Problem with the power of handbrake - could it be a brake installation failure?

[PM 65]

Hello Mustangers,

i have a 65 Mustang coupe which has a very low handbrake power since i have the car. To be clear about it, if i pull the handbrake completely, the car still rolls when i push it very hard.

So i went underneath the car and checked the handbrake system, looks very good. According to my manual the lever system near the gear box is installed correctly.
My car is equipped with a Lincoln Versailles 9inch rear end with the original disc brakes and calipers on it.
The handbrake levers at the rear calipers are working at a big angle when i pull the handbrake! Whooops? Please see attached pictures at the end.

After checking dr. google this shouldnt be. My suggestion is that the last owner of the car changed the brake pads and didnt rotate the brake caliper pistons when pushing it back.

Could this be the reason for my low handbrake power and / or the big angle of the caliper handbrake lever?
Would it help when i dismantle the brake and rotate (clockwise?) the caliper piston? I have the tool for it.
Could the handbrake system in the caliper be damaged if the piston was pushed back and not rotated?

Any info and your help is very appreciated, thank you!
Mario

 

[HuntingKy]

You mention a lever but you talk about pulling the brake. Did you install a brake lever or are you trying to use the original pull type brake handle? You really need a lever type with disc brakes. You can't get the required leverage with the pull handle.

 

[opentrackerSteve]

Don't need the disc brakes in your statement. Pull type e-brake handles S-U-C-K. Period.

 

[PM 65]

I have the original pull type e-brake on my car. It actuates my mentioned lever: (Mustang Parking Brake Equalizer Lever )

As i read more and more how tricky it is to get the ebrake working properly with this given setup, i think i will take a different route and install a hydraulic brake which actuates directly on the rear brake line. Like a drift brake which has the option to lock in place.

 

[HuntingKy]

It's not cheap, but you can also consider an electric brake setup. Hide the button and it doubles as a theft deterrent.

 

[CUAviator]

Hello Mustangers,

i have a 65 Mustang coupe which has a very low handbrake power since i have the car. To be clear about it, if i pull the handbrake completely, the car still rolls when i push it very hard.

So i went underneath the car and checked the handbrake system, looks very good. According to my manual the lever system near the gear box is installed correctly.
My car is equipped with a Lincoln Versailles 9inch rear end with the original disc brakes and calipers on it.
The handbrake levers at the rear calipers are working at a big angle when i pull the handbrake! Whooops? Please see attached pictures at the end.

After checking dr. google this shouldnt be. My suggestion is that the last owner of the car changed the brake pads and didnt rotate the brake caliper pistons when pushing it back.

Could this be the reason for my low handbrake power and / or the big angle of the caliper handbrake lever?
Would it help when i dismantle the brake and rotate (clockwise?) the caliper piston? I have the tool for it.
Could the handbrake system in the caliper be damaged if the piston was pushed back and not rotated?

Any info and your help is very appreciated, thank you!
Mario
View attachment 26455 View attachment 26456

Exact same setup. Exact same problem. Please share as soon as you get a fix!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[PM 65]

I worked yesterday on the car and for now the parking brake power is good.
I will write my solution way on the weekend, im now on a business trip and small in time.
Greets Mario

 

[GypsyR]

I seem to recall there being about three pages worth of the original shop manual dedicated to getting the Versailles parking brake adjusted correctly. I also remember someone somewhere helpfully posting up a copy of those relevant pages a few years back but couldn't find it with some quick searching. If I were running Versailles brakes I would dig some more myself.

 

[PM 65]

Sorry for not writing at the weekend as stated above. I had a very hard time to get the car through technical inspection. Organising parts and wrenching day and night after work to get the car ready for the after inspection took his toll. Nevertheless the handbrake was the smallest problem and did very well.

After watching these three videos from YouTube i got the idea of how the lincoln caliper works. (Versailles Caliper Rebuild: Part 1-3)

The disc and the pads at the rear are not new, they have around 7000 Miles on it.

I disconnected the handbrake cable at the caliper bracket on both sides. On one side i could rotate the bracket by hand completely free (piston not moving), on the other side after ~30° the piston with the pad moved "out" of the caliper producing a tiny little bit of brake power on the disc.


On the next step i dismantled the brake caliper to take of the floating part of the caliper. It`s just one bolt and removing the spring Clip.
I didt`n disconnect the fluid filled brake lines, it`s not necessary. I took of the brake pad off to use the following tool:

http://www.amazon.de/KS-Tools-150-2015-Bremskolben-Drehvorrichtung/dp/B001ECR8WG/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1429648696&sr=8-11&keywords=bremskolben+rückstell+satz

You could use this tool to do one of the following methods:

Just manual push the caliber piston back - no rotating
Rotating the caliper und pushing it back at the same time
Just rotating the caliper - no manual pushing back (but by rotating the caliper (a screw type) it comes automatically out or goes in)

Before you push the caliper in, check your brake fluid level at the mc. Danger of overfluiding when the level is very high from the beginning.

So i used the tool to rotate the piston clock wise and push it back. At the beginning the piston barely rottend, it just begann to move in from my pushing. Damn! Next try was just to rotate the piston and after several attempts clock-,and counterclockwise (just some degrees) it was easier to rotate the piston.
Rotate the piston then clockwise until there is no more rotating possibly. Feel the "end point" no brute force is needed. Then push the piston just completely back in.
Put the brake with all parts back together, leave the handbrake cable still unattached to the bracket. You may have now a big gap between the brake pad and the disc, time to close it.
As my car is equipped with a aftermarket brake booster i startet the car and stepped on the brake a little bit several times (8, 9 times). Until the brake hardened and felt like normal usage. Dont step full on the brake pedal from the beginning, if you have a master cylinder with some year of work on it you could destroy your master piston gaskets. (other story). I had my car on jack stands for safety! Dont forget the safety!

After that procedure the gap between brake pad and disc was closed. I connected the handbrake caple on the caliper brackets. The brackets could only be rotated 5-6 degrees by hand. On one side i had to give the brake cable more play, otherwise i couldn`t rotate the brake disc by hand anymore. The bracket must have this 5-6 degrees of free play on the beginning, i mean when the brake cable is attached, but the handbrake is not activated.

After that, i could activate the handbrake with my pull handle and it worked. Not like a modern car, but it holds the stang on a hill and i passed the technical inspection. Both sides braked evenly on the Test - Stand at the technical inspection.

I dont know why so many web sites state that you have to adjust the clearance between pad and disc. It worked perfectly for me by closing the gap with the method written above. Maybe a coincidence? I have driven the car since technical inspection on the highway for about 20 Minutes. The brake didnt get unusually hot or had some like else error. They work just fine.

Hope this helps, if you have questions or dont understand my (dictionary) english , please ask

greets Mario

 

[CUAviator]

Awesome! I'll show this to my mechanic.

 

[opentrackerSteve]

PM 65.

I think you are currently the owner of the longest Stangfix post! Excellent post and well done!

 

[PM 65]

Ehmm, Thanks