J

janderson41

Active Member
My 1996 Disco 300Tdi auto has passed its MOT again.
Advisory on handbrake efficiency.
Starting to go blind after searching and reading umpteen articles on handbrake testing etc.
On my sloping drive of about 30% 3 clicks hold the car in neutral and trying to drive against the handbrake is difficult. I do not know which method is used at the garage to check transmission hand brakes. Any thoughts, do I just carry on as I passed, or should I bother getting the handbrake checked out?.
Getting too old to do some of these jobs myself nowadays.
Service brakes also had an advisory for being just over the efficiency requirement. Pads are quite good. I have a history of always light braking in advance, which I blame on my younger years on a BSA Super Rocket. Could this possibly cause glazing and should I go out and give the brakes a real hammering to see if this will help?. Personally I think the brakes are fine.

Any comments,good or bad, would be appreciated.

thanks

Jim A
-----------------------
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)
 
Sounds that you parking brake is about right with the three clicks and difficult to move, just like mine and there's nout wrong with that :D

As for the advisory I had one last, the first, and that was for a stone chip on the windscreen, ha it's been there for the last 11 years and guess what no mention of it this year.

I'm light on brakes so on the three mile drive to my MOT garage I'm aways do a bit heavy braking just to heat them up, it may or maynot help but that's what I do. :)
 
mine was an MOT advisory, but the MOT man said afterwards not to worry about it, they never were particularly brilliant.

same with the vehicle brakes. just good enough to pass on efficiency, but pads and discs were fine and I was told there wasn't much I could do to make them much better
 
Worried about my handbrake (Disco 1 300) one click is all I can get on it and the handbrake wont hold, roll forward a touch and it comes up four clicks and holds perfect.:confused:
 
I wouldn't worry! Cos A. It sounds ok and B. it's auto so you have park and don't need it for hill starts!
 
The only comment I can make on the handbrake because it happened on mine was a leaky output seal on the back of the transfer box which gave my brake pads a lovely slippery coating of oil :) Luckily I had both propshafts out anyway because of a clutch change £5 ish for a seal and £12 ish for new pads,springs and I splashed for an adjuster too. Makes a world of difference now :)
 
Mine holds perfect but only if applied when the vehicle is moving slightly in either direction otherwise I can only get one click and it doesn't hold at all:confused:
 
The handbrake is actually a transmission brake and that is inherently why it is inefficient in its job, however if you want a really good brake then an X-Brake conversion to disc helps.

However if like me you don't have nearly £300 to throw at it then you can easily clean and service the item without the need for new parts.

I have covered it in my thread and it simply involves removing the prop at one end, removing the drum, slacking off the handbrake cable and then three bolts hold the unit on.

Every time I go out off roading I usually end up cleaning it so it works again as a coating if rust will glaze the shoes. It's not hard o get it back to a one click hold as I have now.

There is an adjuster as mentioned above, a 9/16 spanner and turn it quarter turns clockwise to spread the shoes until the drum locks and then back off a quarter turn. Make sure the cable is adjusted properly.

Whilst not great, the item is perfectly serviceable and easily maintained.

With regards to the MOT, my understanding is that as its a transmission brake AND on a 4x4, the brake test cannot be done on a static roller so a G Force machine should be used.
 
many thanks for the input and support.
if we ever get dry weather for a few days i will take off the wheels , double check pads and wire brush them and the discs and in good old fashioned Landrover style---------JUST CARRY ON. the car has a total of 117k miles to date and I intend to keep her for a while yet.

Jim A
----------------
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap import)
 
landowner said:
Mine holds perfect but only if applied when the vehicle is moving slightly in either direction otherwise I can only get one click and it doesn't hold at all:confused:
Click to expand...

Needs adjusting. Sounds like someone has adjusted it incorrectly on the cable and not the drum. Or the cable is seized. This can happen if you have a bad engine earth and the hand brake cable acts as an earth on cranking. Causing the inner liner to melt and seize the cable. Drum must always be adjusted first with cable backed off. If the cable is not seized. Jack up one rear wheel and scotch other. Remove what you need to to get at point where cable comes through floor under handbrake lever. Back off adjuster as much as possible to give slack in cable. Under car locate adjuster, lower part of drum back plate towards front of car. Using correct spanner tighten until drum is locked. Slacken 1.5 turns. Check that wheel turns freely. Return to cabin and adjust cable until hand brake is hard on after three clicks.
 
Diesel Do said:
Maybe something loose in the drum? Broken lining or something!
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, came up 3 clicks only this morning and was as hard as it would go on but Disco rolled forward slightly and then I got one more click which held it perfect.

Next time I tried it I got one click and the lever was rock solid, Disco rolled forward slightly and then I got another three clicks and she stopped dead.

Not going to strip the drum until the weather gets warmer:)
 
sounds to me like you may have a delaminated shoe in there wandering about(unless all LR brake shoes are riveted)-I would try and look at that sooner than later.
I rebuilt mine this summer with new cable and new trans box oil seal-works a treat now and even works on hills,and is a pleasure to use
 
Get under it and get it done. It won't take long and it is a piece of **** honestly. Better to be a little cold for an hour than actually having something to wrong. If it is a sporadic as you are saying then I would be concerned that I had a problem with something that big that spins around with the prop. There's a lot of momentum in that drum.
 
have a look at busters guide before you start , some good tips in there for reassembly.
in the mean time just leave it in gear when you leave it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Handbrake not holding on steep incline
Replies
11
Views
836
Socrates
S
S
Frozen handbrake?
Replies
6
Views
659
Anaconda
A
Officerdibble
Handbrake adjustment
Replies
9
Views
1K
miktdish
miktdish
C
Help with brakes
Replies
8
Views
1K
c0w3h
C
dag019
Handbrake differences
Replies
13
Views
864
dag019
dag019