The day before yesterday, the handbrake failed on my 2a. Inspection showed that the brake rod (552407) from the handbrake lever to the relay lever had broken at the end of the thread at the top. This is a length of 5/16" rod with a UNF thread at each end and a jog in the middle of about 2cm. I repaired it temporarily by running the thread down further and fitting a threaded sleeve with loktite.

But on refitting the rod I realised that the jog was oriented wrongly, and this is almost certainly why the rod broke. If you take the clevis pin at the bottom out, the rod should line up with the relay lever without any side pressure at all. If you have one of these (bent handbrake lever, suffix D onward), it could be worth checking. I have had it off when I was repainting it, but did not change its position, just put it back the way it was without thinking about it!

John