Hand Brake...maybe

[brit644]

Just been told by MOT station I need to change my discs and pads for handbrake to work [disc brakes all round] I know something iffy as I just changed pads myself AND DISCS WERE FIINE] i said thought they were shoes for handbrake,he said no they work ofF rear wheel drums as they have pads and shoes in them WHAT.

[RichardM]

The Voyager's parking brake is famous for being useless, especially on the export models that have a hand operated braking system.

The Yanks have a foot operated system aka Mercedes and you can put a lot more force on the brakes with a size ten than you can with your arm.

Just try pulling on the hand brake as hard as you can (use both hands and pull like buggery (you wont brake the cables - unless they are very badly corroded). Do this a few (many) times and see what happens (it doesn't cost anything anyway). This helped with mine, it's still pathetic but it got through the MOT.

Don't know what year your vehicle is but this info from the manual (for what it's worth) for the 2005 on RG chassis model;

The automatic-adjusting feature in the foot operated parking brake lever continuously applies minimal tension to the parking brake cables when the parking brake lever is in the released position to keep them in adjustment at all times. Due to this feature, the parking brake cables require no periodic adjustment. When the parking brake lever is applied, the cables are pulled, thus applying the brake shoes (rear drum brakes) or parking brake shoes (rear disc brakes) at each rear wheel. The brake shoes are mechanically operated by an internal lever and strut connected to the rear parking brake cables. An equalizer bracket is used at the rear end of the front parking brake cable to distribute tension equally to each parking brake cable.

Vehicles equipped with rear disc brakes use a small duo-servo brake assembly mounted to the each rear disc brake calliper adapter as the parking brake.
The inside of the brake rotor (hat section of drum-inhat style brake rotor) is used as the parking brake drum.

Best of luck - edit your profile to identify your vehicle !!

 

[brit644]

Thanks for that.

Mine is a 2007 Stow And Go, think theyre slightly different in the routing etc. I know 06/07 are the same.

I think problem is the guy, he tried to tell me I needed new discs and pads all around, I  personally replaced pads 400 miles gone, discs last year and have done 1200 mile on them...Along with telling me I need all new  cables, adjusters etc etc etc, put simply he's trying it on.

And there's the rub, once caught in a fib you've made an enemy. So much so that when I asked for my car he said it's in pieces on the lift..In fact it was parked rear of the building..Oh hum....''

But thanks again for the note.

[bignev]

Yeah the guy is clearly full of poop. Like a comment I got once on rear pads - "severely worn" - well with 4mm left I would rather disagree. 

The handbrake as most of us know is garbage. I reckon quite influenced by the fact the hand lever acts through a daft clockspring affair, so lots of the effort is absorbed and not put through the cables.

There have been many posts on it in the past, with a few tips to get it to come up good enough for an MOT pass.

Yes, it is a cable operated set of brake shoes, inside the rear drums, totally independent of the hydraulic main braking system.

I'm completely at a loss as to what the manual is referring to on this section, clearly does not apply to our models, but maybe the American versions had some lovely hybrid system as there's some contradictory statements in the rest of that text excerpt!! 

 

4 hours ago, RichardM said:

Vehicles equipped with rear disc brakes use a small duo-servo brake assembly mounted to the each rear disc brake calliper adapter as the parking brake.
The inside of the brake rotor (hat section of drum-inhat style brake rotor) is used as the parking brake drum.

Well it either uses a motor on the caliper, which would be an electric parking brake, or it uses the inside of the brake rotor, it can't have both!!!! Or can it??????

And as far as I knew, none up to the end of the 4th Gen had a caliper handbrake. Either electric or manual. Maybe the 5th Gen does / did?

Mine certainly haven't, none of the 3 I had. 

All had cable operated shoes inside the disc, and all were carp.....

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by bignev

[RichardM]

So, as usual the manual for the 'Export Model' is BS. Hardly surprising considering my (limited) experience working on the old girl, I usually ship it off to my friendly garage as I have neither the enthusiasm, motivation or tool set to deal with her.  

I guess I'm lucky having a local garage that I trust, they are honest even to the point of telling me to get rid of the bus and buy something more reliable, but I'm 6'5" and it's the only car I've driven that doesn't require double jointed knees. It's also great to just drop the seats when I need a van rather than the hernia inducing removal of other vehicles.......

[gordy]

Now there is a reason for the handbrake problem on this car and I'm surprised its not been mentioned on here, forby Me. Normal cars with handbrake cited between the two front seats have the cable routed below where it's connected up to a "T" piece. Two Equal lengths of cable then carry on to left and right rear drums on most cars take note.

Now in the Chrysler there is not equal lengths as one cable, left side, goes straight to left rear. Other cable has a elbow bend on it. Its this elbow that causes the problem. Pull on the handbrake if you please and you loose part of your brake pull because of this. Answer is to leave left cable slacker than right so drums get equal pull. (Might drive some people mad this answer). 

Edited May 23, 2022 by gordy

[maxcaddy]

On 5/16/2022 at 4:54 PM, brit644 said:

Just been told by MOT station I need to change my discs and pads for handbrake to work [disc brakes all round] I know something iffy as I just changed pads myself AND DISCS WERE FIINE] i said thought they were shoes for handbrake,he said no they work ofF rear wheel drums as they have pads and shoes in them WHAT.

 

Okay, taking it from the top,

The pads have absolutely nothing to do with the handbrake.

However the discs actually are part of the handbrake assembly, because the handbrake shoes run within the disc. I.e its a rear brake with pads that clamp either side of the disc in order for the rear brake to work, while for the handbrake to work, the handbrake shoes expand within the disc. That being the case, while the outside of the discs and pads could look and work fine, the inside drum part of the disc could wear oval and make the handbrake fail, as could having worn shoes within the disc. Both wear on the disc and wear on the shoes on the inside drum part of the disc cannot be seen when changing the pads. (Note I'm not saying yours are worn, just that they could be).

Hence the MoT man telling you that the handbrake works off of the rear wheel drums, as they have pads and shoes sounds confusing but is actually is exactly right, although they would be better described as rear disc/drums. However he is wrong in saying that the pads need to be changed, and you are right in that there are shoes for the handbrake.

It's exactly the same setup as I had on my Ford Explorer 15 years ago which was quite easy to do, whereas when they needed doing on my V'ger 5 years ago was a pig as there is very little room inside to work with. In fact the easiest way of changing the shoes is to take off the rear hubs to give you some access .

Hopefully that's shed some light 

 

 

not the shoes wear meaning new shoes and discs would be needed.