How to tighten the handbrake with your own hands? Instructions, signs of malfunction

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

As you know, the car uses several brake systems. In addition to working and spare, there is also a parking lot. In the common people, it is called the "handbrake". On trucks, this element is driven by air. But on ordinary passenger cars and minibuses, this is an archaic cable element. The design is quite simple (since it does not require a compressor, receiver and other parts, as in a pneumatic system), but it needs periodic adjustment. In today's article, we will look at how to tighten the handbrake on a VAZ and other cars with our own hands.

Main signs of malfunction

How to tighten the handbrake on a Chevrolet or any other car? Determining the malfunction of this element is quite simple. You should drive in front of the slope. By law, the parking brake must hold the car at an angle of 17 degrees.

So, we stop on the rise, put on the handbrake and turn off the engine. We do not set the car for transmission. If the car began to roll down, this is the first sign of a weakened handbrake. You can check this element without practical exercises. So, it is enough to calculate the total number of clicks in the lever. There should be 5-6 of them. If there are fewer or more clicks, then the car needs parking brake adjustment.

It is also allowed to test the handbrake on a completely flat surface. So, you should tighten the lever until it stops and engage the gear. Slowly releasing the clutch, try to pull away. If this is a working handbrake, you will feel that the car is chained to the ground. It's almost impossible to move him. But if you calmly made a movement with the handbrake tightened, it means that the cable has weakened. The way out is to tighten the parking brake.

Such diagnostics should be done once a year or every 30 thousand kilometers. Timely check of the elements of the brake system will help to avoid many emergencies.

Reasons

The most common cause of these failures is natural wear of the parking brake element. The rope has the ability to stretch. Therefore, it is not surprising that from time to time motorists are wondering how to tighten the handbrake on the Hyundai Accent and other cars. On foreign cars, this node serves for a long time. But on VAZs it can become unusable after 2-3 years. But it all depends on the intensity of use. Experienced motorists put the car "in gear" - this procedure is notdamages the car and prolongs the life of the parking cable.

Also, the reason may not be in the cable itself. For example, a weakened handbrake may indicate worn pads in a drum or disc mechanism. In this case, the linings are changed in pairs. For drum brakes, four pads are purchased (upper and lower on each side), and for disc brakes, two. If you tighten the handbrake without changing the pads, this may contribute to poor braking on the go.

The block has its own critical wear. If the friction material wears off, the metal part of the lining begins to rub against the surface of the disc or drum. If the problem is ignored, significant scuffs and scratches occur. Only a groove will help save such a situation (and even then not always). Therefore, always check the condition of the pads and replace them according to the regulations.

Where is it

Before you learn how to tighten the handbrake with your own hands, you need to find where it is. And it is located under the bottom. It is worth noting that the car has several such cables - each goes to its own wheel (right and left).

Toward the middle of the body, they are combined into one single element. Here is the adjusting nut that we need to use. We will also need wheel stops and a set of open end wrenches.

Getting Started

So, for starters, we set the car to gear (if it is a rear-wheel drive car, then to “neutral”). Before tightening the handbrakeKia, you need to jack up the back of the car. And it is best to work on a pit or overpass. In the absence of such, we do work on a flat asph alt surface. Under the front wheels we put "kickbacks". We climb under the bottom and find the branching point of the cable. There will also be an adjusting and lock nut. The latter should first be unscrewed.

Using pliers, grab the front of the parking cable. With the other hand, take a wrench of the appropriate size and rotate the adjusting nut. If, during testing, the lever produces more clicks than expected, then the element needs to be tightened. If less, then unscrew. How many turns the nut will be tightened or unscrewed depends on the neglect of the situation. Sometimes, to get the desired effect, you need to repeat this procedure twice or thrice.

Completion of works

After adjustment, tighten the locknut tightly (so that it does not unscrew and disappear during movement) and check the effectiveness of the parking brake. If necessary, repeat the procedure again. On this question "how to tighten the handbrake with your own hands" can be considered closed.

It is worth noting that the cable drive setting has a similar principle, regardless of the brand of car and even what type of brakes are installed (drums or discs).

Conclusion

So, we figured out how to tighten the handbrake with our own hands. Before testing, it is important to hang each of the rear wheelscar and try to scroll it. The disk should rotate freely, without jamming. If everything is correct, then the procedure for tightening the parking brake was successful.