Hand Brake

I find it extremely difficult to get the handbrake on my TD21 Series 2 to work effectively. (car has rear disc brakes). Are there any tips on setting it up so that it is capable of being used more than once and passing the MOT. Posted by dcsaunders 21/11/2012 10:55:02

All the rods should be at right angles to their cranks or levers when the handbrake is hard on.  When the three-litre cars were built, their handbrakes were surprisingly effective but the standard brake linings were soft in comparison to what is generally offered today.  Hard brake linings may therefore be the problem. Posted by Ernest Taylor 21/11/2012 15:39:37

Woops! The reference to disc brakes did not register! Posted by Ernest Taylor 21/11/2012 15:55:31

This is a common problem with Jensen 541 and CV8 handbrakes. Apart from the obvious adjustments and avoidance of streching (ie worn out) cables etc. one common fault is wear in the adjustment bolt / nut that goes through the calipers to operate the handbrake. If this nut and bolt combination jumps a thread on first application of the handbrake after adjusment, the handbrake will never work properly and no amount of adjustment will correct it. Posted by DaveT 22/11/2012 12:29:00

The following applies to TE's without self adjusters.The comments regarding cranks going over centre are very important, & if they do it will never work , the floating self centring bit should start off unbiased I think, ie fore & aft. There can be huge wear/play in this whole xmas tree arrangment and in the levers on the calipers which does not make adjustement easy,early cars had grease nipples on the main swivel ,later ones do not.The whole design is highly questionable. Make sure all the moving parts are free to move,the caliper hinge pins are overlooked as is the tuning fork release thing. The cable needs to be free and not full of congealed grease . I never thought of the adjust ment bolt/screw jumping worn threads, this same bolt also tends to self undo and hence increase the lever travel,which is why most rear disc braked 3 litres have vertical handbrakes when full on and the car still moves.I believe the same general set up prevails on Jaguar  Mk11's,maybe they know the answer. Two fixes assuming the threads are  ok; 1,loctite 2,better, drill 2 small holes opposite one another in the web of the caliper clamp in the same plain as the screw slot and having nipped the adjuster up insert a suitable split pin,this will stop it undoing.The fact that the brake shoes do not sit flat on the disc does not help, you can increase the braking area which is minute by deliberately wearing the shoes to the correct angle (belt sander).The Autocar road test of Aug62 commented "To obtain sufficient leverage........large angular movement of lever...which makes it obtrusive....which was a polite way of saying itis pretty useless.  If you want a decent handbrake capable of locking the back wheels with mininal lever travel to facilitate handbrake turns & more importantly stopping the car if/when the main hydraulics fail etc. replace the back axle assembly with a drum braked one from a TD S1  (C Prince must have a few). If you must have originality set it up for the mot,pads rubbing slightly because they will be worn by the time you get to the garage  and don't use it before the test and thereafter use it sparingly , park in gear when you can ,&  resign yourself to tigthening the adjustor every time you have the back wheels off.The ultimate catastrophe occurs when one of the tiny feeble shoes detaches from its backplate and falls off at which juncture you have no hand brake at all.Happy days Posted by Peter Martin 27/11/2012 10:06:33

To follow up my earlier comment about similar Jensen handbrake problems. I have a 541S with good handbrake (auto adjusting - but that does not make a lot of difference if it is all working freely) and 541R with very poor handbrake (manual adjustment). I have spent many hours rebuilding, adjusting, modifying the mechanical advantage in the linkage at the base of the handbrake and at the "Maltese cross" splitter on the rear axle, changing cables to rods (across the back axle) and then by careful measurement have proven that the thread jumps on first "hard" application after careful adjustment. This only needs to happen on one side of the car for both sides to be affected - the Maltese cross arrangement compensates to equalise the effectiveness on both sides.  I do not need to road test the car or even put the wheels back on to provoke this!  The split pin modification described above has been included on the 541R since before my ownership started so the bolts are not loosening.  good luck Posted by DaveT 27/11/2012 12:38:59

I think this topic needs a wider audience (Bulletin) as the rear disc  braked cars with B-W automatic transmission have no engine braking and if the single circuit hydraulics fail you have no means of stopping except by gravity or collision. I am very happy with my drum brakes at the back! Posted by AAT 27/11/2012 13:23:55

I have read above and elsewhere that the rods should be at right angles to the levers when the handbrake is fully applied. On my TE the rods are at right angles to the levers when the handbrake is fully off, and therefore well beyond centre when fully applied. It [i:wu95tjkf]just [/i:wu95tjkf]meets the requirments of the MOT. There doesn't seem to be enough thread left on the rods to be able to adjust them as suggested.  regards Clive Posted by greg124 20/04/2013 16:51:24

Sounds like the cable has been  over tightened/shortened at the lever end  or your shoes might be worn out and the cable has been incorrectly shortened to compensate. New shoes are 17mm thick incl the mounting plate.The cable inner may be sticking and will require cleaning/greasing and possibley a pull off spring to assist total release hence you should get the compensator in the correct start position, About 45* before full on @ 90* I think Good luck Posted by Peter Martin 21/04/2013 08:37:14

Thanks Peter, as it is a TE it has pads rather than shoes, and these have only covered about 1500 miles since fitting. The cable is well lubricated and seems to move freely, however it is quite possible that it has been incorrectly adjusted at some time in its life. I shall investigate further when I get the opportunity. Posted by greg124 24/04/2013 19:54:42