I have the brakes working great for the brake test but the handbrake is another story ,
I have a Eb Falcon diff with dics brakes on it that have the calipers with the lever on them that forces the pads onto the disc ,simple enough set up compared to the later ones that have a stupid drum set up for the handbrake anyway I cant get the rear wheels to lock up with the handbrake ,
I have an aftermarket handbrake and cable set up that seems to work ok but cant seem to get enough pressure on the rear lever to lock wheels up ,I have extended the levers on the callipers with some bolt on extensions to give it more leverage and it has helped and it does stop but not lock wheels up ,my BF ute will lock the rear wheels up easy with the handbrake so I assume that is what is supposed to happen .I dont want to take it to the brake test unless everything is ok ,I have been struggling with this for a week now and it is driving me slowly insane ,any ideas very welcome ,thanks
What is the arrangement up front Monte with the clevis ? .. This is where you can get the leverage . Look under the ute , the positioning of the handbrake cable to the connection of the rear cables will give a ratio to the anchor pivot ,same principle as the master cylinder brake pedal formula . Compare this to your problem set up .
Come to think of this . I had an issue with a stock handbrake lever set up in a 35 Ford Coupe , Customline drum rear end . Handbrake worked , but I found that the link bars between the handbrake lever on the rear shoe and the forward shoe were being bent . Too much leverage
The ute has different calipers to the EB frank and a totally different set up with the cable but I will check it out tomorrow ,The only part with the rear brakes that is not new is the rotors as I measured them up and they were within specs so I decided to use them ,however I will replace them tomorrow with some new ones .I thought by making the Lever on the calipers longer it would help and it seems to help but it still wont lock up the rears when moving ,getting a bit pissed off with it really so we are heading down to the Goldie for a few days ,catch up with family and friends ect got to pick up some fresh seafood off my mates trawler to bring home as the stuff we get here is shit ,sooo close to rego and this is killing me
Just a thought Monte, if the brake levers are longer you'll get the mechanical advantage sure, however you'll need more stroke on the hand brake itself to pull a longer length of cable to do the job. I had a VP commy with rear discs, and the hand brake was like a mini drum brake set-up inside the rear rotors. I thought it worked well, and the systems were separate from one another. Built in redundancy. As most are. If you went back to standard up the back, and increased the ratio/advantage at the manually operated lever what happens then? I'm guessing you tried this already.
Cheers, Mudgy
Good Judgement comes from experience....experience comes from bad judgement.
Hi Monte, a silly question have you overhauled the calipers ? The actuators may be tight or seized in the housing.
I think they are the same as the as XB onward and the lever's motion rotates the actuator turning it on thread which then
pushes the the piston out and clamping the disc as if hydraulic pressure had been applied.
I agree with you this older type is better than the later "drum type"
These are same as the ones you have I think.
Sorry these photos are upside down I don't know how to fix that, they are fine in my Google Drive .
Put your foot on the brake and pull the handbrake on and off a dozen times.. With the hydraulic pressure on the pads, working the hand brake should wind the actuator inside the calliper out to its working position. When you put new pads in you have to screw the actuator back into the calliper.
Yep Newbee they are the same as those ones ,I bought brand new ones and they seem to operate as they are supposed to I guess that is the frustrating part mate
Mudgy ,I cant really change the brake lever as it is a standard aftermarket thing that I bought from WA The stroke does not seem to be a problem just doesnt seem to be putting enough pressure on the pads The calipers on the commodore are similar to the later ford ones like EL and are a bit of a pain but seem to work ok anyway we have some good info flowing so hopefully I will find an end to this shortly I will give that a try in the morning GT
Remember one important point Monte before modifying the caliper mechanisms. The EB rear brake set up as is , worked . Whatever operates it is the variant causing angst .
I see your point Frank,thing is this handbrake lever pulls the cable forward in a straight line and I see the ford one pulls the cable around a circular section ,so maybe this gives it more tension ,I have a lever here off a Forestor so I will have a good look at that
Just trying the picture Monte . You have the caliper cables one piece looped or both separate connected to a junction . This point is then hooked straight to a lever in the seating area? I would be trying to make a comparison to your set up leverage to that of the Falcon.
Something else has just entered my scone . At the calipers. The actuators will only move as far as they are allowed until clamp point. Are you getting this ? And how is your lever effort ? Just chucking in another dice for you .
,what I said should work. When I help one of my neighbours change rear pads in his Fairlane years ago, you wind the hand brake actuator back into the piston (with a special tool, a cube that fits on a 3-8 drive ratchet with various shapes on each face to fit most cars). He,s foot handbrake was the same as yours and would not hold. And we had to sit there putting it on and off till it winds up the slack in the actuator. ( It's a bit like self adjusters in drum brakes that work off the hand brake lever.)
I tried that GT ,made no difference so I sat down with a clear head and done some measurements and have found the problem the lever I have in the car is 280mm to the pivot point and 60mm to the end where the cable goes ,now I measured the forester one and it is the same length to the pivot point 280mm but from the pivot point to the cable it is only 30mm so it has twice the leverage ,so I got a bit of pipe that made the lever in the car twice as long and went for a drive ,pulled the handbrake on and stopped on a dime so it looks like I use the forester one and start all over again ,will have to reroot the cables and figure out how to mount the bloody thing ,anyway thanks everybody for your help ,aftermarket crap might have worked on the later handbrake set up with the brake drums on the handbrake but no chance on this set up so I am off to the shed wish me luck
Ok ,I decided to see if I can use the existing lever as it would be a lot of work to fit a different one so I drilled a new hole where the pivot point is at 30mm from where the cable hooks in and that seemed ok then the radius for the ratchet was wrong as I knew it would be so I cut the radius down on the plate that has the notches in it and cut some new ones ,this plate is nice hard steel so that worked out fine ,then I put it all back in and it works like a charm ,locks the wheels up with no effort at all ,like to thank everybody especially you Young Frank for steering me in the right direction
