Ae101 handbrake uselessness -SORTED

[Lurkin]

Have written this thread before.. however it has gone awol. Basically the handbrake sucks. have replaced the rear pads with softer ones, discs were pretty ok when this was done - but still lacks grip.

Sergei wrote up something previously about the handbrake being 'stuck' in terms of some levers... had a quick read but left it until now as I have the time to have a go at it - and the thread has disappeared.

any ideas would be great?

[whynot]

there is a good chance the self adjusting mechanism in the caliper has not been adjusted or is damaged. Mine felt like the back wheels are sliding on ice when i pulled the hand brake on untill I adjusted them.

Try backing the cable adjustment off on the hand brake until there is a little bit of slack on the lever then stand firmly on the brake pedal and pull the hand brake up and down its full distance a dozen times, this usually works unless the calipers are stuck or damaged from forcing the calipers back in when changing the pads in which case it gets a bit more involved.

[RS13]

Yeah, but that said, I've never, ever had a Toyota with a decent handbrake.

[andyztouring]

Bleed the left rear brake,that usually fixes the problem.

[matt dunn]

Yeah, but that said, I've never, ever had a Toyota with a decent handbrake.

For doing handbrakies,

Disc brakes suck arse, hardly any ever lock up,

Drum brakes are the best thing.

[Lurkin]

should also mention I have bled the brakes previously, including the rears using the good old 'two man' method without much difference.

I'll give the wiggle idea a go - the handbrake does work... but want it improved. not expecting it to be better than a drum brake handbrake.. but would be nice if it actually worked properly!

[sergei]

I replied before "forum reset".
I assume you have disk brakes at the back with integrated handbrake mechanism (no internal drum).
Basically you doing it wrong.
To tighten hand brake you need to loosen the nut on the lever.
Yes that is right, tightening nut on the lever eventually will lead to weak handbrake.
What is happening is that there is ratchet inside of the calliper, if the cable is always under tension the ratchet never returns to its stop position, which means the self adjusting mechanism never activates.

You will need to loosen the nut on the lever until the cable has a few mm of free play.
Now you need to press brakes and pull hand brake lever to full, then release completely multiple times. If after ~100 times of pull/release cycle, the handbrake is still weak, it means that the screw in the ratchet/calliper is jammed.
To unjam the screw you will need to pull of the rear callipers and SCREW in the pistons completely (it will have a slot for large screw driver, although 14 or 17mm open ended wrench also fits). Once you done this (assemble everything back), get in the car, press the brakes couple of times and then try on yanking the handbrake a few times.

It is amazing how many kiwi mechanics have no $&#$% idea how to deal with weak integrated hand brake. All they do is keep adjusting the centre nut, which makes this problem worse...

TL;DR: Make sure the handbrake cable always has a few mm of free play. Never over tighten the cable, as it is screwing up the self adjusting mechanism.

[Lurkin]

hmm ok. they are definitely disc brakes.. so I assume it will have this mechanism.

Did screw the pistons right back in when changing the pads... hmmm ok will have a play as soon as I return home! cheers!

[Akane]

Yeah, but that said, I've never, ever had a Toyota with a decent handbrake.

had a 1990 corolla hatchback (EE90 I think?) with drums on the back, best handbrake turns evar!

[Leon]

I'm going to have to try this on the EP91 Starlet handbrake too. It keeps trying to vanish off down the driveway by itself because the handbrake is so useless.

[rollaholic]

It is amazing how many kiwi mechanics have no $&#$% idea how to deal with weak integrated hand brake. All they do is keep adjusting the centre nut, which makes this problem worse...

the easiest way is also the best way!

[Lurkin]

thanks for the awesome post - loosened it off, yanked it a number of times, took about 5mm of the cable back! then drove ~1200km to Auckland and back with full utilization of the handbrake... heh heh heh... cheers!

[Quirky]

TIME FOR SKIDS