Morris Minor Owners Club

My white bit has popped out of my handbrake lever, and now it won't work.

HELP

What do I do next...

Find it and pop it back in!

If you can't find it, you can buy them new from most of the suppliers or someone on here might have a spare.

You can still use the handbrake though but be careful you don't damage your thumb pushing the rod in.

Is this a new mod? An electrical handbrake?

Good point! Moved to Mechanical...

Why simmitc - doesn't everyone have an electrical handbrake.

I had the same problem a few months ago on one of my cars. The problem is that when the white end pops out you also loose the spring as well (I did anyway) and that stops the handbrake ratchet from working. You need the spring to act on the back of the white end to pull the pawl into the ratchet, so without the end the brake will not lock in place. I did find and bond the end back in but to be honest I wasn't very happy with this, the plastic seemed to be a bit oily and I wasn't sure how long the glue would hold. I think there is supposed to be a thread but it wasn't very well defined so I guess it had worn away over time. So I bought a new handbrake for £3 of eBay. Very simple to fit too.

Eric

Thanks Eric - I'll give that a go this evening. Luckily I found the spring.

You can actually pull it into place by hand and the 'tension' will keep it there, but it would be much better to replace the knob & spring or the entire assembly as Eric says.

As a tempoary fix you could always jam something under the lever if you're not sure the button will hold.

So if it pops off again - the ratchet will jump off and the car rolls away down a hill !! Get a new one.

Not quite!

Hills... right.

Never ever leave a car parked without being in gear as well as having the
handbrake on.

THANK YOU to all who helped - the handbrake is now sorted, after a little fiddling ( by Mrs whitefourdoor ) and a bit of luck.

Cheers again

Paul and Tracy

Willie wrote:Never ever leave a car parked without being in gear as well as having the
handbrake on.

...and if it's a convertible, get a padlock fitted on the handbrake too OK, so that was a D'rover, but it made a bit of a mess at the bottom of the hill.

and if its a pick up, put the sand and cement behind the rear wheels

This happened to me today. Which parts do I buy? A new knob, start clip, spring and washer? Will the rod need replacing due to the thread, or is it just the nylon knob thread which wears?

Ordered a second hand one off ebay, but there's every chance the knob was hammered on instead of assembled with the correct parts. Any idea? What do people usually do (or do they follow the hammer blow advice)?

Get a new button (Pt No: 21G5043 (MOSS)) and screw it on as it should be.

Thanks for the reply. I found the spring but cannot find the washers. Would it be safe to just put the spring and new knob on, without the two washers?