Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:46 pm, by: Nenad Ristovski(Nickr)
Hi There, Wondering if anyone could tell me how and where to adjust the hand brake on the rear wheels?I have adjusted it at the hand brake but it still comes up too far.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 07:27 am, by: Justin Cook(Justin)
You can't adjust the hand brakes at the wheels, the only place is at the hand brake.
You could possible however whack in a couple of washers around where the cable from the hand brake meets the two cables that go to the wheels. They meet under the car, you will see it easily enough when you get under there. cut the washers, and slip them on then find someway to keep them there.
Either your pads are getting low or your cables are stretched. Think about getting someone to check out the hand brake pads.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 10:42 am, by: Andrew Ferres(Peewee)
Are you sure there is no adjustment at the wheels?
Every car I've worked on does, and the users manual always says to never adjust it at the handbrake, but to always adjust it at the wheels.
The way I've always done it is to back the nuts at the handbrake end all way off, so the cable is slack.
Then you remove the rear wheels, calipers, disc. You will see two handbrake shoes. Where they meet at the bottom there will be windy disc thing (hard to describe, easy to spot). You adjust this so that with the handbrake off its just not touching the disc (you have to adjust it, put the disc on, turn the disc, check for drag etc)
You do this on both sides.
When you are happy with that, you then adjust the nuts at the handbrake end.
90% of the time it needs adjusting because its stretched. The other 10% is the wearing in the shoes.
Unless you drive around a lot with the handbrake on, the shoes will almost outlast the car.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 12:12 pm, by: Anish Varsani(Yomama)
You can adjust without taking the disc off. There's a small rubber bung on the disc. Pop it out and you'll be able to see the adjuster through the hole (looks like a gear).
Use a small screw driver to get in there and turn the adjuster.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 03:46 pm, by: Shane Ilich(Ferret)
Nenad - I had the rear drum off mine just yesterday to replace some burred wheelstuds.
You can get the drum off without much difficulty, and get at the little winder thingy easily.
1. Jack car up at rear end and take off wheel/s. LEAVE THE HANDBRAKE OFF.
2. Undo two bolts (top and bottom) holding brake caliper onto frame. They're 17mm. Tuck the claiper up out of the way using the suspension arm to the rear of the hub, or get some bricks and support it on them next to the wheel.
3. Using two M8 thread bolts, progressively screw them into the two holes on the drum just inside the wheel studs. This will push the drum out off the hub. Do like 2mm at a time on each bolt, so it comes off straight. You will need just over an inch of thread.
4. Pull the drum off, and you'll see the winder adjuster thingy you're after.
5. Adjust using the procedure Andrew mentioned.
6. Use three wheel nuts and some washers to tighten the drum back onto the hub when finished, then replace the caliper, and put the wheel back on.
As it happened, while I had the right drum off, I noticed I've actually got very little meat left on my shoes (also noticed my handbrake was fairly ineffective on a few corners at MC day on the weekend), so I'll probly get them replaced sometime in the near future.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 04:31 pm, by: Peter Nitschke(Pen)
The handbrake shoes don't have much meat anyway, as they are supposedly only used to keep the vehicle stopped. Don't expect them to look like the shoes on your old Morris Minor.
Sunday, September 17, 2006 - 12:44 am, by: Nenad Ristovski(Nickr)
Have successfully adjusted the hand brake on the rear disc.Thanks Shane for the instructions,they where very straight forward and easy once the wheels where off.The hand brake is nice and low now with still more adjusting left in it.
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