Technical Handbrake uneven

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Technical Handbrake uneven

MadMan0

Mk1 Punto Owner - 51 Mpg
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Sep 26, 2009
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North East London
Hi all,

I've welded the car up and got it through the MOT a few months back. However, the hand brake is still uneven, it pulls and engages the passenger side before the driver side moves at all.

The brakes on the driver side had seized but these were repaired by replacing the wheel cylinder and brake line. I can move the shoes okay by hand and the foot brake works perfectly.

Any ideas?
3 door 55s with automatic brake adjustment
 
I had a few attempts in the past and now I think I got it working acceptable, i.e. passed MOT.

I'll check first the shoes are installed correctly.

Then if the shoes are of the automatic type make sure they are adjusted as far as it gets to get the drums in as tight as possible. Once the drums are fitted the shoes could be further adjusted by pressing the brakes hard but his does not necessary work. Further adjusting the automatic adjuster is possible with the drums on but is quite fiddly. This can be done through the wholes in the drum using a screwdriver, but is quite hard to see inside the drum to see what you are doing.

If the adjuster is not tight the handbrake lever in the shoe can not be pulled enough as the wheel bearing housing will inhibit the lever moving, so any further pulling of the handbrake lever will not cause anymore braking on the affected side.

Hope this helps.
 
I have come across 2 of the equalizers where the cables fit in at the handbrake end that have deformed as well. Check this.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.
I've found the brake drums to be slightly distorted, meaning they are not perfectly round. I knew about this for a while following the brake failure and fire a few years ago, its not major so didnt replace the (new) drums.

The shoes are correctly adjusted and work correctly on the foot brake. the problem is when the handbrake lever is applied, it pulls the passenger cable until the swivel peice at the base of the hand brake lever cannot swivel anymore.
another option i'm considering is a spacer on the cable, effectly to incrase the amount of adjustment on the hand brake lever; and also force the cables to be pulled evenly.
I will have a look at the car again properly in a few weeks (car was given to the gf as a gift to learn to drive, it's now her car because she passed her driving test in it a few days ago ^^. ).

I still prefer driving the Punto over my New DS3, so much more reliable.
But the DS3 does an average of 58-70mpg, the punto only ever managed 52mpg at its peak; more commonly 45-48mpg. - gone off topic.

Thanks again for your suggestions :)
 
Thanks for the suggestions.
I've found the brake drums to be slightly distorted, meaning they are not perfectly round. I knew about this for a while following the brake failure and fire a few years ago, its not major so didnt replace the (new) drums.

The shoes are correctly adjusted and work correctly on the foot brake.

If the drums are OK for normal breaking they should be OK for handbrake as well. If the brake shoes are to far from the drum surface the handbrake mechanism will not be able to bring them close enough to the drum surface to create sufficient brake action as the "cable equalisers" can not move any further when the handbrake is pulled, because they are stopped by the rear wheel bearing housing/hub. Any further pulling will deform the equaliser or stretch the cable. So the clue is in adjusting the automatic shoe adjuster so that when no brake is applied the shoes are as close as possible to the drum surface. This will then require very little handbrake or normal braking to cause some brake action which in effect reduces cable or pedal movement before the brake is activated. So a good handbrake operation also guarantees efficient normal braking, usually manifested as better braking response.

I would start by removing the drum and then look for handbrake cable operation and see how the "cable equalisers" are affected and if there is visible movement in the shoes when this done. You should be able to pull the cable until the equaliser touch the bearing/hub housing which in effect limits any further shoe movement. This looks to me like a safety feature designed in by Fiat rather then a design fault which means that if the equaliser is hitting the hub before any decent brake action then there must be a fault it the brake shoe assembly that will need sorting.
 
If the drums are oval you will NEVER get a decent handbrake because adjustment becomes impossible! Buy new drums, they are dirt cheap.also the cables need to be free, ditto with brake adjusters, also check wheel cylinders. I recently replaced all my drums, discs,shoes, pads and wheel cylinders and new caliper seals, total was about €110.Very good brakes now, foot and hand..
 
"You should be able to pull the cable until the equaliser touch the bearing/hub housing which in effect limits any further shoe movement. This looks to me like a safety feature designed in by Fiat rather then a design fault which means that if the equaliser is hitting the hub before any decent brake action then there must be a fault it the brake shoe assembly that will need sorting"

????? Surely the equaliser is at the handbrake end of the cable, how could it touch the bearing/hub?
 
"You should be able to pull the cable until the equaliser touch the bearing/hub housing which in effect limits any further shoe movement. This looks to me like a safety feature designed in by Fiat rather then a design fault which means that if the equaliser is hitting the hub before any decent brake action then there must be a fault it the brake shoe assembly that will need sorting"

????? Surely the equaliser is at the handbrake end of the cable, how could it touch the bearing/hub?
Yes you are right, tried to use terminology ("equaliser") you introduced in an earlier post which I thought you were meaning the lever that holds the handbrake cable that is part of the brake shoe assembly. This lever movement is restricted by the bearing/hub assembly and cannot be pulled any further. Further spirited pulling of the handbrake will result in cable stretch and also as you said possibly damage the "equaliser".
 
I thought I made it clear when I said "I have come across 2 of the equalizers where the cables fit in at the handbrake end that have deformed as well" that I was referring to the part behind the handbrake itself. The auto adjuster is the part at the shoe end for want of better words.
 
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