Handbrake MOT question

[Sandspider]

Hi all

It's that evil time of year when the MOT is due. I've booked the car in on Saturday (thinking that all was well) but took her out today and had a quick check of various things, and it takes 10 clicks to really lock my handbrake on. (This is requiried to hold the car on my drive, which is very steep). When it's been pulled to 10 clicks, it doesn't really have any spare tension left - I can't get more than 10 clicks out of it. I assume this is an MOT failure...?

However, the handbrake pads and shoes were replaced 4 or 5 months ago when they failed on me as I was driving. (Retaining nut broke and the brakes were forced on) I took the car back for adjustment about a month after the replacement as I thought there was too much pulling required to really get the brake on hard, but the garage bloke adjusted the handbrake through the hole in the wheel hubs and said they were as tight as they could be. I had a tweak of the adjustment cable where it joins the brake lever, but it didn't seem to make much difference.

Is there anything else I can do to try and sort this? Or will I pass the MOT as long as the handbrake holds the car? (My drive is steep - in normal driving, 6 or so clicks is more than enough to hold the car stationary). And finally, do I need to take the wheels off to access the adjusment holes in the hubs? (I assume yes but I'm hoping no as it's bloody cold out there!)

Thanks in advance for any help, I really need it to pass first time this time!

Cheers,

Giles

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Difficulty is defining "excessive travel" but 10 clicks is alot. Yes - you do need to take the wheels off and you'll need a long flat bladed screwdriver and a torch (even in daylight), its easy, if a bit fiddly! Its also cold here and wet! Mike

 

[robwright]

Hi mate IMHO and believe me my handbrake MOT nightmares are very fresh in my mind then that would fail MOT yes. Parking brake effeiciency should be 16% minimum. That is 16% the weight of the car, which is around 1300 Kilos. If you are getting that much travel then something is wrong. 3 clicks should be hard on. Either your shoes are not adjusted properly or your cable is too slack. Yes you need to remove the wheel to adjust your shoes via the hole. It is tricky but not too difficult. The shoes should literally be on the point of binding. All the adjustment is done here. Adjustment on the lever should only be to adjust the amount of travel you have (although minor adjustment can be made). If it helps remove the disc so you can see the shoes and the adjusting wheel before putting them back on and doing it. As they say a picture paints a thousand words. Any probs then feel free to PM me or call me. I have literally been through this parking brake MOT nightmare on a few weeks ago.

 

[Sandspider]

Thanks all. I just went out and tried it again, and it's pretty hard to actually lock the handbrake off at the full 10 clicks. I'm not too concerned about breaking efficiency - the car certainly stops when it's on, it's just the lack of any reserve travel. The irritating thing is, there's a couple of inches of adjustment space free on the big bolt which attaches the cable to the lever, but I can't shift a single one of the three securing nuts - they're really solid and there's just no room to get the leverage to turn them. (It's pretty hard even to get a spanner head or pliers around them, then the cable just rotates even if I have another spanner on one of the other nuts) Does anyone have any tips for getting these nuts undone? (I've soaked them in 3-in-1 oil, but no luck). If the shoes are properly adjusted (as the garage bloke said) I may really need to shift those nuts... If not, looks like I'll need the axle stands and wheels off tomorrow evening, and just to hope there is still some adjustment in the shoes. Bugger. Rob - I may be in touch tomorrow, thanks!

 

[Sandspider]

How hard is it to remove the driver's seat? :s Nothing on that at Clark's garage!

 

[Mike_Pollock]

4 bolts - front and back of each runner - thin walled 10mm socket works best as the runner is narrow. Can use an open ended spanner end on. If there electric seats undo connections first! Mike

 

[robwright]

It looks like three nuts on there but there are in fact only two. The 10 mm locking nut and the 14 mm one in front of it is a collar that looks like two nuts. Try adjusting it when the cable is slack ie handbrake off. I found this easier. I have heard of guys taking the seat out to do this. That is not too hard to do depends whether you have electrics in it or not. Do you have the workshop manuals. They are also available from clarks as well as other places. I have them but a bit too large to email me thinks.

 

[zcacogp]

I had something similar with my handbrake, and an impending MOT. My 'accomodating' MOT inspector had commented for the previous two years on the fact that the handbrake travel was excessive, but always >ahem< lost count when the number of 'clicks' was being counted. This year I thought I should do something about it and dived on in ... The cable is a pain to adjust, because the seat is in the way. You can remove the seat, but I found that if I moved it around (up and down as well as side to side) I could get to the adjusters enough to do the necessary. The cable was noticably slack. A small 10mm combination spanner and a pair of pliers were the necessary tools to adjust it. The nuts were quite tight, but did come loose after a bit of a fiddle. Adjusting it was possible, but again a fiddle. (I have quite small hands, which was a blessing.) Keep at it. You'll get there. And a short-throw handbrake is much nicer to use. (Although mine is used once a year - for the MOT - and that's about all.) Oli.

 

[Sandspider]

Thanks chaps. My seats are electric. I was trying to adjust the cable with the handbrake off, but I probably didn't move the seat enough (I gave up at about 10pm last night and resorted to cider!). I'm a bit cack-handed in confined spaces. I'll try again tonight, and if no luck with the cable adjuster, I'll break out my stock of bricks and get the car up on to axle stands. (My 10mm socket is not especially narrow, and the underside of my seat looks complicated!) Fingers crossed... (Alas, though my MOT chap likes the car, I'm pretty sure he is too good at counting ) Cheers.

 

[944Turbo]

ORIGINAL: A9XXC 4 bolts - front and back of each runner - thin walled 10mm socket works best as the runner is narrow. Can use an open ended spanner end on. If there electric seats undo connections first! Mike

6 bolts on oval dash car, and allen headed, Tony

 

[zcacogp]

Giles, I'm not sure it is an either/or situation - I suspect that you need to adjust the shoes if they are not adjusted correctly, AND adjust the cable if it is slack. You have the shoes OK (from your earlier posts) so need to tackle the slack cable, which means poking around beside the seat. (Do it before swigging the cider. It will be more painful but more productive that way .... and less painful in the long term!) Oli.

 

[Sandspider]

That's good to know Tony - I was looking at the right bolts and wasn't about to unscrew my floor pan! And Oli - I'm hoping that just the cable will have enough adjustment (there's about two inches of tightening space on the bolt, and the cable is pretty slack with the handbrake off), but I am prepared to take the wheels off if I need to. I only swigged the cider (Koppaberg pear cider in fact) when I gave up on the car... Having just a few swigs beforehand might have helped actually! Giles

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Sorry - my cars an early one! Mike

 

[Sandspider]

No worries Mike, it was fairly clear which bolts to undo - I just didn't want to do it! Well, I've had the wheels off now and adjusted the handbrake as much as possible - which wasn't very much actually. I now have 9 clicks to get it really locked on, leaving me one click in reserve! Enough to pass?! :s On the bright side, while I had the wheels off, I did notice that one of my tyres was low on tread, so I've taken that wheel off and put the spare on. When I've got my strength back(!), I'll probably go back out again and tackle seat removal...

 

[Sandspider]

Actually, it looks like I'm screwed either way - my wheels are 17" and the spare is 15". Technically though, as the alloys have low profile tyres and the spare has a full profile tyre, the outer circumference of the wheels is the same. Hmm. I fear that it will need a retest. Oh well, at least that means I don't need to take the driver's seat out tonight!

 

[Sandspider]

Well, slightly to my surprise, it passed! Not one single advisory It was well worth swapping all 4 wheels with the original 15" Teledials at 11pm last night, in the rain! Really impressed with that on a 23 year old car!