Handbrake on the Ka

Jul 05, 2006 4 Replies

Hi all again,



The handbrake on the wife's Ka is very stiff and I'm a little worried about the cable being over stressed. When it last went to the garage they adjusted it but it ended up even stiffer. My Fiesta's handbrake is far far easier to apply and is more in line with other cars that I've driven. Has anyone else found this?



The Haynes book says the adjustment nut should be tightened to 4Nm, as it sits quite a way down the bolt do I need a really deep socket for the torque wrench or is there another way to do it? :)



Thanks,



Peter.


as he says 4nm is bugger all, i might be wrong but id be surprised you have one that goes that low, if you have too much thread sticking through to stop a deep socket getting on it, id start again & re-adjust the rear shoes ( after de-adjusting the handbrake first) , then adjust the hand brake, but if you still want to adjust it use a box spanner.

Hmm, it definitely says 4Nm in the book.. However, they've written it as

4.0 so I guess it could be a typo and they meant 40Nm. I'd guess not though... if the nut is 5mm radius then wouldn't 4Nm generate a tension of 800N in the cable? Or is that not how it works? :)

Thanks,

Peter.

Ford says 4Nm as well. "Pull the handbrake on six clicks. Tighten adjusting nut."

I just had to replace cylinders and shoes on ours due to corrosion and leakage. As its such a low torque setting I didn't bother with gauge, just adjusted it until it felt right and worked. At 4Nm it really shouldn't do much more then take the slack out of the cable and be tight. It doesn't feel like its too tough to pull on though, but I don't have a Fiesta to measure it against!

Rear brakes working OK, including the auto-adjust, and wires running freely?

John

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