Saturday 29 December 2012

Fixing that Hand Brake or Parking Brake

The next bit on the list was the hand brake. It's been slipping since I got VIN 10719, which isn't a good thing when you have a sloping drive!

First of all I backed the car a little way out of the garage. As I've mentioned before its a single garage, and a tight fit. Not much room to open one door, let alone both. So, backing her out allows me to get at the rear wheels easier, and makes the whole job that bit simpler.


With the back of the car clearing the door frame I chocked the wheels at the front (essential as there wont be any brake at that end remember) and started to jack up the rear end. The jack point it on the cross member, between the two wheels and below the engine. Make sure to use some wood to make sure you don't damage the epoxy!   With the wheels up off the ground I used a few house bricks to support is as well (the stands I have wouldn't fit underneath at that point, but try to use stands wherever possible).

Taking the wheels off was pretty easy as well, which reveals the main and hand brake callipers. The smaller of the two on the top of the brake is the hand brake. Look for the large slot headed screw which adjusts the brake shoes. It has a cotter pin through it which needs to be released in order to tighten the screw. Remove this and tighten up to the disk, then slacken off one revolution. This should allow for a "tight" fit for the shoes, and a responsive break. Refit the cotter pin and repeat on the other side.

After refitting the wheels and using a torque wrench to tighten them 100 NIM the car was lowered down and the jack and bricks removed. I backed the car up and tried to use the handbrake to hold it on the sloping drive. Success! It held perfectly. 

It turned out to be simpler than I thought it would be.










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