handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

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citronut
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by citronut »

i think you are referring to the spring on the shaft the lever is attached to,
in which case i think you can see most of it by pulling the rubber boot away at the rear of the calliper,

i agree with what you are saying about the hand brake not adjusting if this spring is broken,
aas the same happens if the leaver does not go fully off for other reasons,

regards malcolm
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Jaba
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by Jaba »

I am familiar with this issue too. I fitted two recon calipers a while back as mine had got to the stage of clonking rather too loudly when reversing.
All went well afterwards except that the LH one did not self adjust no matter what I did to help it on its way. I even dismantled the whole caliper and piston and checked and lubed everything including the small locking spring that Brian mentions. It still didnt self adjust so I put the old caliper back on to restore self adjusting.
I must confess though that I didnt really know what to look for while checking the piston internals and had great difficulty in getting it back together. Is there a special tool for compressing those dished washers ? If not what have others used to reassemble the lever the cable fits into back into the caliper body ?
The Joy of BX with just one Citroën BX to my name now. Will I sing Bye Bye to my GTI or will it be Till death us do part.
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by tim »

Thanks Brian - something to get our teeth into at last. So does anyone have a copy or link to this diagram? The book of lies has nothing as far as I can see. The external 'hairpin' spring on the arm looks fairly bombproof and is not a coil, nor does it have any function regarding self-adjustment, hence my puzzlement. so we are looking for something else. I shall carry on stripping the spare caliper to get to the bottom of this.What I ain't going to do is pull the calipers off the White One and strip them until I know exactly what I'm looking for and know that I have a good replacement spare ready to use if necessary. We use both BX's every day and can't really afford to have one stuck on the jack.....
citronut
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by citronut »

Tim as i said above the spring is there to hold the arm/lever in the fully off position when the hand brake is released,
so it could be possible for the hand brake not to adjust if said spring was broken,

because if the lever is not fully in the off position the adjuster will not adjust up,

also Andy said he has plenty of spare calipers if you require any,

regards malcolm
curent ride
K reg BX 17TD TZD est
also own
K reg D special

no longer have
H reg CX saffari 2.5 TRI (now gone to Malaysia)
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citronut
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by citronut »

Jaba wrote:Is there a special tool for compressing those dished washers ? If not what have others used to reassemble the lever the cable fits into back into the caliper body ?
yes there is

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

scroll down to page 187 and you will see the special tool

regards malcolm
curent ride
K reg BX 17TD TZD est
also own
K reg D special

no longer have
H reg CX saffari 2.5 TRI (now gone to Malaysia)
R reg xantia 1.9TD est (gone to meet its maker)
tim
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by tim »

Finally changed the discs and pads on the Red One - much needed. I then also did the White one, which this thread was about. Frankly, not a lot of difference made though the handbrake was a millitad better. So the problem must lie within the brake calipers, though no real answers have come up on this thread. The scrappy calipers are not much good at present, the bleed nipples need to be drilled out due to the amount of corrosion. As I say, until I have a lead on the problem,. I'm not pulling down the existing calipers on spec.....
On the subject of spares, I've heard quite often on the forum how unobtainable some things are, the front flexi brake hoses for example. I noticed mine were cracking up so went hunting for some - two days later I had two sets. So the stuff is still out there. Thanks Andy for the Ebay help......
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by tim »

Did the last post in a bit of a rush so forgot to add the useful stuff. When I did the Red One the pads and discs were totally stuffed, but I knew that already... however the combination of new pads and discs improved the handbrake even further. I removed the plated pins on which the caliper moves and gave them the full treatment with oil and copperslip.
I suspected the White One's were a bit worse and it turned out that on one caliper, one pin was seized and the other was stiff. One pad was much more worn than the other as well. The wife drove the beast this afternoon and said that although the lever was still a bit high the 'bite' was vastly improved. Before, you could move the car backwards a bit by using a big wheelnut spanner. However, the discs were not too worn and the pads were newish so it goes to show that if the calipers don't float 100% free there can be issues......
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by Defender110 »

It's the front flexi hoses for BX's with ABS that are hard to find, regular ones still readily available.
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citronut
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Re: handbrake/caliper adjustment - thoughts please!

Post by citronut »

tim wrote: so it goes to show that if the calipers don't float 100% free there can be issues......
any fault to the calliper or slides will cause a braking problem of some sort

regards malcolm
curent ride
K reg BX 17TD TZD est
also own
K reg D special

no longer have
H reg CX saffari 2.5 TRI (now gone to Malaysia)
R reg xantia 1.9TD est (gone to meet its maker)
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