Handbrake

[rosie2]

My lovely Morris has decided to stop letting the handbrake work. It just slides down steep hills, and as we live on a hill, and most of the parking near us is on one, that's a bad thing. I have absolutely no knowledge of mechanical bits whatsoever, but is there any chance it might be something I can get my ex-Morris owning dad to fix for us when we go home for the weekend?

[bmcecosse]

Absolutely!! It's almost certainly down to seized up rear brake cylinders - or they may have leaked and put oil over the shoes. Just possible of course that one of the hand-brake cables has snapped - and you are now only using the one effective brake - but that would be showing up as increased travel on the handbrake. Best to get two new cylinders and a set of shoes in stock - then just replace the lot and check the cables are in one piece of course - and your brakes will as good as new. Not expensive - and not difficult to do - and this is a safety critical item so should ideally be repaired before the car is used again!

[Rob_Jennings]

there are 2 adjustments needed for handbrake before you start replacing parts.

First you need to adjust the rear brakes (this should be done regularly as it is necessary for handbrake and brakes)

- get car on level surface
- release handbrake
- loosen wheel nuts on rear wheel
- jack under diff casing to lift car
- remove wheel
- look for hole through to adjuster screw (visable when hole is towards the front of the car at about 4 O'clock position on drivers side, 8 O'clock on passenger side)
- turn screw so that hub cannot move and then back off by one click so it is free
- repeat for other wheel
- put it all back together and lower the car


Second the hand brake cables can be adjusted

this invloves taking the slack out of the cables with the adjuster screw on base of the handle.
handle should come up 3-4 click and the wheels should both lock, can take a lot of messing abuot to get it right but this adjustment is not needed very often.

If the cables are stretching then think about new ones

Also remember that the cables have a grease point that needs to be done once in a while to keep them moving freely

otherwise as said it could mean new cylinders if they are leaking or new shoes if they are badly worn.

[MarkyB]

I tend to adjust the handbrake cables while the car is still off the ground.
Adjust the rear shoes then pull the hand brake up till some resistance is felt then try turning each rear wheel by hand.
If one wheel is easier to turn than the other then release the hand brake and wind up the cable adjuster on that side until they are both about equal.
If you can't turn either wheel try one less click on the handbrake.
If you find one adjuster is a lot different at the handbrake it may be that a single cable has been replaced in the past and the other could do with replacing.
This works well as there is almost no automatic balancing mechanism on the handbrake.

[bmcecosse]

I'm afraid that if the handbrake is as described - car running down hill - it's going to be more than just a bit of adjustment! That would show as increased brake pedal travel - and increased handbrake travel - but the brakes would still work.
Just a point about the handbrake cable adjustments - this should rarely need doing - and if fitting new shoes and/or cylinders it's a good idea to slacken back the cables, fit the new parts, adjust up the rear shoes on the internal adjusters - and then adjust up the cables to give the handbrake 'feel' you like. I agree - this is best done with wheels off the ground.

[rosie2]

Thanks for all the help - my dad sorted it out for us this weekend, and the cable just needed tightening. It was lucky for us that the brake failed when it did, as we discovered that under the carpet the floor was swimming in water! The previous owners had just put new carpet on top when the old ones got wet, leaving us with six sodden layers of carpet and a rusty bottom! We caught it just in time...

[bmcecosse]

Well - i'm doubtful - because the cables should never (or very rarely) need tightening. But - as long as it's holding. It should lock the rear wheels if pulled on really hard at 20 mph.
Wet carpets are of course death to the floor - you need to find where the water is getting in!