You’re right, of course, Pete!
The cable pulls together the two levers. Equal braking power will be distributed, if the pivots of the handbrake parts, i.e the mounting bolts at the brake calipers move equally freely - yes, we cleaned and greased only the lh bolts, so some room for bias here - and the two handbrake parts move equally freely on the big bolts. Actually, the lh brake was absolutely open, so I have no reason to believe the rh side is much worse.
The place where my visualization of equal braking power is somewhat lost is the transfer from the lever over the bolt 8845 to the ratchet mechanism 8980, 8836. It is obvious that if the bolts aren’t screwed into the levers to the exact same depth the basic distance between the two handbrake pads is different, the travel of the pads to the rotor is different and ultimately the braking power on the (assumedly equally thick) rotors is different as well. That would mean you’d always have to make a perfect match of both handbrakes.
But then there comes the adjustment mechanism. I understood it compensates for the wear of the brake pads and readjusts the setting of each (!) handbrake. So it should also compensate for slight imperfections of the basic width of the distances between the handbrake parts.
When the tip of the lever in the pic is pulled “right”, it will - due to its geometry - compress the two parts of the handbrake. The bearing of the force applied is the head of the bolt 8845. The gearwheel 8990 is fixed against the lever by the brace 8840.
With compression the bolt 8845 will move further into the lever. As the bolt can’t turn with the locking pin 3752 in place the gearwheel 8990 will have to move clockwise which it can do with the ratchet. With every tooth turned the ratchet 8836 will hold the gearwheel in its position.
When braking power is released the two handbrake parts move back to the position defined by the retraction levers aka forks 9750. Bolt 8845 moves backwards and forces gear ring 8980 to turn counter-clockwise. But wait: now the ratchet 8836 blocks the movement of the gear wheel, doesn’t it? Any clarification or enlightenment welcome!
Peter wrote that you can move the adjustment mechanism in both ways by forcing the lever in and out. For the moment I have got some hope left that by undoing the cable and moving both levers back and forth and finally to the same starting position I might achieve a better starting position for equal movement. Wishful thinking?
Thank you all!
Have a good night
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)