Hand Brake balance problem.....

[Ross]

This is on a friends ea82t wagon. Failed a warrant of fitness check because hand brake barely works at all on the right hand side. Works fine on other side.

 

brake pads are fine.

 

Both cables are getting around equal tension from the lever, that seems fine.

One thing i noticed was that the caliper lever is pulled around almost to the cable housing mount when the brake is applied- this is similar on both sides. Looks as though the little boots may be actually stopping the lever from moving any further than this, which could be the problem.

 

Is there any way that the caliper lever can be adjusted so as it doesn't need to turn so far?

 

 

Cheers.

[Snowman]

It's my understanding that the reason you have to turn the caliper pistons back in on these cars is that you are backing off the parking brake self-adjustment mechanism. Perhaps if you turned the caliper piston back out a ways on that side, the problem would at least be fixed temporarily. I'm guessing that the adjustment mechanism is binding up or otherwise stuck, and not adjusting properly.

[Subarian]

If you're getting equal tension at both sides, the only thing I can think of is internal.

 

There's a loose, semi-ratcheting arrangement inside the piston. I say semi-ratcheting because I don't know how else to describe it. It doesn't actually have a ratchet pawl, but it adjusts by turning within the piston. If contamination and gunk have fouled those threads, it might not be adjusting itself. The only way to fix that is to rebuild the caliper, which isn't terribly difficult or expensive. The rebuild kit includes a new seal and boot (for the piston) and you just clean it out really well with brake parts cleaner and reassemble.

[Ross]

Does the position of the lever here (shown with brake applied) look normal, or is it too far around?

[Subarian]

Out of curiosity, how's the rotor thickness? And are both sides the same thickness?

[Ross]

Out of curiosity, how's the rotor thickness? And are both sides the same thickness?

 

 

Havn't measured, but they look fine. Caliper should adjust itself for that anyway.

[Ross]

OK, got it to pass the test. It must be a worn adjustment mechanism or something, i got it to adjust a little bit better by winding the pistons in then re installing the caliper. then i moved the lever on the caliper through its entire travel a few times by hand. Still not good, and it'll have the same problem again in six months time i think, but its fixed in the mean time.