No handbrake please help

[leec1]

Hi guys i was hoping your collective knowledge could help me out. i have a 2000 north face explorer in the uk. and the hand brake will not hold at all its had new disks, shoes and pads but no joy. The lever feels fine and my mechanic tell me the there is no way to adjust the cable. Please help he has spent 16 hrs on this and tells me he does not know where to go from here its driving me mad (and broke). Thanks for you time. cheers

 

[janolsson]

Hi leec1
No there is no adjustment in the cable. The cables can seize in the cowel. The way to adjust is at the shoe mech. Once fitted there is an oval hole in the back plate. Thro this you can turn the spur in the mechanism to push the shoes to the drum surface. Do this, with the handbrake off, until you feel a drag on turning the wheel. If after doing this if the handbrake doesn't work then your cable is stretched or seized and stretched.
HTH
Also come say hi to the guys in the UK. On the front page scroll down to clubs and land issues and we are there!!
Welcome

 

[budwich]

Pity you say... . The cable doesn't just "grow" (ie. created) in the vehicle. It can be replaced if there is an issue OR as some have done in the forum, "modify" it to be shorter. The "modification" usually involves "folding" the cable on itself (somewhere along the body route where it won't bind against guides and such) and then using some form of lead crimps to maintain the fold. Having said that, one should make sure that the brake system is actually operating correctly and freely at the drums as there are lots of points along the way that may need attention to ensure smooth operation.

 

[leec1]

cheers guys yeah he says that the brakes are only just moving so seems like a stretched cable but reckons you cant fold and clamp the cable it will fail the MOT

 

[budwich]

Guess that leaves you with only one likely solution.... :-( a gun... oops you are overseas... a club...

 

[Ilikemice]

We got around the issue by making a spacer to fit round the front cable where it attaches to the rear half of the cable under the truck. It must have only been a few mm extra but it was enough to for the brake to work well enough to pass the MOT

 

[janolsson]

cheers guys yeah he says that the brakes are only just moving so seems like a stretched cable but reckons you cant fold and clamp the cable it will fail the MOT

Have the shoes been adjusted properly as i outlined above? (I say properly but the proper method involves using vernier to measure the inner of the drum then matching less a couple of mm to outer of the shoes).
I had to adjust mine til there was considerable drag and then only back off slightly to get enough holding force.

 

[janolsson]

We got around the issue by making a spacer to fit round the front cable where it attaches to the rear half of the cable under the truck. It must have only been a few mm extra but it was enough to for the brake to work well enough to pass the MOT

HIJACK
Hey you been fightin recently?? LOL

END HIJACK

 

[Ilikemice]

Sorry I'll try to explain better. The problem I had was the cable was stretched to a point where I couldn't adjust it to work to MOT standards. I tried doing it the right and ordered a cable from Ford... except they didn't care and I never got the cable I was promised.

The cable is in two sections, the front single cable going to the handbrake lever and a set of cables that then go to each rear wheel. These two sections meet in the middle of the car and are attached to each other by a tube thing with a slot in the side to accept the cable ends and keep them together. I got out the crayons and drew a diagram of where I put a spacer. The spacer was a small thick steel tube, cut out and "wrapped" round the handbrake cable and carefully filed so it essentially extended the thick metal "end" of the cable:

The spacer was only a few mm thick but it does the job and was enough to make the handbrake work. Yes I know it's bodge-tastic but I needed a handbrake and it's worked and will certainly get me through this year's MOT too.

 

[austinmob]

Cable stretch sounds right but here is anaother remedy. If your rear suspension has sagged, you will lose your handbrake so get your springs re done and put the car back to the level it originally was and you may find your probelm over. I say this because i read one truck owner raised his suspension for some off road fun and found his Handbrake worked properly after the raise. Prioir to the raise it was the same situation as you.

 

[leec1]

Sorry I'll try to explain better. The problem I had was the cable was stretched to a point where I couldn't adjust it to work to MOT standards. I tried doing it the right and ordered a cable from Ford... except they didn't care and I never got the cable I was promised.

The cable is in two sections, the front single cable going to the handbrake lever and a set of cables that then go to each rear wheel. These two sections meet in the middle of the car and are attached to each other by a tube thing with a slot in the side to accept the cable ends and keep them together. I got out the crayons and drew a diagram of where I put a spacer. The spacer was a small thick steel tube, cut out and "wrapped" round the handbrake cable and carefully filed so it essentially extended the thick metal "end" of the cable:

The spacer was only a few mm thick but it does the job and was enough to make the handbrake work. Yes I know it's bodge-tastic but I needed a handbrake and it's worked and will certainly get me through this year's MOT too.

Bloody ell still no joy but this diagram might just be the one fingers crossed cheers matey