The handbrake!

[seismic22]

Hi there,
Have trawled all the old threads on here and have found numerous ways off tightening the handbrake. My question is, what is the definitive way to tighten the handbrake!

It was gettin dark when i started on the handbrake but so far i have wound both adjustors in the drum as far as they would go and then slackend off a little. That didnt do anything. Also when i cranked the nearside adjuster as far as it would go it was not enough for the disk to lock, so should i assume the pads have had it?

I then tried to adjust the cable, turning the thread on the white triangle at the back of the car but to no avail, the metal ring that the thread screws into behind the white plastic was turning as well. It then got too dark really and i had had enough for the day.

Cheers

[jasper5]

Glad you got the other job sorted

My guess would be that you may have screwed the adjuster wheel the wrong way if it didn't lock, one side screws opposite to the other.Put a paint or tipex mark on the backplate to help you line up the hole and the adjuster wheel.
Anyway, there is an adjuster at the side of the handbrake lever (shine a torch down the side of the lever and you will see a 10mm spanner size nut, right hand side if I remember), use a 3/8th drive socket and bar and slacken it off, then slacken the cable under the car, now tighten the adjusters inside the drum (disc)....next tighten up the cable under the car until the slack is gone but the discs turn, then take up the slack on the adjuster inside the car.

If you still can't lock the disc with the adjuster have a look at the shoes.

[neildavies]

Do 406's come with a handbrake? I've had 2, they both have the handle between the seats, but it's rarely done anything.

Seriously though, it is posssible to adjust them through the hole on the disc, but it's better if you look at a photo of what's behind there so you know what your doing. Mine's now adjusted as far as it goes, so I'm just waiting for the cable to snap so i can start again.

[jasper5]

Mine had a very good handbrake

[robb]

What a coincidence my handbrake slipped today pulled it up to usual clicks turned engine off bent down to get something off the floor and rolled straight into my son in laws MG luckily no damage to either car

[steve_earwig]

You know the adjusting instructions in Haynes? Well, just ignore them, they're wrong.

[gRoberts]

Of all the cars I have owned, NONE have worked correctly as far as the handbrake is concerned.

When the car is wet or cold, the handbrake works a treat but any other time, I pull it up to the point where you feel it can't go any further and then you hear creaking and it starts rolling so I have to pull it up a final notch to keep it still.

How the hell it passes an MOT each year I don't know but I'm a little weary of the breaks on mine.

[maglite1]

my hand brake failed the mot and as other jobs where being done by garage they also done the hand brake , i was in the garage when car was on ramp with new pads fitted and sytmem bled for air , the guy just adjusten mine up using the adjuster in centre of car roughly above back crossmember its working fine .

[mjb]

How the hell it passes an MOT each year I don't know but I'm a little weary of the breaks on mine.

I suspect every MOT tester is well aware of how poor 406 handbrakes are

[gRoberts]

Ironically, I get my car repaired, serviced and MOT'd at a Peugeot/Citreon specialists.

Although they don't know what's causing my car to transform into a Toyota.

[maglite1]

g roberts where abouts r u based ? probably no relation at all but im alan roberts lol . i never done brakes this time as i bought my pug off ebay with no tax or test and just put it in garage to be done but im sure ide get handbrake to work spot on when i come to do it .

[jasper5]

I'd love to have a look at one of these with a bad handbrake to find out why they are so bad, mine worked very well, so i'm wondering why the others don't.

[seismic22]

how do you adjust the white triangle adjuster at the rear of the car? the hand brake works well on my car it just points at the roof. Due to really worrying that im not getting my dissertation done for uni i have just booked it in for an mot and said if it fails on the handbrake adjust it for me but i would like to be able to adjust the handbrake myself from now onwards. As previously mentioned i have given it a go and cant seem to quite work out the centre adjustor as it didnt really do anything when i tried to play with it.

[jasper5]

From what I remember the threaded bolt has a locking nut on it, undo the locking nut and screw the adjusting nut into the threaded bar, you may have to hold the bolt with mole grips so that the nut can turn....be careful if the nut and bolt are rusted up, it may snap off.
You can try adjusting the handbrake from inside the car, there is an adjusting nut there by the side of the handbrake lever.

[seismic22]

Yes, i will look at the inside adjustor like you previously mentioned but i just wnated to know about the rear adjustor too. I slacked off the locking nut but when tried to turn the thread it did not seem like it was going anywhere, ill have to have a "third" look! If anyones got any annotated photos they want to share and/or fancy putting a thread in the knowledge based section im sure we would all be grateful!