I was advised by my friendly MOT man that the drivers side handbrake was poor. Upon stripping the rear brakes down I have just replaced the rear shoes on my 06 grand punto.
However I still have no handbrake on the drivers side...the cable still pulls when the handbrake is applied BUT the arm it actuates on doesn't move,and the spring on the arm is not under any tension.
Does anyone have any ideas?..I have to get the car mobile again ASAP..


TIA
Nik

Have you looked at how much it is adjusted at the hand brake also your cable is moving it is possible that your cables could have stretch over time and not giving anoth tension at the shoes

There was a break in the handbrake cable casing that allowed water etc causing it to become seized in... bought one for £15.00.


All fitted and almost sorted...I feed the brake end through from the rear of the drum..


Question:is there some form of retaining clip to hold the handbrake cable in place where it enters the rear drum assembly?...

I've lost count on the times that some are attending to the rear drum brakes & miss the adjuster altogether. The adjuster is the mechanism that sits in between the shoes & looks like a double ended wee fork with a ratchet wheel at one side.

This must be freed up, lubed, working freely & adjusted properly,just scraping the shoes when refitting drum. Pump brake pedal 10/15 times all should be could after that.

A Haynes manual will be a good starting point.

jimboy said:

I've lost count on the times that some are attending to the rear drum brakes & miss the adjuster altogether. The adjuster is the mechanism that sits in between the shoes & looks like a double ended wee fork with a ratchet wheel at one side.

This must be freed up, lubed, working freely & adjusted properly,just scraping the shoes when refitting drum. Pump brake pedal 10/15 times all should be could after that.

A Haynes manual will be a good starting point.

Click to expand...

Not sure why you posted that tbh, but thanks


Question I asked was re is there a cable securing clip that holds te cable in place as it enters the drum?...

Ah sorry misread the post a bit. As far as I recollect the cable end just hooks on the shoe lever. No clips at back of drum. The cable is securely bolted down under the body or the lower arm if I remember correctly by a bracket, so no clips needed.

Just for the record I mentioned the adjuster as this indeed causes problems like you are mentioning.

Aye as you say the automatic adjusters arnt allways automatic. Both sides cleaned up and copperslip applied to the threads.


The reason I ask about some sort of retaining clip is the end of the cable has a formed 'nipple' which looks like is a fixing point if that makes sense.

Got the part I needed.. part number:77362446. £15.00 from Fiat,free from a breaker.


All back together but still not right. Its as if the new brake cables too long.
Going to let it bed in and give it another look if it don't improve over next couple of weeks.

I always replace handbrake cables in pairs... If they have stretched 2 new ones from the same supplier means you have 2 identical length cable's

is the back plate where the pads sit clean and free of rust (smooth)?

if theres a build up of scale your going to have issues as it restricts the pads movement;......



from this point you need to refit the drums and pump the brakes till the auto adjuster stops clicking if you wound it in all the way your going to be pressing the brakes a long time.....

anyhow once you get a decent feel


pull the handbrake up and work down and work the brake pedal to double check the adjuster has come the correct distance out......,


if its still not playing ball.... check the straddle cable under the handbrake cover and make sure its pulling evenly and not twisting.. in mrs andys car case the scale on the back plate was stopping the shoe moving i ticked it up with a emery paper disc in the angle grinder...

Thanks for the reply. The rear brakes themselves are working fine. Headbutt the screen time!


When I removed the original cable I noticed that the adjustment at the handbrake end was biased towards the drivers side/cable I replaced.


I actually took the new,non genuine cable and the old genuine cable to my local indy fiat specialist. He checked their database and came up with a measurement.Both cables the same.


Ill strip it back down in the morning and recheck everthing but tbh it will be the 5th or 6th time I have over the last two days......

Is the lever the cable attaches to free to move on it's pivot on the trailing shoe? On mine this had seized and wasn't returning to allow the adjuster to work. Check it by taking off wheel, pull handbrake, release and take off drum, see if lever has returned, if not lever it back with a screwdriver and repeat with drum on etc. I only discovered this after giving the adjusters a good doing an wondering why I had no handbrake on one side.

New shoes....tbh Im at a total loss BUT will strip it again and clean it all up.


The levered arm which the cable attoches too isn't under any tension at all.


As far as I can tell the automatic adjusters working. I even took that down to the garage who said it looked ok. At £60 im not going to replace just to eliminate a potential...yet.