Comments on: BA-BF Falcon Handbrake Adjustment

By: james w

james w — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:59:20 +0000

Good and useful information information the pictures told the story of 1000 words.

I was successful in my work. an impact driver may be useful in loosening the retaining screw

Thanks

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:54:53 +0000

U don’t need to remove the disc and calliper at all unless the adjuster spindle is seized which sometimes happens. Loosen the cable adjustment right off and then adjust the spindle through the hole in the disc with a screwdriver until u can here it start to make a contact a bit but not much. Then make ur final adjustment on the cable it is not difficult. The handbrake works as basically a drum set up inside the disc and if there is any kind of lip inside the disc due to wear I are never going to be able to get a decent adjustment and still get the disc on!!

By: Craig Young

Craig Young — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:12:31 +0000

Thabks for your reply Craig. Yes i have had the cable as tight as it can go, but still have had no success. I have had only two clicks on the handle yet it still does even feel like it has fully extended the shoes, there certainly was no shoe drag. Is there anything in the rear of the adjuster that could be hindering the movement? If I was to remove the axle nut and the plate the wheel studs are on, is there anything behind there that could need cleaning or an adjustment? once again, thanks for your help.

cheers Craig

By: Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:41:34 +0000

Hi Craig,
The spring in the diagram is there simply to hold the shoes in place so I don’t think that is adding to the problem at all. Unfortunately getting a decent handbrake is a very common problem with the BA-BF Falcon’s even after adjusting the shoes up until the point where the disc is hard to refit. Have you tried adjusting the cable up at all? By the sounds of things you won’t get anymore adjustment from the shoes so I suggest nipping up the adjustment nut on the cable. Just be careful not to tighten it up to the point of the shoes dragging on the disc.

Hope that helps!

Regards,
Craig

By: Craig Young

Craig Young — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:40:37 +0000

Hi craig

I have my dads car in the garage which , I am trying to adjust the hand brake. I have removed as you have outlined above. Problem is that the hand brake still does not grab if you put it in reverse let it roll on idle the hand brake does not stop it. I have adjusted as much as possible to the point that you almost could not get the rotor back on. In your diagram No 4 has the spring, what does this do? and could this possibly be the problem? with the rotor off and the hand brake being pulled you can see very little movement in the shoes. I’m at a loss as to what to do next, but sell my sole to the local ford dealership.

By: Jonno

Jonno — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:24:44 +0000

Hi David,

Quick question as i haven’t performed this procedure yet, but how can you check the diameter of the hand brake shoes without removing the disc? or is there some inspection ports we can pop a gauge through.

By: David Pearcy

David Pearcy — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:10:48 +0000

You do not need to remove the disc to move the handbrake adjuster wheel, simply remove the rubber bung in the disc and use a medium sized flat blade screwdriver through the hole and adjust accordingly. Easy as!

By: Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 06:49:53 +0000

Hi Brad,
Reading through your comment my initial thoughts were of a seized brake caliper or handbrake mechanism on that drivers side rear, is the smell and excess heat limited to that one wheel?

Also, is the steering wheel/chassis vibration continual or is it only present at certain speeds or for example when braking? This could be caused by warped brake rotors, but if this is the case it is unusual for it to be constant, more often than not it will be present under braking at speed.

If the smell and heat is limited to that one wheel I can’t see how replacing the brake booster is going to change things, if all four wheels were affected and the brakes were ‘sticking on’ constantly it might be the booster but if it is confined to one wheel I think that the brake/ handbrake components and adjustment need to be looked at before replacing the booster.

By: brad king

brad king — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 04:56:35 +0000

Hi Craig,I have a BF mk2 xt sedan it gives of a bad acrid smell from DS rear and has more heat radiating out of rear wheel & has a horrific steering wheel chassis vibration.Feels like a wheel is about to come off.My wife wont drive it.Ford dealer Grawills say it needs a new $950 booster? Thats all they can offer.

By: Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:35:46 +0000

Hi Tarsh,
The procedure that you followed is correct, there are two possibilities that come to mind when the disc won’t budge.

The first one is that after a while a lip forms on the inside of the disc where the handbrake shoes contact and this lip prevents the disc from coming free of the handbrake shoes. In this instance there is usually 10-20mm of movement of the disc off the hub before it refuses to come any further though.

The other common issue is that rust forms where the wheel hub protrudes through the disc and it takes quite a bit of effort to loosen the two parts from each other. I imagine that this is the case with your vehicle as you say that the discs won’t budge.

Sometimes spraying around the hub/disc join with WD-40 or similar product can help, but more often than not it is a matter of striking the front surface of the disc with a hammer continuously until you get some movement. The best idea is to rotate the disc as you are doing this and not strike it in the same place over and over again.

Something else to look for – although the BA that we used for the article did not have any retaining screws for the disc, if your vehicle is a different model from the one shown it would pay to look for a screw head on the flat front surface of the disc.

Regards,
Craig