Progressively Poor Handbrake

[RICHARD MANSFIELD2]

Hi,

I have trawled through the threads in this section but cannot find any that can help me.

The handbrake on my Puma is getting steadily more inefficient.
It will not hold the car on the slope on my drive. It certainly would not pass the MOT.

I overhauled the brakes a while ago it has passed two MOT's since although it has not covered many miles. It had new shoes, cylinders braided hoses with fresh fluid. I have taken the drums off to check, there are no leaks the drums are not scored, all appears as it should. When the handbrake is applied the drums can not be turned, when the handbrake is release the drum can be spun freely. There is a slight binding noise but no resistance which would indicate that the adjustment is correct and the cable is functioning as it should.

Has any one suffered a similar problem or has any Ideas.

Regards,
Richard.

 

[Clemo]

I had problems for a long time and the garage would just keep bodging to get through MOTs as there was nothing obvious. On a recent trip the brake adjuster in the rear drum snapped and the replacement has cured my handbrake problems as well as improving the overall effectiveness of the brakes, much better feel. I can only assume there was a weakness there for a while before the part finally gave out.

 

[zinc2000]

sounds like you may have a dodgy adjuster, unless the adjuster takes up the slack properly the handbrake ceases to work no matter what you do.

Quick suggestion...back off the adjustment on the handbrake (under the centre consol) then press the pedal a couple of times, then re-adjust the handbrake, might just help.

 

[RICHARD MANSFIELD2]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply's.
I heard about slacken the hand brake and then pumping the pedal, tried it no difference. I am a capable mechanic and have over forty years experience of all sorts of cars and problems. This one has me stumped. I am thinking of going down the route of systematically changing the components as a process of elimination. The handbrake has worked well for over two years yet it appears that nothing has changed to cause the current problem..

Regards,
Richard.

 

[zinc2000]

Bit of a long shot but could the handbrake cable have become loose from one of its route mounting points, could still be capable of applying the brakes but not of getting any tighter ie to hold it on a slope.
Not sure how many points actually attached it to the chassis but may be worth a look