Handbrake Cable

[Nouveau]

My handbrake has always been rather useless but now it takes 15 clicks to lock up!....Anyone had a new handbrake Cable fitted and how much? (including fitting)
I'm told there are two types...is this correct!?

 

[xenon]

A "new" handbrake? Do you mean the lever, the cable, the shoes, the springs, the ratchet adjuster or the whole thing?! Can't you just adjust it?

 

[Nouveau]

The title does say "Handbrake Cable"...and that's the part I'm refering to..I've Put Cable inbetween " handbrake fitted"..to avoid further confusion

 

[xenon]

If there is no adjustment left the logical conclusion is that either the cable is stretched or the shoes are worn. I would imagine a new cable will do it but in answer to your exact question I have not personally had one fitted as mine had quite a lot of adjustment left when it cam to MOT time. Before that I left it in gear 'cos the handbrake isn't up to much at the best of times.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Mine was about £300! []

Can't remember the cost of the cable but it wasn't cheap. The labour was hours as every bit was seized and the shoes were all re-fitted with new springs at the same time.

 

[Nouveau]

That's a CRAZY Price...

 

[944psi]

ECP are showing a short and long cable at £23 and £33 ea. Never touched the cables myself but have replaced all springs in the drum and adjusted the handbrake as per the manual. Can't imagine why it would take so long to do .... unless it is a case of "it's a porsche mate innit!" said after sucking in air through teeth and rubbing hands in glee![]

Phil

 

[elvis]

Cable isn't that hard to do if you get the back of the car up on stands BUT before you do that have you tried adjusting the handbrake shoes?

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/brake-05.htm describes it better than I could. I can't see the handbrake cable stretching that far, all the ones I've ever replaced have been seized rather than stretched.

If it's got this bad it's probably worth pulling off the rear disks and having a look at the mechanisms in there if adjustment alone doesn't help.

Tim

PS: Don't know if the cables changed over time but on an S2 the 'long' cable goes from the lever via a mount on the rear axle cross tube to the nearside (I think..) drum. There is also a 'short' cable that goes from the aforementioned centre mount to the offside drum. Check that the centre mount is still done up as that doesn't do the handbrake action any good either...

 

[Nouveau]

I think I may have shot a Shoe as now the Rear Wheel... Drivers side is Locked on with the Handbrake Off!...I have taken the wheel off and given it a thump with a Hammer...A mountain of Dust Escaped!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Can't imagine why it would take so long to do .... unless it is a case of "it's a porsche mate innit!" said after sucking in air through teeth and rubbing hands in glee!

Lol, actually it was a Porsche-trained indie!

So I guess that the parts - two cables, 4 shoes, all springs etc. - were the thick end of £100. To strip everything down, including the front assembly, as everything was seized, re-assemble and adjust was about 3 hours work. At London labour rates that's not going to get you far short of another £200. Then there's 17.5% on everything.

I know mine was particularly bad, and he explained all the way through what the problems were. I saw most of it done and it was a pig of a job. The handbrake shoes were not far off an hour alone, as everything had become jammed together when they popped off at some speed! 2 hours to remove and fit the new cable, put it all back together and adjust doesn't seem impossible.

Just goes to show how the time to do a job on a 20-yr-old car can vary wildly according to how smoothly it goes. That's one reason I hate menu-pricing, I always get the impression they price to worst-case levels.