Handbrake tensioning

[mjb]

Well I've spent this evening trying to do something with the near-useless handbrake. Jacked the car in the air, took the wheels off, took the handbrake off, tightened the adjusters as tight as I could so there's no way the disc's moving... and inside it's still 6 clicks until the lever's tight

I let the handbrake handle down, slackened the adjusters off 2 notches each so the discs spin with mild rubbing, and inside it's STILL 6 clicks until tight

Wtf?

New cable time? What's the labour likely to be on that (no way am I taking those bloody shoes off again!)

[teamster1975]

Took me about 3 hours to change the cables, after contending with rusty bolts & screws! Not a bad job.

[jasper5]

Have you tried tightening the adjuster inside the car?

Mine is rock solid on 4 clicks.

[teamster1975]

Have you tried tightening the adjuster inside the car?

Is there one on D8's jasper? To be honest I didn't see one.

[jasper5]

Good question

On my D9 the adjuster is on the lever itself under the plastic cover just in front of the base of the lever.

[mjb]

I've had a look but I can't see an adjuster inside. Where is it?

[Panda]

On my D9 estate, there is an adjustment possible on the main (central) cable where it connects to the handbrake lever. The cable terminates in a threaded rod with a nylon insert type nut on the end of it. Quite hard to access properly without removing the centre console.

[EvilTwin]

Centre consoles relatively easy to pop off, had it out to clean underneath when i got the car.

[poddack]

My D8 estate has just failed the MOT on the hand brake. I have replaced all 3 cables and both sets of shoes. Adjusted both sets of shoes as per the Haynes comic. It now seems to work fine but needs about 11 clicks of the handbrake. I can see no adjustment on the handbrake lever only inside the drums and at the back of the car where all 3 cables meet. This has been adjusted with the handbraked released so the wheels turn. We shall see on my retest.

[steve_earwig]

IGNORE HAYNES!!! This worked on my D9 - get the back in the air, free off the cable adjuster (where the three cables meet as above) to make sure it actually does adjust, that it's not been over-adjusted and give you a chance to figure out if any of the cables are frozen. Wind the brake shoe adjusters until the disk locks and wind them off again until the disk is just lightly rubbing on the shoes. Then pull the handbrake up three clicks and adjust the cable adjuster until you can't turn the disks by hand. Handbrake off again to make sure they still turn. Job jobbed.

My D9 can do handbrake turns (if I was that way inclined), the handbrake had 5 or 6 clicks, now it has 7 so the cables are stretching. I think most of the problem is the cables do stretch and the leverage isn't properly worked out, all you end up doing is taking up the slack and, thinking you got to the end of the handbrake travel, you stop pulling when you're actually just starting to move the shoes. My theory is the shoe springs are way stronger than the need to be.

[BruceT]

The handbrake on our D9 Estate stops well once its engaged but it doesnt seem to do anything until at the top?

What attack method should I use?

[jasper5]

Right, I just had time to have a quick look at the internal cable adjuster on my 406, I will take a picture of it when I can get the car again.

The adjuster is at the drivers side of the handbrake lever where the lever comes through the plastic casing, you can clearly get at the adjusting screw (10mm nut) by fitting a 10mm 3/8th drive socket and extension down the gap between the lever and the plastic casing (you do NOT have to remove the centre console).
To make it easier to get at, just put something into the gap between the casing and the handbrake lever to open it up a bit, but if you look at it properly, it's dead easy to see how to adjust it.

D9 2001.

I would slacken off all the cables including the internal one, then adjust the handbrake shoes at the back, then tighten up the rear cable adjuster, finish off by adjusting the internal adjuster.

[mjb]

Think I'm definitely going to need a picture; I have no idea where you're on about that a socket extension could get through

[jasper5]

The nut is there in the middle of the pic, the red thing is the handle of a kitchen knife.

[Panda]

On my D9 estate, there is a black metal spring clip just under the adjuster nut on the handbrake lever. If you try to slacken the adjuster nut whilst there is any tension at all on the cable, the aforementioned spring clip will disengage due to the inevitable twist in the threaded part of the cable (the adjuster nut is a nylok so there is a lot of friction). The black spring clip thing is quite fiddly to refit so best to avoid disengaging it.

I'd suggest the following approach:

1. Release tension from the cable completely using the adjuster under the car
2. If you can easily remove your centre console then do so. Otherwise release the back two screws of the centre console (and the rear ashtray) and then carefully prise up the back of the console enough to get a good look at the thing.
3. Grip the flats on the cable (just before the threaded end section) and then tighten up the adjuster nut as required
4. Retension the cable from the adjuster under the car