XJ6 Handbrake
 

Hi all, can anyone tell me the trick to undoing the adjuster screw without taking off the cover plate, cover plate screw is badly damaged and I will only drill it out as a last resort.
I can turn the adjuster screw anti clockwise as much as I like and can hear it clicking but doe's not come out at all to seperate the pads so they will fit over the rotor.
When I operate the lever it pulls the pads in as it should,so I assume the internals are all good.

The smallest of components holding up a complete IRS rebuild,isn't that typical.
If I can't get this sorted today I will leave handbrake off for now and fit it later when the new cable arrives(a few weeks away,on back order)

:confused:

Drilled the screws out today and stripped the calipers. Had to replace springs and put in countersunk screws backwards with locknuts. But installed now and ratchets seem to work,just got to wait a few weeks for handbrake cable to arrive.
Will not be parking on my drive while I wait.

Clarke, I can see that you're one of those Driven people who won't rest until the project is finished and works properly.

I've been paying close attention to this entire process for the very reason that eventually I'll have to drop my own IRS. I imagine I'll also have to work on my hand brake at that time if not before.

It's been an informative pleasure to follow your progress during this episode (taking notes along the way), and I wish you many 1000s miles of trouble free travel.
(';')

Adjusting handbrake
 

Hi all, I have had two goes today at setting handbrake pads and adjusting. I followed the procedure from both books I have(pages attached below) ,both pretty much identical.
The hand brake is working on most hills,but car is rolling forward on steep slopes,but slowly. I think tightening the clevis on the cable will make it rock solid,but will this make the pads drag on the rotors when driving?
The last thing I want is another problem caused by excessive heat. If I put a bit of tension on the cable to hold the levers in a bit it works and will hold on my drive in neutral,but will this cause problems when driving. On stands it doesn't feel like there is any resistance caused by handbrake calipers.
When I set it back to the book settings for cable(which states,have no tension on the cable with handbrake released), it rolls down the drive in neutral at a fairly rapid pace. But holds ok in park without putting much load on transmission.
Is it best just left as is, or from some ones experience can I tension the cable a bit?
Maybe my drive is just too steep for the handbrake,the XJ6 doe's hold better than the Jeep does and I haven't lost that down the drive yet.

Thanks in advance.

:icon_flamethrow:

I have done them by the book, and then added that "extra" tweek to get that extra bite without any issues.

My main findings is that the OE sandwich style rotors cause issues with wear decreasing the ability to clamp well.

The newer solid style rotors are significantly better in many ways.

Thanks Grant, It does seem like that couple of extra turns of the cable adjuster made all the difference without causing problems. I will put the couple of extra turns back on tomorrow and see how it goes.

:icon_beerchug:

I add my thanks. My hand brake does almost nothing to retard my car. learned that the hard way. And, it's pads were supposedly replaced by a professional!! One of these days, I need to get under. But, I am still a bit skittish about getting it on ramps after my misadventure with them.

Wow, that drive is steep! Fortunately, mine has just enough to allow rain to run off, sorta. Were mine that way, I'd add a wheel chock or two in addition to P and hand brake.

I rarely use the handbrake on either car. My Jeep's hand brake bites hard.
I prefer curbing where possible plus park. Especially on nearby SF's really steep streets. And, then P is a risk. One can get the pawl locked on the curb and a hard pull might pull the shift cable out of the swage. They have a habit of that. Mine did in my own drive. Lucky. And, when we replaced it, there was evidence that it had been done before!!

Carl

Better a bit too slack than no play. The tiny handbrake pads can scrub off in no time.

Graham

Carl, it is chocked.On the drivers side(lol),as I don't want to walk around the car before I chok it. Might get run down by my own car.

Graham, I see your point about having a bit of slack in the cable,but if I go by the book you just got to touch the cable to move the levers and they have plenty of play with the cable adjusted right off, a couple of turns of the front clevis adjuster still leaves about .25mm or 10 thuo(I use an imperial micrometer and feeler gauges as I started my apprenticship when printing presses were in thou,not microns. Just do the conversion in my head). It's a laugh when one of the young guys borrows my micrometer,confusion sets in.
I will be keeping a close eye on it,I had my mate who checked the work I did and put the pipes back have a look and the local brake specialist who made up the hoses for me have a look too(he's done a series ll recently).
And I still haven't shelled out a cent in labour. It pays to get to know your local blokes.(beer economy is strong down here).

When the temp hits 35c + the cars just slide down the driveways in this street when the tyres decide they are going to let go. Many a time I have gone out in late afternon to find the Jeep has crept its way down to the footpath.

:icon_beerchug:

I started getting a vibrating kind of noise from the rear today,and could feel it through the brake peddle as well, happening sometimes in the last few meters of braking just before stopping. I'm assuming it's got something to do with handbrake since it was only adjusted up yesterday and this started today(I didn't get around to taking the slack out of the cable yet), so that is not the problem. It only started after driving for about 25 minutes,didn't happen on shorter trips earlier in the day.
I have a new pivot bolt to fit tomorrow,so going over to the Brake specialist to use his hoist if he has a spare one available. Otherwise the car will sit until next Thursday,got to work 7 x 12 hour shifts this week.(I do work sometimes)

Any ideas what it may be, I do have tomorrow off and if I can't get the hoist I will put it on stands and do an oil change and check it out.

:icon_beerchug:

My thoughts at this hour of the night are:

The handbrake pivot bolts have NOT gone into the lower hole (the unthreaded end) as designed. They are a PITA to refit insitu, and the angle of the dnagle is not always as it seems, and they will thread in just fine when scewed to one side. This I have seen more times than I care to remember.

Those EASY to get to caliper mount bolts have loosened up.

The rear half shaft UJ's have lack of grease, and/or the shaft nyloc nuts TO the output flange need a NIP up.

The shimming of the lower diff mount cast brackets to the diff centre is not quite right, and/or the 4 bolts in that area are not tight anymore. Easy to get to and check, NOT.

The brake pads (main) are dragging slightly.

The exhaust has settled and just not at the right angle somewhere.

Hi grant, I couldn't get use of a hoist today,so put the car up on stands and gave it an oil change(thirsty mothers aren't they). With a filter change and a short drive then top up it took 9 litres to the full mark. I know the book says 8.25, but you gotta go with the dipstick.
Had a good look under the back while I was there, nothing loose or touching where it shouldn't. All lock wired. Could only get .25mm feeler under the hand brake pads(and not push it all the way through) with cable detached. Calipers are not moving freely on pivot bolts so undid pivot bolts and adjuster,moved the calipers back to the 1.6mm gap and locked them up there for now.
Ordered 3 new pivot bolts from Jagdaim(as they are the only part not new,except one which seems to work fine)) , 2-3 weeks away.
Drove 40 miles and coasted down a 4km hill in neutral braking all the way , no noise or vibrating after that, ran errands around Brisbane rest of the day,all good.

Could have been back to where I started had I not noticed the vibrations,if I had the music at my normal volume I don't think It would have been obvious.
I think it was heat/friction related.

I will keep you posted.

Update: I thought I had 4 new pivot bolts in the package with oil filter and tab washers, they only had one in stock and they didn't put the other 3 on back order(or charge me for them), so ordered them today. Probably should have opened the post pack when it arrived so I knew I had what I was waiting for.

:icon_beerchug:

Got the pivot bolts,had them sitting in my garage for a week because I didn't know they were in a delivery box with my water pump. Just got to wait until next week to fit them...if I get time. Been 3 months with no hand brake,I'm sure I can wait.
:icon_beerchug:

Attachment 92517

Spent part of yesterday fitting the new pivot bolts. Fun job that is!
All working well, finally got everything on the car working at the same time,except air con and heater.But they can wait.
A friend asked what all the cuts on my arms were, I said cat scratches. I didn't think you were a cat kind of guy he said,I just left it at that. My cat scratches when I reach deep into it's IRS to play with handbrake components.

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