2001 Jag XKR Recently purchased this car and need to change the brake cable which attaches to the hand brake lever. Can any one help me on how this is done?

 

Here is the relevant section from the Workshop Manual:

JTIS - XK8 Parking Brake Front Cable.pdf

Is the cable broken and not just out of adjustment?

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Graham

 

Thanks Graham. The brake cable is badly corroded and I was planning on replacing it. Think I'll take it out to have a good look and then decide on a plan of action.
Have completed the intro and am hopefully on my way!

 

They are usually covered in rust (here in the UK) but provided the cable is intact and the adjuster works, usually clean up OK.

Graham

 

I think I might need to adjust mine... How do I proceed?

 

The adjuster is illustrated in the PDF in post #2.

Parking Brake Cable Adjustment

1. Raise rear of vehicle and support on stands.

2. Make sure gear selector is in the neutral (N) position.

3. Adjust parking brake cable by rotating the adjusting nut until the parking brake can be applied by raising the parking brake lever 3 to 5 clicks.

4. Make sure that the rear wheels rotate freely when the parking brake lever is released.

5. Remove stands and lower vehicle.

Graham

 

As Graham says but ................ when I got my car the parking brake was pretty useless and I found that "just" adjusting the mechanism under the car wasn't enough to get it working properly.
Surprisingly for a "luxury / sophisticated" car, the parking brake is NOT self adjusting inside the hubs. The cables stretch - maybe because they are in close proximity to the hot exhausts. Anyway - to do it properly, you need to get the rear of the car on stands, remove the rear wheels, and then position the hole in the disc / hub to be able to poke a flat screwdriver through and push the adjustment "cog" round until the hub starts to bind, then back it off a couple of clicks. Do this both sides - THEN adjust the mechanism under the car so the brake lever works properly. Lots of information and diagrams here if you search on "parking brake adjustment". Easier to do than to describe - shouldn't take more than an hour or so.
Cheers,
David.

 

As you said Graham, all I needed to do was clean-up the exposed brake cable. Which I did and then coated it with a couple of coats of Rustoleum paint. I cleaned up and painted the relay lever and the fork ends. The rest of the assembly was in good shape.
When I went to take off the rear tires to set up the parking brake shoes, the tire wrench collapsed, at the 90 degree bend, as I was trying to get the lug nuts off. Didn't look like it had ever been used. I can find a new one but was a pit surprised it failed. Anyone else come across this problem?

 

Good to hear you've got it all working again OK without needing parts.

You can usually jump on the wrench and sometimes have to if the nuts have been overtightened. I've heard of nuts and studs shearing before but never a wrench breaking!

Graham