Still new to this forum I searched and find several handbrake threads but none specific to the XK8. My emergency brake is anemic, meaning with the lever pulled up firmly it has minimal effect, just putting the car in gear it will roll forward or backwards at idle. Is this typical for this vehicle, or should I do a brake job at 51,000 miles? No records of prior work on the rear brakes from the PO. Disc brakes are effective and straight with hands off the wheel. I tightened the center pull on the cable with no effect. Have not yet touched the star adjusters or inspected the rear calipers. So should I get ready to do a rear brake rebuild or just live with a questionable parking brake? Thanks for your insights.

 

The rear calipers have nothing to do with the handbrake.
The rear disc acts as a 'drum' and the shoes inside the drum are the braking components.
Perhaps the shoes are 'glazed' and not efficient?
Might need adjustment?

 

FIX IT NOW. It's not just a parking brake but an emergency brake as well. It could save your life someday. It saved mine twice. Many years ago, in a large city far, far away, I was driving my AMC Hornet to school one morning with two carpool buddies on board. As we approached a busy intersection with a red light I stepped on the brake. The pedal wouldn't budge - a speaker that I'd installed poorly had fallen between the pedal and the floorboard. I stomped on the parking brake and avoided a collision. Another time, another car, the brake pedal went all the way to the floor - nada! Again, the parking brake saved my butt. Brakes are not an area where you look to save money or defer maintenance. In both of my braking incidents the parking brake not only saved me but my passengers and perhaps others.

 

It’s not called emergency brakes for nothing. I say you’ll maybe need it and easy enough to fix the mechanical emergency/parking brakes which work by cables. You tried to adjust the central nut on the cable divider under the car, but what about the brake’s course gear inside the disc/rotor (which acts as the drum)? See pic.

It’s just a standard drum brake system inside the disc/rotor if you need new parts.

 

I had to tighten the parking brake cable assembly underneath my wife's 2006 XK8 back in February in order for the car to pass our state's annual safety inspection at that time. Put the rear of the car up on jack stands, put the gearshift in neutral, release the parking brake lever, crawl underneath the rear of the car, and you will see the cable assembly where it forms a Y connection loop. You can then tighten the adjusting nut at the base of the Y until the parking brake can be applied by raising the parking brake lever 3 to 5 clicks. Make sure that the rear wheels rotate freely when the parking brake lever is released....

If you did not follow these exact steps when you first attempted to tighten your cable assembly, try it again before doing anything else....

 

You know.....I don't remember the last time I have used a Parking Brake........Don't think that I have......Maybe I better try it out Today just to make sure it works.....Guess I better read the Book to find out how you do it.....first!.....Thanks for bringing it up!

Billy Clyde

 

Thanks for these replies. I will next turn the star wheels to adjust the shoes, since I should have tried that before starting this thread. I was just trying to get an idea if this was a design flaw or if I really need to rebuild it. I will order new shoes next, that leads to the question are there different shoe compounds, like metallic, ceramic, semi-metal, asbestos, etc. that are more grabby than other types? I am assuming my shoes are not worn but glazed. If the shoes are glazed do I need to replace the drum/disc as well?

 

The shoes shouldn't wear unless someone drove the car with the parking brake engaged. An adjustment is all you should need.

 

Jagophile you might be putting the cart before the horse mate. Adjusting like Jon89 said is far far easier.

Maybe I missed something but I'm not sure why you wouldn't start there. It's really easy.
John

 

Yes agree that is quite easy. As noted in post one I tightened the center pull on the cable with no effect. I perhaps overstated my case. Even though the shoes are full engaged the braking is minimal. Pulling up the parking brake with >50 newton-meters of force, a two-hand lift with foot planted will slow the car.

 

Hello David thanks for that picture. How does one adjust the course gear or what I call the star wheel? I cannot find any adjuster hole as is typical of drum brakes. Do I just drive backwards and pull the brake repeatedly?

 

Jagophile,

It's a standard drum brake set up, using the disc/rotor as the drum. Jack the car up, take tyre off, and look closely at the disc/rotor. There's a small access hole in the face of the disc (see my pic below, where it's at 5 o clock).



So spin the hub until access hole is top, about 12 o clock, and you should be able to stick a long screwdriver through the hole to set the brake's course adjusting gear inside the disc/rotor. After you 've made an adjustment, spin the hub. It should be set where you can just feel the brake shoes grabbing the hub then go back and back off the adjustment just a wee bit.

For me it's was a combination of adjusting the central nut on the cable splitter and the brake shoes, to reach a point where the hand brake lever only needs two clicks to set the parking brake. For me, three clicks on the hand lever is enough to stop the car on D-Drive with no gas.

 

Good advice on brake shoe adjustment. The adjuster hole can sometimes be unavailable because a PO has refitted the disk in the wrong alignment with the hole against solid metal of the hub instead of the corresponding hole. It can be challenging to remove in this situation!

Another regular adjustment issue apart from shoes is the Rear Cables (items 7 and 8) stretch beyond the limits of adjustment available on the Equaliser (item 6):




Cables are still available from Jaguar.

Graham

 

David thanks so much I now have what you say, three clicks on the hand lever will stop the car from 50mph while in gear. Turning the adjusters to engage the drum then backing off one click is all I needed. I'm posting a picture here just in case anybody uses this thread to optimize their handbrake. It is an easy job once you find the adjuster hole.

Clean out the drum with a liberal spray

Turn the star wheel until the disk cannot rotate, then free it with one or two levers by a flatblade screwdriver on the adjuster.

 

Well done. Good idea to use a shot or two of brake cleaner spray before making the necessary adjustments on the star gears....