1998 406 diesel estate handbrake adjustment

a4gom · Post by **a4gom** » 11 May 2011, 20:59

Can anyone give me a clue!
I haven't had chance to get my car over my pit today as I've another car in the way and it's MOT time tomorrow.
1998 1.9TD 406 Estate with drums not discs.

Is there any adjusters on the cable / lever or is the only adjustment the "automatic" adjusters on the shoes.

Any advice gratefully received to save me sometime in the morning.
Cheers

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 12 May 2011, 08:31

depends if its you lever travle or the grip on your shoes/drums you are attempting to adjust,

if the later you will not acheave this by adjusting the cables, and in thois case will need to try manualy adjusting the self adjuster inside the drum,

if you have bendix rear brake chance's are the tinny stainless steel blade will be missing from the adjust mechanisum,

if so it is dealer only and you have to buy the hole adjuster kit
at around 50 60 quid,

if its just the travle of the lever there should be a 13mm nut at the rear of the hand brake lever, and under the ash tray/centre consoul,

regards malcolm

a4gom · Post by **a4gom** » 12 May 2011, 08:57

Thanks Malcolm, there's nothing wrong with the brakes just excessive travel on the lever.
My xsara was pulled for excessive travel a couple of weeks ago so might as well adjust it out if I can. The shoes need replacing on the xsara and that could be the problem with the 406 but i'll try adjust the cable first.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 13 May 2011, 12:19

On my Hdi there is an adjustment where the cable splits to go to the rear wheels, don't know about the earlier ones.

Peter

spider · Post by **spider** » 13 May 2011, 12:51

Peter.N. wrote:On my Hdi there is an adjustment where the cable splits to go to the rear wheels, don't know about the earlier ones.

Peter

On that plastic bracket in the cable ? , sometimes its above the rear part of the heat shield depending on model.

Taking them up via the shoe adjustment (rear drums only) or via the separate handbrake shoes (discs only) is best.

Cheating and winding the cable up just will wear the rear brakes out.

I used to (with the drums) turn them a fraction via the drum hole with someone holding the brake pedal on, this way you could get them a bit better without any risk of binding either.