overhaul - brake rods
I measured up my front brake levers as they were usually set up and assuming a gargantuan 300lb pedal force acting only on the front brakes, worked out the tensile stresses in the brake rods. The short rod connecting the brake pedal lever to the cross-shaft carries the highest load, some 56kpsi in this scenario, while the others carry less than half this. So you do need a good grade of steel for that one short rod, but the other rods could be a standard cold rolled low carbon steel. Sketch attached, I hope.
Alec
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