handbrake adjustment
- Thread starter nuddlez4
- Start date
Important to latch the cable tensioner at the lever end to take the tension off the cables before using the adjusters at the wheel end. Can be latched with a long screwdriver or. Buy the two prong tool on eBay to make it easier
You only need to lift the handbrake cover up and slide it up the lever to get at the cable tensioner latch if it's not been adjusted correctly in the past it may be difficult to engage the latch. If that happens slacken the shoes adjuster off at the wheel ends and it should allow latch to be depressed and latch. Follow the pelican parts guide to adjust the shoes so the drum locks up then back off the advised number of clicks before unlatching the tensione. You should get a decent handbrake following the guide. Check condition of the cables if the outlets are torn or split replace them the age they are they will not last forever, smooth running of the inners is essential, seized they won't be doing anything.
Hi, I have just done this last week on my coupe, but the cable tensioner would not latch. solution was to push it in with screwdriver and then jam it with a piece of plastic house window trim against a crossover metal brace in the vicinity. It needed to be approx 35-40mm wide to do the job and I bent it about 15 degrees in the vice so it would go under the handbrake lever. With shoes adjusted, I now have a handbrake! i think it just scraped the MOT last year. It seems to be a BMW anomoly that you MUST release the tensioner, if you don't do it , it will just not hold on the handbrake. I fitted new discs and shoes 2 yrs ago, and could not understand what I was doing wrong. Knowledge is king! Stan.
Thanks everyone for the tips and tricks to adjust the hand brake After 3 weeks of b******ng about adjusting then readjusting I gave up and took to my local indy as I don't have the necessary tackle or space to get the car up in the air to have a really good look. Anyway on closer examination my indy mechanic rang me to tell me that no amount of b******ng about would have adjusted the handbrake as there was some friction material on 3 of the shoes and the 4th one had as much friction material as butter on a British Rail sandwich. Shoes duly replaced and whilst he had it I bit the bullet and did the discs and pads as the fronts were badly scored any way. Result is that the handbrake now works and I don't have a grating noise for the first 100 yards everytime I set off. All in all a project well worth doing
