HAND BRAKE.....hopeless
 

What can be done about these useless Handbrakes ???

I have replaced the rear disc's and shoes and over the last 18 months the hand brake gets worse and worse....

I have used an air line to get the dust out of them ,I have adjusted them as per the How to and maybe it is OK for a month but then if becomes ineffective and will not hold on any kind of slope. The handbrake is fully up on about 6 clicks

Has any had this before and found a cure ??

You need to replace the compensator ... I believe the Mini compensator fits.

It already has the Modified compensator fitted courtesy of Artic....


The feeling you get is that there is NO grip from the shoes against the drum.:icon_question:

To get a good handbrake on the 75 you have to start at the beginning.
I’ve run 75’s since 2002 and now on my third and haven’t fitted a compensator on any of them, well not quite correct as I have a different system on my Wedgwood V6

To start strip off the rear brakes completely with the drum / disc removed and handbrake adjustment inside the car fully slackened off.
Using a Dremmel or simmilar remove the rusty lip which gathers on the inside edge of the drum adjacent to where the brake shoes make contact.
Next using a sanding disc on the Dremmel lightly sand the inside of the disc to de glaze and remover any rust and brake contaminants from the surface.
Then light sand the surface of the brake shoes, again to de glaze them.
Lightly lubricate the mechanical parts of the handbrake mechanism ensuring the cables are nor seized. You need a helper for this to operate the handbrake inside the car while you check the movement at the rear.
By trial and error manually adjust the rear shoes so that the rear drum / disc is a tight fit then pull up the handbrake lever suffiently to centralise the shoes.
Most likely the rear drum will be slack again so re adjust the brake shoes just enough to have a rubbing clearance to turn the disc while it is attached.
Now re adjust the handbrake inside the car until the rear drums lock up at the third click on the handbrake.
If you have to run this adjuster up fully you can fit a Tubular spacer strong enough and long enough to take up any stretching on the short cable which joins the cables from the rear to the handbrake itself.
Run a test with the rear wheels fitted, pull up the handbrake one notch at a time and check the progress at each wheel.
I get a partial lock up at two notches with a full lock up at three, sometimes four but no more than that.

Point to note. Remember to wear a dust mask when doing this type of work.
I sometimes forgot about this and am now paying the consequences.

HI John.
I know you have the modified compensator, so it as to be down to adjustment have you tried changing the shoes, also is you expander moving freely, if not it maybe getting stiff after a certain time due to dust build up?

Make sure the adjuster moves freely also have you had the drum off and cleaned it all out, before you fit the drum back on adjust the knurled nut so you can only just about get the drum back on.

https://i.imgur.com/ovpax57l.jpg1

Then once the drum is on adjust it so the drum locks up and will not turn by hand, then add the wheel with to studs attached try turning the wheel by hand if it turns then wheel off adjust again so it is tighter wheel back on check again if you can not turn the wheel great.

Do both sides the same, once again wheel off and this times slacken the knurled nut one or two turns only, wheel back on does the wheel turn if so does it have a little drag ? hopefully so, then set the hand brake at the front to the 25mm.

But at all times make sure inside that drum is clean and all is working as it should pins are ok, expander moves ok, etc also shoes are decent

As this fitted already therefore it will be down to adjustment and or the shoes
https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...&postcount=102

Maybe add new shoes as old ones can get tired, I added these to my car a few years back

https://i.imgur.com/4iucx6Gl.jpg1

The Mini compensator is the way to go. It allows much more 'compensation' between the two wheels. It's also essential, as pointed out, that the spreader is free to move and the cables are free in their sleeves. With all this in place and the shoes adjusted correctly, I can't see how the handbrake can fail to be good. The adjustment at the wheels can't be rushed, a little patience, and the bashing of the drums with a soft mallet between adjustments goes a long way.

This I have done in between normal adjustments...I have also put new drums/disc's and shoes on You can lock the wheels when off the ground at three clicks but when you have the weight of the car on the ground there is no chance.On a good slope even with six clicks on the H/B it wont hold.

Well thanks for all the replies,,,,I have done most of all that has been suggested and adjustment has been done as per the how to's.As mentioned new drums and shoes the only thing I can think of the shoes must be of very poor quality,but what make they are I do not have a Scooby.What bought it to a head was yesterday on the ferry ready to offload we were on the ramp when the ramp was lowered the hand brake would not hold the car even when pulled up as far as I could.

So I think the next thing is to swop the shoes with a known good quality set and start again.:xmas-smiley-008:
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