Sunday morning handbrake question

[handi_andi]

Hi all
I thought I would try and remove my umbrella handbrake today as I need to do a small amount of welding on it but don't want to do it in the car for obvious reasons.

I have removed the lower clamping bolt, have disconnected the assembly from the car but for the life of me can not work out how to remove the cable from the mechanism. I have plenty of slack but can not find where the cable is hooked on. Please can someone point me in the right direction, for reference I have attached a couple of pictures below.

Thanks

Andy

[RotoFlexible]

Assuming your handbrake is the same as on a baby Elan...

You need to pull the handbrake out until it stops (which means you need lots and lots of slack). There is a little button on the handbrake frame (for lack of a better word), near the handle end on the side that has the ratchet teeth. Depress that with a small punch or something. The handbrake shaft will now come all the way out and provide access to the cable attachment.

Alternatively, you could use the Gary Anderson approach - weld in the car and have a hefty fire extinguisher or bucket of water handy.

[handi_andi]

Well I braved the Gary Anderson approach thanks, oen fire extingisher, five pieces of wood to surround the piece in question to catch the weld splatter, short bursts of welding, and a hell of alot of nerve!

Problem now is that I appear to have too much slack in the handbrake cable and the adjuster is almost out of thread, anyone got any idea what is going on bar a stretched cable and its time to replace? The words "I hope not" do spring to mind...

Thanks

Andy

[iain.hamlton]

Andy,

I am not quite sure if this is what you want to do, but to remove the cable from the handbrake itself, you need to unhook the cable at the bellcrank (hand brake tree) at the back, and simply pull the lever out of its slide. The cable is is clipped into a slot in the handbrake, and can be released once free of the slide. If you want to change the the cable, just keep pulling. However it is a bit of game to thread the new one in.

I changed from the your handbrake-type to the pull-and-twist type. I find it gives more room around the warning switch.

best regards, iain

[hatman]

Andy,
you need to unhook the cable at the bellcrank (hand brake tree) at the back, and simply pull the lever out of its slide. If you want to change the the cable, just keep pulling. However it is a bit of game to thread the new one in.

This may qualify as the daftest suggestion yet as I've never had to involve myself with the handbrake and/or cable but, if you decide to pull the cable through, why not attach the new cable to the released end of the existing one, thereby installing the new one at the same time as removing the old one? (Or should I get my coat and leave quietly?)

[handi_andi]

Iain
If I do have to replace it, my intention is to do exactly that all the way up to the adjuster, although from there on it will have to be fed through by hand. Cable looks in good condition though and can not see it has streteched, hence a bit flumexed as to why it appears to be two to three inches longer than it should in myu opinion be. Am tempted to put a u-bolt type wire clip on at the rear end to shorten it, which would leave the original termination as back up.
Thanks
Andy

[JATLAN4]

It might be stating the obvious but I assume you've got the handbrake adjustment correct at the disc before trying to adjust cable length. I was surprised how much slack was taken up by proper adjustment of the pad position when I thought my cable had stretched.
John

[handi_andi]

Yeah I put in a new set of pads and adjusted the gap and was then surprised to find alot of slack in cable, so tried to take up slack with adjuster only to find it at its maximum adjustment forward thus indicating I have too much length. If I pull on handbrake it goes on and locks wheels, but doesn't stiffen up until always last click upwards, where as I thought with new pads it should be somwehere down the bottom.

Thanks

Andy

[JATLAN4]

Ok with new pads handbrake lever should only need say 3 clicks to lock.
I must admit that many people including myself have claimed to have a stretched cable but it always seems to be something else.
I know that I'm stating the obvious but of course the pad clearence is critical. I think the manual suggests 40thou clearence but in reality it needs to be much closer than that. In otherwords tighten until it bites then back off until very gentle rubbing occurs. Are the discs fairly new or is there any run out? Are the wheel bearings ok?
John

[handi_andi]

I did ignore the manual over the clearance bit and did do just that, glad I was right about it thanks. I have to admit that I probably do need to check disc thickness as I have no idea by eye what thickness they are meant to be. Let me guess they are a pain to change if I need to?

Andy