Handbrake Adjustment

[alanrichey]

Can someone confirm for me the procedure to tighten the handbrake cable on a Superspec (I assume the handbrake is off a Sierra).

 

Is it the large white knurled plastic nuts that go through the chassis member ? Or on the bowden cable itself nearer the handbrake lever ?

 

Assuming it;s the white ones, do I adjust both equally or just one of them ? And do I screw them out of the chassis member (towards the back of the car) to tighten the cable, or screw them into the chassis member ?

 

Cheers

 

Al

[Guest 2b cruising]

Make sure wheel adjusters are working correctly first. Adjust them out as far as you can while still being able to fit the drum without binding.

Then adjust white wheels out of chassis to lenghten the outer cable taking up the slack out of the inner.

HTH. Ken.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

just as Ken has described.

 

Set the drums up with the hand brake cable slack.

 

Once both drums are just rubbing but free turning then take the slack out of the cable.

 

If you just tweek the cable you run the risk of the shoes being lifted off the wheel cylinders giving you a long brake pedal.

[alanrichey]

Thanks, good advice, but my question was a lot more basic than that. Have never done this before and wanted to understand how it works before getting under the car. Let me try again.

 

I have the standard 2 cables going through the chassis member, each with two white knurled knobs and what is apparently a floating plastic white washer, So how do they work ? Are they:

 

1. A unit that screws into the chassis with the outer knob acting as a lock nut. So I would loosen the outer knob and then screw the inner knob anticlockwise to move it away from the chassis member to take up the slack and then tighten up the outer knob ?

 

2. A unit that simply sits into a hole in the chassis member. so in that case I would grip the outer knob and turn the inner knob clockwise to increase the distance between them to take up the slack ?

 

And am I supposed to adjust both equally ? The Sierra manual seems to suggest you only adjust one of them and the cable will self adjust ?

 

And what is the purpose of the floating washer ?

 

Thanks

 

Al

Edited May 17, 2015 by alanrichey

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Sorry Alan

 

Some builders me included fitted a second set of cable adjusters so as not to need to cut the inner cable, by allowing more adjustment of the outer cable.

The OE cable just had one set of white wheels.

 

Richards exlination above explains it.

[alanrichey]

OK, all done, and Richard was correct. The crucial bit of information I hadn't realised before I asked the question was that the outer cable itself was threaded and that the whole plastic unit moved along the cable. I know Ken and Ian told me to check the adjustors, but in this case I felt it wasn't essential. My problem was that the handbrake did not start to 'bite' until the 4th or 5th click of the ratchet and wasn't full on until I did 7 or 8 clicks. So I just wound the cable in a bit so that it now starts to bite on the 2nd-3rd click and is fully on the 5th click. Feels much more positive and no sign of binding even on the first click..

 

I did finish up tweaking them both equally, just in case, and the picture is before I tightened the second locknut. Still not sure what the purpose of the extra washers are ?

.

 

Al

Edited May 17, 2015 by alanrichey

[Guest janis]

Interesting..i was looking how to adjust handbrake just few days ago..now i know how..

[alanrichey]

My guess is those washers were originally intended to stop the other end chafing - i.e. where it goes through the panel or bracket before your brake. Possibly the cable was a stock item and those gromets not required on your setup?

Yes, that makes sense. I guess on a tintop there may be a further panel to go through that doesn't exist on ours.