Handbrake improvers

[Bakdraft007]

I decided to treat my stag to some handbrake improvers... all went well except I found my Handbrake had to be fully adjusted in every possible way to get normal travel . I thought, OK I need a new cable.

Today I fitted it... but the new cable also still needed to be fully adjusted to get normal travel? Is this normal for the handbrake improvers? Its OK as it is at the moment but I have no further adjustment available.

I have new shoes on the rear so it can't be that... is there a way around this?

I am hoping for some advice

Dave

[sujitroy]

thinking out loud. have u run the car and Applied the brake pedal. that takes up the adjusters and may help. else how are the health of those things the handbrake cable attaches too. if they are worn. then that could be the problem

[sujitroy]

does having the rear wheels off the ground make any difference

[stagwingnut]

I think he means Tony Harts handbrake improvers , not the ratchet adjusters inside the drum , the improvers bolt to the levers where the cable attaches near the drums

[PJM Stag]

I think he means Tony Harts handbrake improvers , not the ratchet adjusters inside the drum , the improvers bolt to the levers where the cable attaches near the drums

yes, but if the new shoes have not been "adjusted" to take up the slack after fitting, the handbrake improvers wont make any difference.

[wilf]

The internal (to the drum) handbrake levers/linkages wear, and because of the geometry, "waste" a considerable amount of handbrake travel. I fitted new ones and the handbrake works perfectly well.

I suspect the "improvers" were just a way to overcome this issue, really just masking the actual problem. Rimmers part numbers 519070 and 519071 - also available elsewhere. A Stag tooling fund remanufactured part, I believe.

[Bakdraft007]

yes, but if the new shoes have not been "adjusted" to take up the slack after fitting, the handbrake improvers wont make any difference.

Yes, they are Tony Harts. Yes, the car has been run for months on the old cable, and then today on the new cable... its not about the shoes or the internal drum adjusters they are fine. I don't remember the old cable having to be fully adjusted before the improver being fitted... hence I was wondering other peoples experiences with the improver..

[KOY 23]

The “improvers” were discussed some years ago by the experts who unfortunately are no longer here, but the post must have been deleted as it shows as a 404 error. All I can remember was that they improved the braking but at the expense of long lever travel. If there is excessive play the lever will reach the end of its travel before the brakes are fully functional.

[Lingen]

Dave.
As Koy says, the improvers provide extra leverage, but at the expense of extra travel. If you have got any wear in the linkage, or the shoes aren't fully adjusted up, the linkage will come to the end of its travel before the brakes are fully applied. I have been working on the problem of weak handbrakes on various Stags I know, and I hope I will be able to have some suggestions to make before too long. It seems to be a combination of faults that is making them so ineffective, and possibly that some of the replacement parts aren't quite correct.
Being "Shut down" isn't helping.
Mike.

[mole42]

My memory, from 30+ years ago, is that the 2000/2500/2.5PI cars, which have the same handbrake mechanism, used to fail the handbrake test because of wear on the hinge pin on the levers. I do remember that we used to replace these with new BL parts. Of course, in those days there were BL dealers with a spares department! Replacement rear brake shoes were also delivered ready fitted with new adjusters too.

I think the "handbrake improver" that is available was originally produced in Australia for the TR6 and documented in a competition magazine.

Richard