Rear handbrake adjustment balance

[Max]

I've been trying to adjust the handbrake but having issues with the balance, before you ask both clevis pins are free and I've taken apart and greased them up for good measure.

I'm fairly certain there are no issues with the calipers themselves as i fully rebuilt them a few years ago with all new seals, but i have to admit i never adjusted the handbrake and it didn't feel amazing, however it passed the MOT. I'm not sure what the brake efficiency was left to right during the MOT post calliper rebuild as it was a while back.

I've recently taken the calipers off and cleaned them up and the pistons were able wind in no issues.

The slider pins were sticking as the car has been sat for the last couple years now so i took them apart and cleaned and greased the bores and pins so no issues there.

I've followed the instructions in the manual for adjustment and found the driver side hand brake mech was not in contact with the stopper pin hence greasing up the clevis pins both sides, so then i loosened off the adjuster and pulled the handbrake up and down a few times in case it helped to balance things back out. After 1 click of the handbrake I've checked the drag on the driver side, there was none so I've adjusted until i felt a slight drag, checked the passenger side and there is no drag, and i dont get any on the passenger side until about 5 clicks, at that point the driver side is hard to move.

I've been round and checked for anything obvious but cant find a thing, I'm wondering if at some point in the past the driver side piston was binding up resulting in extra strain on the passenger side cable, ending up in a bit of stretch hence the balance left to right is off...

What do you guys think, am i over thinking this or do i need to renew the handbrake cable on the passenger side?

Sorry for the wordy post, best to give you the all the info i can...

[Max]

I guess the only other thing to try is bleed the passenger side and try again?

[vanzep]

common problem - ive always gone for a recon rear caliper first as it easier to change that than the handbrake cable.
A place near me did recon calipers at about £50.
But the handbrake cable can get stretched on one side if the caliper gets seized at some point.
Also worth thinking that as long as the handbrake works fully between 5 and 7 clicks then you are ok and shouldnt be an issue on mot.
Imbalance on handbrake isnt a big issue but any sizeable imbalance at any caliper under breaking is an issue.

[Max]

Bit more investigation to narrow down the issue, with the clevis pins and return springs removed i can actuate the cams by hand and stop the rear wheels from rotating on both sides equally well, so it doesnt seem like the passenger side caliper is not capable. One thing i did notice is the passenger side cam appears to be a bit more free and has slightly more travel than the driver side, when measured its about 1.5mm more.

Its not that the passenger side doesnt work, it just doesnt work as well as the driver side, by feel the resistance is around 4 clicks behind the driver side, as at 5 clicks of the handbrake the passenger side has about the same resistance as the driver side on 1 click.

At this setting with the handbrake on 10 clicks the driver side works perfectly but the passenger side doesnt hold well enough and i can turn the wheel by hand, the cable adjuster is very obviously tilted to the driver side.

Still feels like a stretched cable but I think i will try a bleed as a last resort before swapping out the caliper or cable.

[Scott560]

The fact that the 2 callipers feel different to me suggests that the self adjusting part of the calliper mech is at fault.

You could try winding them in even more. Even when the piston is fully home, i think you need to still keep turning to get the mech to fully adjust out (perhaps this is why there is a difference in feel).

2 new refurbed callipers if it were me, but then I tend to get annoyed quickly and skip the pain and anguish of faffing with bits and it still not work (most of the time lol)

[Max]

After much thinking I've come to the conclusion that the handbrake mech is working but there is potential wear in the cam that actuates the pin, hence the extra travel in the cam resulting in the driver side clamping before the passenger side. That's my theory anyway... so I've ordered a remanufactured OEM caliper as that is clearly much easier to replace than the cable, fingers crossed that does the trick, if not ill look at getting another cable...

[vanzep]

[Vtecmec]

I'm pretty sure that you need to reset the rear calipers handbrake mechanism when fiddling with the rear brakes.

Cables rarely stretch and both sides should automatically balance to apply the same force.

It's probably worth going through the adjustment procedure again.

[Max]

Pretty sure i did that but i will run through again as a sanity check before i swap out the caliper.

[Vtecmec]

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