A handbrake question

BMCC · Post by **BMCC** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:01 pm

I've finally got the rear brake discs from MTEC (they delivered the wrong one, then sent the right ones out on Wed but they didn't show up till the Mon

) The late delivery means I can't fit the disks down at my parents house till the start of October at the earliest. Now I have my own driveway which is on a bit of a slope particularly from top to bottom (i.e. I can't park the car without using the handbrake). I'm obviously going to have to have the handbrake off when I remove the calipers so doing the work on the driveway is out? I can park the car left to right then jack against the slope so that the car is almost level and do the work from there. However given that the brake caliper bracket is torqued up I'm not too keen to do this (I don't want to rock the car etc). So could I remove say the NS caliper and then pull the handbrake so that the car is at least held on one side, or would I just cause the caliper piston on the NS to come completly out?

Has anyone done this or is it just a daft idea?

Post by **indigolemon** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:07 pm

Can you do it on the street? For the time it would take, you shouldn't be outside your driveway for long.

I don't think I'd operate any brakes if a caliper had nothing to work against.

Post by **Merlin** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:13 pm

Why not park it up with the car in gear? It wont go anywhere after that.

BMCC · Post by **BMCC** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:40 pm

Merlin wrote:Why not park it up with the car in gear? It wont go anywhere after that.

Will it not? Never been keen on this idea but really should give it a go and see what happens. How much strain are you putting on the gearbox and is there a possibility it could move?

indigolemon wrote:Can you do it on the street? For the time it would take, you shouldn't be outside your driveway for long.

The street has a slope on it too if I parked the car left to right it would be on the same slope or near enough!

Post by **Merlin** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:43 pm

BMCC wrote: How much strain are you putting on the gearbox and is there a possibility it could move?

No strain. The car wont go anywhere (although make sure the car is off the handbrake before you jack up the rear as the car will roll forward a few inches before it catches the gear). The car being in gear does a much better job than a handbrake (I never use my hand brake).

bennyboy · Post by **bennyboy** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:47 pm

Yeah, and just make sure you put it in a gear opposite to the way it's going to roll!

Confused · Post by **Confused** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:53 pm

Put it in gear, and put a brick or a bit of wood behind the front wheels - both of these should stop any movement once you begin jacking up the rear.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:30 pm

Confused wrote:Put it in gear, and put a brick or a bit of wood behind the front wheels - both of these should stop any movement once you begin jacking up the rear.

This.

And just to confirm, no the handbrake will not operate if one side is removed/disconnected. The pivot on the back of the lever (where you adjust the tension) just, err... pivots and you get no tension transmitted onto the cable.

BMCC · Post by **BMCC** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 5:43 pm

I'll put the car in gear and jack it up with the wheels chocked.

Cheers,

BMCC