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Defeated by a handbrake cable!

Knucklehead

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 28, 2013
Messages
408
Hi all,

Thought I would replace my stuffed handbrake cable this morning before MOT.

Can't be that hard, trusty Haynes says just disconnect from lever and pull through floor hole. Eh??

Looking at the attached pics, I seem to be missing something obvious.

I noticed a small tab midway down cable. so opened it up but doesn't seem to matter what position I have the lever in I can't push the cable through its top holder. In up position, the flat adjuster catches the lever mechanism below it and fully down there isn't enough room to slip the cable under the little tab.

I also noticed there are some fins where the cable comes through the floor. These are expanded around the plastic hole so surely Haynes 'pull the cable through the hole in the floor plan' aint going to happen. Would need to compress these 5 little fins first?

Any advice from somebody who has disconnected the cable from the lever much appreciated.

Cheers,
Dave.
tab3.jpg

fins.jpg
 
Can’t recall any such issues when I replaced mine. I thought the lever end was the easy bit! Just Compressed the flared lugs on the plastic entry grommet to free the cable outer and threaded the old/new inner cables round the cable guide on the lever. Mine was from Milers which, I think at the time, may advertised as OEM. I seem to remember paying a lot more than the one they currently have on their website. Is your cable pattern?
 
Yep, I'm with TP here. Can't think of anything clever at all. Done a couple, never struggled. Sorry.
 
Thanks for replies and yes I grabbed a Toyo cable to make sure would be good fit. The rest of the pins/bolts came out ok was just the front I’m struggling with.

Just so I’m clear, looking at the top photo, do you remember opening the little lug halfway down that I circled?

I pulled it open as couldn’t see how the flat edge adjuster marked above it would feed through it as fatter than the cable?
 
Done mine 2 years back, don't recall any issues other than a jammed compensator on the axle.

Regards

Dave
 
Must take my hat off to you guys.

I’ve ended up unbolting the handbrake lever from the floor to get the cable out. Actually helped with room to use a clip to compress those little finger things.

Guess that’s the difference between real mechanics and have a go hammer hands like me!

Should stick to bikes.

Now have the pleasure of servicing the rear handbrake shoes.

Cheers for replies anyhow.

Dave.
 
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@Knucklehead If it makes you feel any better this mechanic knows sweet FA about motorbikes.......oh except when a neighbour friend took me out on a Kawasaki on the pillion many years ago, it scared the shit out of me, not been on a bike since! :scared-eek:

Regards

Dave
 
That is the easy end.

Squeezed the tabs down with some long pliers to get back through the hole.
 
Funny thing Dave, been round bikes most of my life and still wouldn't get on the back of one!

Just got cable fitted back on just fine after some swearing and throwing of heavy objects.

Tried following the FSM manual way of adjusting the bellcrank, 8 turns back from locked on the adjuster etc...

Don't know how anybody else got along but found far too much slack with the bellcrank so went back to my normal backing off until not binding and call it good.

New shoes in so thinking some of the inner springs could probably do with a change in the future to take out some of the slack. Working nicely now and actually holds on a hill!

Anyhow for anybody else with cable issues, definately worth changing as makes a world of difference.
Worth pricing cable from UAE as I was quoted £114 after a discount for UK:openmouth:

Cheers,
Dave.
 
Someone did a write up on setting the handbrake and getting the best from it. Pretty darn good article if I recall.

I'm glad yours is working well now, but for anyone new looking in here's a quick précis.

Forget the manual. Wind the cog until the shoes are stuck against the drum, wind the external threaded bolt until all the slack has gone in the crank, then back the cog off a click or two until the wheel is free. The main issue is that the shoes aren't always the same profile as the drum so they only touch on one high spot. You get great feel in the lever but the brakes won't even hold the truck on the flat, never mind a hill. You need to wear them in by driving along gently pulling on the handbrake a 100 m at a time. Then readjust. Fitting the longer push bar (dogbone) can help with this or if you can't get one, just a blob of weld in the groove will help to push the top of the shoes out a little more so that they fit better in the curve of the drum. It's one of the worst things that Toyota ever designed frankly
 
Someone did a write up on setting the handbrake and getting the best from it. Pretty darn good article if I recall.

I'm glad yours is working well now, but for anyone new looking in here's a quick précis.

Forget the manual. Wind the cog until the shoes are stuck against the drum, wind the external threaded bolt until all the slack has gone in the crank, then back the cog off a click or two until the wheel is free. The main issue is that the shoes aren't always the same profile as the drum so they only touch on one high spot. You get great feel in the lever but the brakes won't even hold the truck on the flat, never mind a hill. You need to wear them in by driving along gently pulling on the handbrake a 100 m at a time. Then readjust. Fitting the longer push bar (dogbone) can help with this or if you can't get one, just a blob of weld in the groove will help to push the top of the shoes out a little more so that they fit better in the curve of the drum. It's one of the worst things that Toyota ever designed frankly

I wonder who it was that posted the “pretty darn good article” Chris...

just askin’ like... :lol: :whistle:
 
Still on the handbrake theme I half did the rear brakes today. New OEM disc/drum, OEM disc pads and new Handbrake shoes (Karsons) along with a new fitting kit, springs, clips etc all sourced from RoughTrax. Near side today, off side to be done tomorrow.
The existing disc/drum is a pattern part. Some time ago I bought some of the extended dog ones which improved the handbrake operation no end but it still wasn’t perfect.
For some reason, adjusting the shoes as Chris has described was not possible without the shoes binding with the brake off which meant having to back off the adjusters somewhat.
With the new parts setup and adjusted the opposite is true and the handbrake now locks with minimal movement of the bellcrank without any binding when off.
As Chris has mentioned, the fit of the shoes in the drum is quite critical. Comparing new with old, the new shoes and drum were a perfect fit, the old were not despite being well bedded in. So what’s going on here then? This has to be the reason why correct adjustment wasn’t possible.
The Caliper s are past there best really but still work OK so I’ll probably get another Winter out of them and replace them next year prior to the MOT.
 
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