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The hill holder, explained(or how to rebuild it)


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***PART INFO:

I bought 3 o-rings from Rocketseals(www.rocketseals.com/303-777-7024)

2x 2-110 EPR

1x 2-118 EPR

These are brake fluid safe, and should fit the hill holder.  I make no promises, but they worked for me in an '87 Brat rebuild.  Rocketseals is in Denver, and the parts cost me $1.40.  I asked about phone orders, and they said they do phone orders and ship.  The red circles indicate where the seals are that you are replacing.

 

 

 

Since I couldn't find any threads on this, and my hill holder was leaking, I decided to tear it apart today. To rebuild one, you really only need 3 o-rings, and 2 are the same size. The pictures should tell most of the story.

Pull it out of the car.
Remove the nut and cap on the spindle.
Remove the snap ring with the appropriate tool.
Remove the front cap with a large allen wrench/socket.
Remove the circle spring thing and ball bearing.
Remove the plastic insert.
Remove the metal rod with spring.
Remove the cam spindle(there are o-rings on it, so it might require force).
Replace o-rings, and put it back together in the opposite order.

Dirty, nastiness:
IMAG0801.jpg

Clean and disassembled:
IMAG0802.jpg
IMAG0803.jpg

Edited by Speedwagon
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I used standard o-rings that I had available. I know there is the potential of them degrading over time, but at least I'm not leaking right now. And I can source better ones.

 

The ones I used were: ID/OD mm 9.8/14.6 and 22/28. I did save the old ones though, incase I need to go back in there soon.

Edited by Speedwagon
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Hey Speedy

 

IIRC what you want are Nitril O-rings, It's the same stuff that they use in the brake rebuild kits.

 

Ed

 

This is incorrect. Nitrile (AKA Buna-N) is NOT recommended for brake fluids. EPDM (AKA Ethylene-Propylene) is the commonly available, recommended material. Here are a couple sources for this info:

 

http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/oring/oring_chemical.cfm?SC=Brake%20Fluid

 

http://www.allorings.com/compatibility.htm (look under "Automotive Brake Fluid")

 

Standard O-rings are Buna-N. I would recommend getting the right O-rings and doing it right from the start rather than having to redo it and re-bleed the system.

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Turns out there is a place local to me, that has all kinds of various seals and o-rings.

 

Found the proper type of rubber at this place. Next week I'll pull the HH apart, and verify these fit and work. If they do, I'll post up the info so anyone can order these.

Edited by Speedwagon
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Turns out there is a place local to me, that has all kinds of various seals and o-rings.

 

Found the proper type of rubber at this place. Next week I'll pull the HH apart, and verify these fit and work. If they do, I'll post up the info so anyone can order these.

 

That would be very helpful, thanks in advance.

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  • 2 months later...

This is going to be a newb question, but how do you know if your ride has a hill holder and it just doesnt work? I just bought a 85 BRAT last weekend and it doesn't seem like there is a hill holder on it, but maybe it's just broken. Where do you locate it under the car? Like I said, real new to all this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is going to be a newb question, but how do you know if your ride has a hill holder and it just doesnt work? I just bought a 85 BRAT last weekend and it doesn't seem like there is a hill holder on it, but maybe it's just broken. Where do you locate it under the car? Like I said, real new to all this.

 

One way to tell is to come to a stop on an uphill.  You will have the clutch pushed in and the brake pushed in, Hold the clutch in and release the brake while keeping the clutch held down. If you do not roll backwards, you have a hill holder.

 

Basically the hill holder is an auxillary valve that holds the brake pressure until the clutch is released. Look at your master cylinder. If there is a hill holder, you will see what looks like a metal brake line going from the master cylinder to this hill holder valve and that valve will have a cable that connects to the clutch.

 

0900c1528006754e.gif

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One of mine has the cable removed. Thinking about re installing and seeing what happens. I really like the hill holder on my sedan.

 

The brake guy told me once he hated that hill holder becuse it is tricky getting the cable adjusted just right. But I was able to do it after I pulled the engine end put it back in. When the cable nut is adjusting wronge either the brakes bind slightly or do not engage correctly when you release the brake while holding the clutch. Once you get used to it though nothing beats this feature on a hill.

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