406 handbrake

[Peter.N.]

Mine has the disc/drum brakes and the handbrake has never been much good, I have changed the disc/drum, brake pads/shoes and both the rear cables its still pretty useless, I can only get it to hold if I pull it up really hard and then my wife can't release it, the shoes seem to be wearing more on the n/s than o/s, the adjusters seem to work OK and there is slack in the cables when the brake is released - any suggestions?

Thanks, Peter

Sorry, I've just realised I have put this in the wrong section

[citronut]

did you fit new shoes and adjusters,

i just looked on pug service box it does not show the adjusters on there own,
i was trying to see what type of adjusters it has between the shoes,

if the adjusters have the tiny stainless steel pawl as the Bendix drum brake set up has, this more often than not goes walk about,
leading to the adjuster unwinding

[Peter.N.]

Hi Malcolm

The adjusters appear to only be manual, there is a hole in the drum to insert a screwdriver and rotate the pawl/ratchet arrangement, even when the shoes are adjusted up so that they are binding slightly and the handbrake lever has very little movement but the brakes are not good, it not so bad forward but backwards there is very little braking effort. I have just got another 406 of the same year, 01 Hdi, for a friend and that seems to be the same.

Peter

[spider]

They are not brilliant but they should work. I'd take the discs off and have a closer look at what is going on personally if you can.

I'm almost thinking you have a bad cable of some sorts, they can buldge and cause problems. Expensive to replace both unfortunately. Don't forget adjuster under car, I'm not sure if there's one on the handbrake lever end (cannot remember)

The adjusters are just manual star wheels.

Could also be corrosion on the inner 'rim' of the disc where the handbrake shoes make contact too.

[Peter.N.]

I have replaced to two rear cables but couldn't get the long one at the time. I have had the brakes apart several times but can't see anything obviously wrong. It may be the main cable is binding but it doesn't feel all that hard when you pull it up. The o/s one seems to work better than the n/s and yet the n/s is wearing much faster but its coming off OK there is slack in the cable. Mystery

Peter

[citronut]

when adjusting it all up you did adjust the shoes up before adjusting the cables i presume,

[Peter.N.]

Yep