R4s Handbrake

[bigoldboy]

Hi there . I have a 1972 R4s that I am slowly going through . I have had all the brakes off and cleaned etc but the hand brake is still not that great although it does work .
Is there a way to get the handbrake any better ?
Thanks

 

[angel]

Does it have excessive travel or is it not efficient? Are the front brakes correctly adjusted?

 

[bigoldboy]

Everything about the brakes seems to be ok but just not very efficient .

 

[Crelesy]

Did hou change the brakepads? Maybe the new ones need to wear in. Or maybe the pads are mounted the wrong way. In a drumbrake there are 2 pads with differend lining places.
On the other hand i don't think it will differ much as your car would be at a stand still when the handbrake is operated.

Mine doesn't work well either. Compared to a nowadays car that is. Just pull harder its a short lever..

 

[Andy McGhee]

If the shoes are correctly adjusted, and the problem is that the handbrake lever (umbrella handle?) travels too far, there should be a way of compensating for play. I'm not sure what the exact arrangement is on the Spanish 4S, but on UK TLs (the handbrake operates on the front wheels) there are 2 points of adjustment - see photo:



If your handbrake operates on the rear wheels, there'll probably be a point of adjustment underneath the car - something like this:



It'd be interesting to see some more underbonnet photos of your car - and of the handbrake set-up!

 

[angel]

Check if both wheels brake by roughly the same amount by jacking the front wheels up, and trying to turn the drums (wheels removed) with a tyre lever between two wheel studs, while pulling handbrake lever one notch at a time.
How many notches is your lever travel?

 

[bigoldboy]

Hi again . I have stripped all of the brakes and checked all of the wheel bearings . The brake SHOES are in quite good order with plenty of the braking material left . I adjusted each set of brakes wheel by wheel with the car off the ground . The ordinary brakes work ok for driving but the handbrake is not very good but will hold the car on a small incline . The travel on the handbrake lever is fine and I have cleaned and adjusted the mechanism for maximum efficiency . Maybe I expect to much from the old system .
Thanks everyone for your input .

 

[angel]

The handbrake on an R4 should hold the car well on a fairly steep incline, after all it's acting on a pair of 200mm drums.