Hey folks,

 

anyone got a picture handy of their handbrake adjustment bolt/bracket.

 

mine seems only to be pulling on one side, bracket looks odd also I’m just wondering if it’s an aftermarket/notch replacement. 

 

Rear brakes were rebuilt and disks replaced a year ago.

 

thanks in advance.

 

Seàn

Never actually seen on that is straight, even from new. 

18 minutes ago, Tech1e said:

Never actually seen on that is straight, even from new. 

Haha oh fair enough! 😂

 

when handbrake is off its level but when its pulled the right cable moves but the left stays put. I’m just going to replace the two cables and see if it Sorts it.

That might help. Best thing is to check balance on brake rollers

19 minutes ago, Tech1e said:

That might help. Best thing is to check balance on brake rollers

From the NCT (MOT) last year, there was an imbalance of 31%, then got the new disks and callipers rebuilt and that came down to 16%. 

 

Overall performance is low though failure is 16% mine hit 22%.

Id say the cables are stretched... or ithas happened other that one of them gets pinched / squashed 

Couple of new ones are cheap enough, and will probably sort it 

I have come across this one before..

 

The handbrake cables have been disconnected or de-adjusted, the cable relaxes and slips out of the guide tube that goes through the floor. When it is adjusted or reconnected the shoulder on the cable (that would stop the cable pulling through) hasn't located properly. This has the affect of shortening the cable so pitches the adjuster bar over.

I don't think they've fully seized because the arm on the caliper still moves when i apply the handbrake, only like 4 mm but still moves. 

 

That's a good possibility regarding the shoulder getting caught, it,s fairly low so i couldn't get fair enough under the car to properly inspect the guide tubes.

 

Talking to the guy in local skoda parts desk he also speculated if the cable and guide tube had maybe fused together hence the minimal movement, but i can only find that out by trying to remove the old cable.

 

I'll inspect the shoulder this evening, if that's the cause then popping it back into it's proper channel should fix it straight away. ("Should")

these are photos of the handbrake on and off

Have you checked the cable?

Just now, Tech1e said:

Have you checked the cable?

Yeah it’s fully seated in the guide tube. No issue from that point of view. Only thing I can think of now is the cable itself inside of the plastic sleeve is stretched and isn’t transmitting the movement to the rear. 

About £20 for a pair so won’t hurt to stick a pair on. 

11 hours ago, SeanRyan said:

the cable itself inside of the plastic sleeve

Or the sleeve is breaking down; either way the cure is new cables.

Looking at the pictures I’d say you have a rear calliper sticking. Or a snapped cable. Check the arms on the callipers are both back on the stops. 

There are also an upgraded handbrake cables  available now for the Mk1 this is a picture of the part numbers and quantities needed. I replaced my cables recently as they were 17 years old and failed the mot on low efficiency on handbrake. I would start at looking at the callipers though.

Edited 6 August, 20196 yr by Guest

So went away for the weekend, drove for about an hour on relatively windy, awkward poor roads. i arrived at my destination and pulled the handbrake, only to find it working perfectly. little/no excess travel in the handbrake and held the car firm. Was a bit shocked as this had never happened before. drove the car again that evening and it was back to the way it always was. 

 

I'm still going to replace the cables this week, but does anything spring to mind for ye since i was driving on challenging road conditions and braking regularly?

4 minutes ago, SeanRyan said:

So went away for the weekend, drove for about an hour on relatively windy, awkward poor roads. i arrived at my destination and pulled the handbrake, only to find it working perfectly. little/no excess travel in the handbrake and held the car firm. Was a bit shocked as this had never happened before. drove the car again that evening and it was back to the way it always was. 

 

I'm still going to replace the cables this week, but does anything spring to mind for ye since i was driving on challenging road conditions and braking regularly?

I’d be checking the rear callipers. 

4 minutes ago, Skoda_Driver1972 said:

Looking at the pictures I’d say you have a rear calliper sticking. Check the arms on the callipers are both back on the stops. 

There are also an upgraded handbrake cables  available now for the Mk1 this is a picture of the part numbers and quantities needed. I replaced my cables recently as they were 17 years old and failed the mot on low efficiency on handbrake. I would start at looking at the callipers though.

Yeah they bot return to the stops when handbrake is off, theres no issue when the handbrake isn't engaged, i'll have a look when replacing the cables though.

That metal bracket shouldn’t be bent like that. Every octavia I’ve seen has this, they’ve clearly used week metal. So when people yank the handbrake to hard it bends that bracket making it not pull both the cables straight. Now this could also be the wires stuck or callipers. 

 

This bracket should only have a slight curve to hold the wires. Not bent into 90 degrees.

 

I’d check to make sure the callipers are not sticking, and no resistance in the wires. If not replace that bracket.

12 minutes ago, DeanVRS20VT said:

That metal bracket shouldn’t be bent like that. Every octavia I’ve seen has this, they’ve clearly used week metal. So when people yank the handbrake to hard it bends that bracket making it not pull both the cables straight. Now this could also be the wires stuck or callipers. 

 

This bracket should only have a slight curve to hold the wires. Not bent into 90 degrees.

 

I’d check to make sure the callipers are not sticking, and no resistance in the wires. If not replace that bracket.

That was my thought aswell, compared to diagrams i'd seen of the part i thought it was bent a bit more than it should. Now luckily enough replacing the cables that bracket only costs 4 euro so i was going to do that aswell while i was at it. so i'll see from there if that plays a significant part.

 

I don’t think it’s bent, it’s just off centre

21 minutes ago, Tech1e said:

I don’t think it’s bent, it’s just off centre

Agreed, based on literally every hand brake I've ever adjusted at the lever.

This is mine. I actually saw this bend as I was applying the handbrake and again as you’ll see one side is pulling the cable* more which came up at the garage saying exactly the same thing. How the left side looks is how it should be, the right has been bent back...

 

Sean, when your new bracket comes upload a photo, as I swear they’re not meant to be this bent. Be interested if I’m talking rubbish! 🤣

Edited 6 August, 20196 yr by DeanVRS20VT

On 06/08/2019 at 19:55, DeanVRS20VT said:

This is mine. I actually saw this bend as I was applying the handbrake and again as you’ll see one side is pulling the cable* more which came up at the garage saying exactly the same thing. How the left side looks is how it should be, the right has been bent back...

 

Sean, when your new bracket comes upload a photo, as I swear they’re not meant to be this bent. Be interested if I’m talking rubbish! 🤣

Ordered the new cables and bracket so should have it by Friday, nice little project for myself over the weekend.

Hope the rain warning has cleared before you start, or you have a nice roomy shed to work in

 

Otherwise lifejacket under overalls ...