Dodgy Hand brakes :-(

[Graham]

Hi all, i have a problem with my handbrake at the moment, it only seems to be working on one side at the moment and even then its not too strong unless you wrench the lever up to cloud 9 . I understand thar the mechanisms sieze up, and a while ago on S2 Cenrtal someone posted a spring upgrade option from ???a ford granada apparently they have an identical design but much stronger spring. Also how hard are the handbrake cables to renew, just done a vectra and that was bad enough . Is there any special tools that i will need for the job as i do not intend to change the pads and discs so a calliper reset tool shouldnt be needed Right?.
is there anything else i should consider as i will be taking the calliper off completely.
Cheers
Graham

[Martynf]

Graham,

Having had mine up in the air for some work lately, they look a little tricky to get to at the lever end, didbn't really pay that close attention, but one of the heat shields needs to come down to get a VERY long extension bar up to the cable adjuster.

They were routed through a bolt down plate on the rear wishbones, then on to the calliper. If you are going to remove the calipers are you breaking into the fluid lines? so will need to bleed? BEFORE you do, make sure the bleed nipples are not rusted solid ready to snap off and break! spray everything with WD a few times long before you attempt to undo anything!

Martyn

[audiman]

Cables are fairly easy to do. Just drop the heatshield. Then undo the cable adjuster. Un-hook the cables at this end. Then take the cables off at the caliper end. Then just pull the cables out of their guides !! EASY.

But cables are not always the problem!!

With the cables off the caliper does the lever sit right back against its stop?? If yes then replace the cables (£10 each) and adjust them so that the levers are about 0.5-1 mm off the stop.

If the levers stay out then you have a caliper prob. You can free them off by using wd40 and working the lever backwards and forwards loads of times. By uprating the spring you are not curing the problem, the self adjusting mechanism still wont work.

Also check to see if the brake pads are seized into the caliper carrier. Make sure they are nice and free and put a bit of copper grease on the pads to stop them seizing again. (NOT ON THE FRICTION SIDE!!)

HTH

[Graham]

Cheers for the replies, so you can remove the cables without disturbing the exhaust and prop shaft as the vectra had to have its exhaust removed.
Can the calliper mechanisms be completely stripped down or are they a sealed unit. And as for the bleed nipples i have got a cool little blow torch for adding a little heat into the game.
cheers right, i am going in.
Graham

[audiman]

They can be stripped down, but by reman. companies. As for applying heat, dont melt the seals inside!!!

[Graham]

Right, i have been fiddling with Paint on the pc and have reduced the size of the pics i took when i stripped my calliper.
Lets see if it works
Graham

[Graham]

And this You can just a say see the circlip which holds the mechanism together and preventing a complete strip down. I'm sure a decent set of long thin circlip pliers will undo it easily enough.

[Graham]

Here is a better view of the handbrake circlip:

[Glen Chamberlain]

"Snap-on's" little "Blue-point" blow torch? I have one too! ACE! I'll be stripping my calipers soon to free up the same dodge hand brake! Whats this caliper re-set tool for? Is it to screw back the piston? Cos mine was well ard to do with just a pair of long nose pliers!!!!!

[Graham]

And here is the piston, with a bit of fine wet and dry it polished up like new:
Graham

[Graham]

The tool is basicaly a plate with a tapped hole in it and a bolt going through with an adaptor plate to mate with the piston and turning the bolt in jacks the piston back town the coarse thread you can see in the bore.
Easy enough to make and relatively cheap from sykes pickavant (through halfords). The super stores sell them off the shelf.
Graham