Handbrake & Mot

[norseman]

I can't help thinking that there must be a clue in fully applying the HB just before the car comes to a stop, almost as if the slowly rotating drums are setting the shoes.
One one occasion this week, following the above method, not only did the HB hold the car when idling in drive, I could actually increase the revs. by a couple of hundred & the car still didn't move.

Full application when the car is already stationary results in the car still creeping forward, often accompanied by groaning noises from the rear.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I can't help thinking that there must be a clue in fully applying the HB just before the car comes to a stop, almost as if the slowly rotating drums are setting the shoes.

In my car, the HB is an entirely separate system to the disc brakes. The only use the drums and shoes get, is for the HB - so the inside surface of the drums rust. Rust is a fairly good lubricant, and makes the HB much less effective. Just a little use, on the move, prevents the rust, polishes the inside of the drum, and makes the HB extremely effective.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

My mother in law expects

You're never going to win that one.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Driveway.jpg

• ReganAndCarter
• 1 Dec 2024

My handbrake, nose up, would hold on that. I would be less confident of it holding, tail up, because rear tyres tend to dig in better, nose up.

 

[Mottie]

One day I hope she'll buy a decent car with a start/stop facility that requires clutch be depressed as part of the sequence, as it seems some people don't learn

Quite a few manual cars nowdays need to have the clutch depressed to start the engine (autos require the brake to be pressed when starting) regardless of whether they have start/stop facility.

 

[morqthana]

My mother in law expects the car to be in neutral when she starts it. I've lost count of the number of times I've moved her car, left it in gear, and she just gets in and turns the key, lurching it against the hand brake.
She usually then has a mutter about the stupid person who left it in gear.

I don't feel it's my place to point out that the startup checks prior to ignition should include checking for neutral and depressing the clutch as an extra safety measure, just in case there is some child/mum-and-pram/etc that she hasn't seen waiting to cross near by

One day I hope she'll buy a decent car with a start/stop facility that requires clutch be depressed as part of the sequence, as it seems some people don't learn

Meanwhile the brute that took her daughter from her is trying to kill her.

 

[norseman]

My handbrake, nose up, would hold on that. I would be less confident of it holding, tail up, because rear tyres tend to dig in better, nose up.

No chance in my case, thinking along the lines of a cable from the front towing eye to something immoveable

 

[carmanmemoranda]

.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

My handbrake, nose up, would hold on that. I would be less confident of it holding, tail up, because rear tyres tend to dig in better, nose up.

IIf your drum handbrake system is how I think it is. It's 1 leading shoe and 1 trailing shoe. Should be just as effective in either direction

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

IIf your drum handbrake system is how I think it is. It's 1 leading shoe and 1 trailing shoe. Should be just as effective in either direction

It is, and it is. I can lock the rear wheels up on the move.

It had a fresh MOT, when I bought it, but I was very unhappy with terrific strain which was needed, just to get any effect from the handbrake, plus the number of clicks, 7 on the lever - so that was the first job on my list, to resolve. Shoes, back plate, cables all looked like new. The inside of drum had a coating of rust, compensator stretched, and compensator adjuster, at maximum.

I derusted the drums, fixed and modified the stretched compensator, adjusted properly at the hubs, then set it at the compensator, and importantly - made a point of giving it some work to do on the move, to keep the drum polished. Ever since, it has started to work at one click, two clicks is enough most of the time, and three locks the wheels solidly, all with little effort.