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Handbrake problem - MOT retest failure
smart51 - 10/4/10 at 10:36 AM

I've just come back from my MOT retest only for the car to be still failing on the handbrake. The foot brake works just fine but the handbrake balance is 10 to the left and 130 to the right, the guy said. I did a quick test jacking the rear of the car up and applying the handbrake one notch at a time. Both L and R reached the point where I couldn't turn them by hand on the same "click".

The hand brake pulls on each calliper. The rear discs are fine and I've re-greased the rear calliper sliders. what could be causing this imbalance problem?

richardh - 10/4/10 at 11:01 AM

did you see him test it?
i'd have thought it would want to try and slide sideways on his rollers a bit.

odd one that. if you can do that by hand and both feel the same i'm not sure.

smart51 - 10/4/10 at 11:08 AM

I did see him do it. The machine turned 1 wheel at a time so there was no sideways movement. Its odd that the foot brake works fine.

jollygreengiant - 10/4/10 at 11:08 AM

Could be a routing problem for the cable. When the car is in the rollers, then the weight is on the suspension, but when the car is in the air then the suspaension is hanging and therefore the cable could be assuming an 'unstressed route' as oppossed to a 'stressed route' when the car is on the deck.

richardh - 10/4/10 at 11:14 AM

In Scottish man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lost me at unstressed route

smart51 - 10/4/10 at 01:47 PM

I've taken the callipers off and checked them. On the dodgy side, if I push the hand brake lever by hand it doesn't return to the off position, but if I remove the cable, it does. the good side returns to the off position even with the cable attached. Could it be the cable binding that is causing all the handbrake force to the other wheel?

jacko - 10/4/10 at 02:03 PM

quote:

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=133659


read my two post's on the link
Jacko
PS if you have a LSD diff he should not have done the brakes on rollers cording to what i read on here
My MOT is on Friday so i will be having a word before he starts the test
Jacko

[Edited on 10/4/10 by jacko]

smart51 - 10/4/10 at 04:28 PM

I've checked the cables and they're nice and smooth. They're not the problem.

Thanks for the link Jacko

jollygreengiant - 11/4/10 at 04:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by smart51
I've checked the cables and they're nice and smooth. They're not the problem.

Thanks for the link Jacko


Have you checked their operation with the vehicle on the ground??