Spring tension on v-brakes suddenly lost

Iwannahurl

AFAIK this specific question has not been asked here, recently at any rate.

I noticed that the arms of my front v-brakes were not moving freely, so I loosened the mounting bolts and cleaned out the gunk.

They're moving too much now, as the spring tension seems to have been lost entirely. It seems the lower part of the tensioning spring has slipped its anchor, as it were.

I can't see how the spring is meant to be positioned at the bottom, ie where the adjustment screw is.

Any suggestions? Clearly the spring tension was lost when I took out the mounting bolts. It's finding the original placement of the lower part of the spring that's eluding me. YouTube and Google have not given me any detailed answers so far.

Thanks in advance.

kenmc

if i understand your question correctly.
You loosened the vbrakes up, (didn't take them off their mounts?) and cleaned out the gunk. When you tightened them back up again there's no tension.
If you take them fully off, you should see 3 little holes in a row behind or beside the post which they slide over - the end of the spring which is wrapped around the post should sit into this.
easiest way to resolve it is to disconnect the spring at the top of the arms, then you can position the helical bit correctly and then reattach the bit at the top.
I think that's what your problem is anyway

Iwannahurl

Thanks.

Turns out the problem was indeed related to the three holes on the fork. Once I found the correct one (which was the middle) everything worked again.