Handbrake will not stay adjusted - NA

[Purfler]

Hi,

My NA's handbrake will not stay adjusted. I do it by the book tightening the grub screw until the pad locks the disc and then back it off a 1/4 turn. It's fine for a couple of weeks but progressively gets loose and I have to do it again.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Tim

[93_Clubman]

See manga_blues posts in the following:
http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... le#p900294
&
http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... le#p941744
&
See note at end of this article: Handbrake operation & adjustment: https://www.miata.net/garage/ebrake/index.html

[Purfler]

Many thanks. I'll go through the full procedure again on the weekend. I suspect I will need to rebuild the calipers, I have all the seals etc. I was hoping to put it off a bit until I retire (which isn't far off) so I can do the many niggling things in one go.

Tim

[lonesailor]

I had a similar problem recently, tried doing everything by the book but had to readjust the allen screw on the calipers every few weeks. What I did finally was to loosen the screw on the lever in the car right off and push the brake pedal, hard,several times with the engine running (for the servo) this allowed the pads to adjust. Then I re-adjusted the lever in the cabin just enough to hold the car against the engine. It was several more clicks than recommended in the manual. Since then, however, I have had no trouble and the brakes feel better. I suspect that the cable was not getting loose enough to allow the pads to adjust, thereby making both the hand and foot brakes less effective.

[Purfler]

I had another go at it yesterday. I think this statement from the link above is likely to be relevant to me:

"The key to the problem was releasing the parking brake cable fully to allow the actuating levers to fully release,"

I really loosened the adjustment at the lever and made sure the cables were slack at the calipers, then adjusted, checked and rechecked. A week or so should tell, but loosening the cables made a real difference - ie, I could screw the allen grub screw further in when the cables were really slack.

Thanks all for the help.

Tim

[Aiming Faster]

On mine, the levers (that the handbrake cable pulls) and shafts were sticky. Squirted lube into the pivot area then worked the levers to free. Disassembly would have been my preference, but the lube did seem to get in anyway.

[Purfler]

Just to close this in case anyone wondered if it worked (probably not, but you never know). Loosening the cable fully before making the adjustments to the calipers did the trick. No problems at all since.

Regards,

Tim

[manga_blue]

Good to hear it worked out ok.