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Replacing the Handbrake Cable

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bob hughes

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Hi guys, my BJ7 brake woes just got bigger. My local garage has completed the brake cylinder replacement and my old girl was being checked over for an MOT, and I cannot beleive my luck: the hand brake cable snapped at the handle. We are due on the Lavant bank at Goodwood Revival this Sunday, so I paid over the odds for a new cable to be sent down from AH Spares PDQ to arrive 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, but every garage seems to be closed so I am going to have to DIY it. I will just have to grin and bear it if my hand starts acting up. I have done most things to the car including adjusting the handbrake cable, but I have never changed one. I see that there are clevis pin joints at both ends and I am OK at the wheel end, but what happens at the base of the hand brake handle? Do you have to drop the prop shaft to get at the fitting or can you work around it? Any immediate help would be appreciated. I am collecting the car tomorrow so I can get a swift look at it then in readiness for Saturday.

:cheers:

Bob
 
Remove transmission cover, then the four nuts securing the prop shaft front yolk (index mark the yolk / U joint and trans output to reassemble in correct orientation). The prop shaft may now be moved to the side of the trans tunnel to gain access to the brake lever fork and pin. It'll be messy in there, so keep track of the small parts.

Budget 2 hours if you have not removed the trans cover before (involves removing both driver and passengers seats and carpet sections). Use Dry Lube on cable. Before reassembly grease Yolk / U-joint - for fun. Best of luck. Gonzo
 
Another way is to remove the brake lever. A large flathead screwdriver is needed to remove the two screw/bolt securing the lever assembly to the bracket. This may difficult if bolts be rusted in. Look for 2 clips that secure the brake cable in the tunnel and remove them. Pull away the lever assembly and cable out through the car. Feed new cable through back of trans tunnel. Attach to fork and feed assembly back into trans tunnel. Secure cable with clips. Procedure 1 is easier.
 
Thanks Gonzo
I thought that you could get to it from the cockpit.
My trans cover is relatively east to remove, it is not screwed down, I am regularly in there for something or another.

Cheers

Bob
 
Gonzo, I admire you for changing it in 2 hours, I'm afraid that it took me 7 hours, but I got it done on Saturday and we were on the bank at Goodwood for Sunday and the old Girl passed the MOT on the Monday. Thanks for you tips but I must say that I do not want to do that job again.
Fortunately the weather was good and I was working out in the open with the car jacked up in two stages to get some room to scoot under. That took a little while.
The gear box tunnel was a matter of 10 mins or so as it is never fixed down.
Just as well I took the U.J. off at the front end as 1) I had not bent up the locking tabs from a previous prop shaft removal and 2) two of the nuts and bolts were loose as a result. ouch. The lever hing was OK.
Getting that split pin out of the clevis pin took for ever, I had a long pair of forceps and eventually snapped the ends of and eventually pulled it out. The next problem was removing the clevis pin, that was a PITA, of course I could have raised the prop shaft at this point but blinded by the shear fury of attempting to dislodge the pin I did not think of it until later. Then once removed the fork was free, then there was the matter of the retaining nuts at the end of the sleeve. This took an age, remember I still had not raised the prop shaft, it was still shunted to one side, the spanner work was a partial flat at each turn - savage. Once that was removed it was plain sailing to the removal altogether. There is a difference between the old and the new cable in that the retaining nuts are 3/4 AF on the new against something like 5/8 AF on the old and my 3/4 spanners are long so that took an age, and I still had not twigged to lift the prop shaft, it was only when I had trouble lining up the fork and the HB bracket and fitting the new clevis pin that I realized that I could lift up the prop shaft. That helped a lot, and I was away with the mixer then as we say over here.
There is a kicker to this story, my wife was out shopping in my Audi A3 and she came back with a Ford Ranger behind her as I was clearing up. Turns out that the Ford had demolished both LHS doors as it sped out of the garage forecourt at our local store without stopping and crashed into the side of our Audi. I have been nursing this car along, it is 18 years old and in resonablly good condition with 265,000 plus miles on the clock so worth peanuts, but I was going to get as much miles on it as I could to establish a record if I could. Sure enough they offered me ÂŁ634
I have a local body shop and have bought two doors for ÂŁ150 and he will spray and fit them for a fraction of the cost that the insurers estimate.
That's life I guess

:cheers:

Bob
 
Just like with any project undertaking, your mileage will vary. Odds seemed against you that weekend with news of the poor Audi A3. Happy to learn your wife was not injured - good ol' Audi safety - and the car is still reparable. All's well. Gonzo
 
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