Floppy Hand Brake

[Lasiorhinus]

I live in New Zealand these days, and my Legnum lives at my father's place in Victoria. He drives it (rarely) and keeps it safe for me.

I was visiting today and drove her for the first time in 18 months. There's something weird with the handbrake. The lever is loose and floppy with zero tension until you lift the handle about ten centimetres. At that point, it seems to be at its maximum travel, and if you're lucky you can pull really hard and get one click on the ratchet.

When you do this, the handle stays up, the red park brake light comes on in the dash, but the brake doesn't hold. The car rolls in neutral. I did however test tension while driving, and I can feel at least some grab while driving if I put pressure on the hand brake.

Tomorrow I'll pull the back wheels off and have a look at the system.

Has anyone seen this happen before?

 

[Richard__]

There should be an adjuster nut you can play with, not sure where it is in these cars but typically beside the base of the handbrake. Just remove the center console to access it. I could be wrong though, but that's a good place to start.

 

[Lasiorhinus]

Well, after some investigating both at the wheel and at the handle end, I've discovered that the entire handbrake cable for the left-hand wheel is very very tightly seized in place. Seems the right-hand side is fine though.

Looks like I'll have to remove and likely replace the cable if it has rusted or otherwise damaged.

Does anyone know if the cables are Legnum-specific or can I replace it with any generic handbrake cable?

 

[djhi]

mines doing the same

 

[Lasiorhinus]

mines doing the same

Hope you got your problem solved. I had to replace both the handbrake cables, and I was able to source them from a 2000 GDI Legnum.

 

[djhi]

Hope you got your problem solved. I had to replace both the handbrake cables, and I was able to source them from a 2000 GDI Legnum.

i ened up ording a both new cables but havnt installed them yet hahaha