Help! Handbrake not releasing!

[Jupp318]

Yesterday I fitted new rear discs, took it out for a test drive, everything seemed fine with my rear-end vibration gone away. I returned home and parked up and pulled on the handbrake. I just went to use the 'ro again and it has the handbrake stuck on, can't go forwards or backwards.

Can anybody tell ne how to fix this? Will definately be worth a pint or 2

[ARAF]

If you can't unlatch the lever in the car due to too much tension, look to see if there is an adjuster on the cable under the car or by each wheel that you can loosen off.

If the level goes down but the shoes are stuck to the drum, then rocking back wards and forwards may just release them. Careful with your clutch though.

[Jupp318]

The in-car lever moves fine but the dog-clutch part of the hand brake is stuck on. The hand brake was working fine with the new discs so I didn't touch the handbrake bits at all. The nearest I came to doing anything to the hand brake was to blow all the dust out using my compressor.

[ARAF]

Jupp318 said:

The in-car lever moves fine but the dog-clutch part of the hand brake is stuck on. The hand brake was working fine with the new discs so I didn't touch the handbrake bits at all. The nearest I came to doing anything to the hand brake was to blow all the dust out using my compressor.

So it's the ratchet in the car under the lever? That has happened before on here - with it going past the point of no return.

I'll have a search....

This? http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=128...

Or this? http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by ARAF on Saturday 13th September 13:43

Edited by ARAF on Saturday 13th September 13:47

[Jupp318]

Thanks for that but I still don't think either of these describes my woes. I have the 'ro jacked up and after a bit of rubber mallet use (they are new discs after all!) I got a disc off. I can tell you that the cables are not taught and the flange rotates a tiny bit back & forth. I think I found a little problem in that the handbrake shoe mounting slots were horizontal not vertical and the adjustment was wound to the minimum so tight I couldn't shift it.

What I don't know is where the dog-clutch part of the hand brake is as I cant turn the disc enough to adjust the drum part of the hand brake. I have a feeling it must be on the prop shaft or the back of the gearbox.

[L2VXR]

I've reattached the pics in this thread if thats any help.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[L2VXR]

I've reattached the pics in this thread if thats any help.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Jupp318]

Thanks for the reply's guys. I hope it didn't seem that I wasn't grateful for the advice and help but my Virgin Media Home Hub blew up on Saturday morning leaving me with no internet, not a good start to the day. I had to keep phoning my Mum to get the replies to my post.

Well the truth is somewhat embarrassing, Having posted about the EBC Brakeshop AFTER I had ordered my discs I realised I had probably made a mistake, the second mistake was not to read the instruction that said to remove the anti rust "Coating" on the rear discs. Looking back at the boxes they came in it does say quite clearly that this "Coating" should be removed. What I didn't realise was that this "Coating" was in fact paint. When I took the car out to bed the discs in a little bit the paint melted and filled up the grooves in the middle of the pads and it all got a bit hot, but when I applied the handbrake it would appear that the shoes virtually welded themselves to the discs. I didnt try moving the 'Ro again until the following morning, and that's when it didn't move. I tried rocking it to & fro gently on the clutch but it would budge. The part of these handbrakes I do not understand is how they act almost as a dog-clutch which is why I thought there was another mechanism as well as the shoes in the rear discs.

I removed the first disc I had fitted and looked at the Handbrake shoe and cleaned it up. I couldn't get the holes to line up to adjust the handbrake as the axle still wouldn't turn. At this point I was working with the cars own jack, I didn't want to crawl under the car to look for the "transmission brake" that doesn't exist! on just the wheel changing jack. I got my 2 trolley jacks out and jacked it up properly, not easy on something so low. When I tried to remove the second disc I had to use a rubber mallet as it didn't want to budge but when it finally did (breaking the "Weld") it came off easily. Of course then the axle would turn and all I had to do was to clean off the shoes and pads to get rid of the paint and to use thinners to remove the paint from the handbrake drum surfaces. Of course the I realised then, that there was no "Transmission Brake". When everything was refitted it all worked fine.

I thought I had better fess-up in the hope it will stop somebody else making the same bloke type mistakes (Not reading the instructions!). I would still like to understand how the handbrakes snap-on. I get how the cable operates the little slave cylinder to expand the shoes into the drum, it's just that snap action that I cannot fathom.

Thanks again for the advice...

[SturdyHSV]

Whilst we're on the subject of the handbrake and how it works, you mention dog-clutch and such, are you referring to the way the handbrake doesn't seem to be progressive, it's either on or off?

Sorry if not, I just thought I'd chuck a stupid question in. Is that how the handbrake works or is it just my mis-interpretation? It seems basically you get past a certain activation point, and then that's it, fully applied? I generally just leave the car in gear instead of using the handbrake, it's just something I noticed the other day...

[Jupp318]

Absolutely!, but I did make a comment or maybe in a phone call to Monkfish but was told that's what they do and not to apply the hand brake whilst moving. I did notice yesterday when trying to track a vibration down, that when having the wheels spinning at 30mph up on jacks that if I dipped the clutch and just lifted the handbrake lever a minute amount, I got a handbrake flashing red light up on the dash along with an alarm. I guess that means it's not the done thing to do!!!.

[SturdyHSV]

Jupp318 said:

I guess that means it's not the done thing to do!!!.

Tell that to this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kno4nvGM8oc

[ARAF]

Thank's for 'fessing up. Plenty of people would have just gone quiet, rather than explaining what the problem was caused by. Reading instructions just isn't a bloke thing, so I'm sure most of us could have made exactly the same mistake.

Now you'd better sort out the router.

[Jupp318]

Having looked at the handbrake quite closely I'd love to know if this treatment often causes failures. As far as I can see all the braking effort is taken by the little slave cylinder, so it really depends on how strong the cylinder location is.