Handbrake useless

[hogweed]

The cable's well adjusted etc, lever good and tight, but it hardly holds the car even on a gentle hill... and I suspect it's sticking on slightly too.

I seem to remember there's somewhere they seize up at the back, but can't find it here...?

Thanks

[Fushion_Julz]

drums or discs, fella?

[dazleeds]

fooked handbrake shoes poss??

[hogweed]

drums or discs, fella?

Erm... think it's a combination? I'll check though, silly of me...

[320Touring]

drums or discs, fella?

Erm... think it's a combination? I'll check though, silly of me...

yup its discs with an inbuilt drum for the handbrakes

[Brianmoooore]

Someone's been playing with the cable adjusters at the handbrake lever, haven't they.
The adjusters at the handbrake are for taking up the slack in the cables only, and should rarely need adjusting once the've been set up.
The handbrake wear adjustment is performed through one of the wheel bolt holes.
If the cables have been wrongly adjusted for a long time, then the shoes may have worn unevenly and need replacing.
You really need to remove the rear drum/disc and check/set up everything again from scratch.
Check the condition of the rear discs first, as it's all a bit pointless if they are on their last legs.

[Fushion_Julz]

:yeahthat:

wot he said

[hogweed]

Someone's been playing with the cable adjusters at the handbrake lever, haven't they.

Not me I assure you! I rarely play with anything these days (Oo-er Missus). I've had the car 5 years and it's always been like that. I just leave it in gear when I park.

But a couple of years ago, on the old zone, I saw a little pic of some sort of widget in the back brake which apparently seizes up and greatly reduces the movement of the shoes...?

Or is it just adjustment etc, as the estimable Mr Mooooore says?

Hogweeeeed

[gareth]

mine is a massive amount better after a new set of handbrake shoes, pads and disks. not at all expensive. (about Ԛ£55 from GSF iirc)

i fitted all the new bits, freed off the linkages in the handbrake drum part and then slackened off the cables. with the cables slack, adjust the mechanism inside the drum until it's just short of dragging and then adjust the cables up to get the correct amount of movement of the handbrake lever. the result... a tourer with 225's on the back which is cabable of a handbrake turn! (they do go out of adjustment quickly if you do this a lot though...)

[Brianmoooore]

Not me I assure you! I rarely play with anything these days (Oo-er Missus). I've had the car 5 years and it's always been like that. I just leave it in gear when I park.

But a couple of years ago, on the old zone, I saw a little pic of some sort of widget in the back brake which apparently seizes up and greatly reduces the movement of the shoes...?

Or is it just adjustment etc, as the estimable Mr Mooooore says?

Hogweeeeed

Can't be that bad, unless you don't bother with minor details like MOTs.
If they haven't worked for five years it's quite likely they've seized by now. Strip the whole lot down and rebuild like gareth says.