How easy is it to adjust the hand brake?

[ROBIN]

A quick one i hope for someone really, noticed that the hand brake is locking the passenger side rear wheel fine but the drivers side when fully on and the car on stands i can spin the drivers side rear wheel although at a push its like its half on?

any suggetions?

cheers

robin

 

[Andy]

Most likely reason is a stretched cable mate as they are independant each side.

Bonus is they can be bought individually for about £15 and take half an hour or so to swap

Andy_sx

 

[Ozric-Al]

As above and be careful, if you take this to a garage they will say that the brake cylinder is faulty, change the cylinder and then tell you your cable is knacked. Seen this on here too many times.

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[Anonymous]

Could also check the cable is free to move. could be all thats needed is some wd40

 

[Mark]

Most likely a stretched cable as said above.

Had exactly the same problem on my HGT a few years back.

Ended up replacing all 3 cables, and problem went away. Very easy to change them too.

 

[babj]

doesnt the cable have an adjuster then ?

never on any of my previous fiats have i needed to sort a handbrake, i have on some of my honda's. this could be tightened from inside the car at the handbrake lever! easy job.

 

[Mark]

Yes, the cable does have an adjuster, and it is under the handbrake lever. Large nut looking thing. Handbrake needs to be off to adjust it easily.

It will adjust both cables at the same time though, they cannot be done individually.

If one is ok and the other loose, you'll run the risk of pulling the ok one too tight and binding the rear brake.

HTH.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for confirming that mark. perhaps this is then a fairly standard thing in cars .

 

[Robin]

Thanks chaps!, is it easy to see if the cable is stretched?

cheers

robin

The Ratmk2... is here... and Going Euro

 

[Andy]

not really no mate, the problem is when they stretch its only by a relatively small amount, but enough to stop it holding the pads to the caliper.

for the sake of £30 quid i would replace both and its sorted for the next few years, plus its an easy diy job unless the cable has rusted to the arm on the caliper like mine had!

Andy_sx

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah jack the back of the car up, support one side on an axle stand or trolley jack, the other side with the standard jack, apply one click to the handbrake gently turn the rear road wheels. If nothing do one click more, repeat until one starts to be heavy to turn. Check the other wheel and see if it needs the same amount of pressure to turn or not. If its the same you just need tighten the nut under the handbrake. If one seems more difficult to turn than the other, then one cable has stretched.

Replace both rear cables if thats the problem.

 

[Robin]

Thanks again guys, i will take a look at the weekend and then decied what i am gonna do, was gonna pop it into poweritalia so they can take the job on for me (as its way to cold at the moment).

cheers

robin