I have the compensator in place along with the hand brake cable. Pulling the cable works the passenger side E brake but how do I test the driver side to engage? I’m guessing they work in a progressive method but can’t really duplicate the action necessary to work the driver side.
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I was under there the other day, I pulled on cable by hand and watched the mechanism move. Not perfectly evenly but both “arms” on the compensator were moving. The driver side to seemed to move more, FWIW
I’m not sure but it sounds like you need to tighten the cable adjustment so that the both sides engage together.
Colin
Colin, Thanks for the response but I’m think they are work progressively, one side kicks in after the other. Any thoughts?
It’s a poor design because the spring is arranged such that it’ll pull on what is easiest first and only pull both sides once that is equalised. This means one side will often pull tight first before the other does and so if there is not enough cable travel, only one side binds adequately.
A fantastic modification is to cut the stalk holding the compensator to the cage and let it float inside a metal tube. Now when you pull the brakes, the entire compensator mechanism is pulled towards the front of the car and the spring is forced to float as thus will take up even amounts of load either side - both handbrake levers must move together instead of one tightening before the other.
If this seems hard to visualise, think about side pull bicycle brakes which are stiff on one side a bit being replaced by a set of centre pull brakes.
Both methods stop the bicycle, but the side pull brakes only work as well as a set of centre pull brakes if the side pull brakes are properly maintained such that the levers either side of the spring don’t let the spring hang towards one side first or wear on one side first and only pull on both sides once the first side is already making contact. The other centre pull brakes have no choice but to pull evenly on either side.
kind regards
Marek
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Marek, would you have a pic? I can visualize cutting the stalk, but not how it might “float” within a tube. Here’s the standard setup on a Series 1.
Excellent example and pretty clearly typifies what that weirdness is in the handbrake compensator.
I don’t have any pictures Scot, but the mild steel tubing you’d need is going to have an internal diameter just a tiny bit wider than the stalk. If you were to cut it near the cage and then weld the tube onto the stub, then the handbrake cable will pull on a long pin which sits collared by a long tube.
There may be some pictures on the UK forum where this mod was reported.
kind regards
Marek
Interesting concept. So the cut stalk becomes a pin captured within a tube that only allows forward/backward motion (not sideways). There’s no downside to making such a modification? I have a spare stalk, so I may just try this.
If you have a spare stalk then there is absolutely no downside! For anyone without a spare hanger, you can just MIG weld the thing back together anyway by joining both ends of the tube to the stalk(s).
There is nothing wrong with side-pull brakes, so long as the two sides of the pivot have the same resistance as each other. We all know that that isn’t a given and that the easier side always pulls first. The problem with the etype hanger mechanism is that the mismatch is often greater than the amount of cable travel before both sides get pulled tight against the discs.
kind regards
Marek
Did this in 2016, has worked good. Cut the stalk (I don‘t recall how much I shortened it, half an ich maybe?). Welded a pipe to the upper bracket.
Thanks, for the feedback! I have seen others do this fix, my problem is I still can’t see the action that works the drivers side caliper? I would like to do your fix but I need to understand how the whole deal works!! Can you explain?
Many thanks,
Tom
Marek, so would you say the system is designed to engage the passenger side first and then the drivers side?
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Tom, if you look at the mechanism from underneath the car, you’ll see that the threaded block that holds the cable and allows for adjustment is connected through a 90+ degree arm to the driver’s side mechanism, and the arm that the cable clevis connects to is connected to the passenger side mechanism. To test the driver’s side, just push the arm with the adjuster block towards the back of the car and you should be able to actuate that brake. If it’s out of the car, take a pair of channel locks and squeeze the two arms together, you’ll see what I mean and see the brakes working. The passenger sides gets pulled to the front, the driver side gets pulled to the back if that makes sense. If that all works, in practice you’ve got a working parking brake. I suppose in theory they should act equally, but just the tension on the cable sheath will hold that side back a bit. So while it would be nice if they acted like a center pull brake, they don’t because they are designed like a side pull, and in practice, by the time you’ve exerted enough force to stop the car from rolling both sides are engaged. I don’t think you have a problem if the pivots aren’t seized.
Cheers,
Bruce
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Here’s a pic, probably easier to see than to read about it. As “a” and “b” are squeezed towards each other by the cable, the “a” and “b” connected to the brake arms squeeze them together. Clear as mud?
Cheers,
Bruce
2 Likes
Bruce:
In my case I have the whole IRS out of the car and have rebuilt and cleaned everything. The compensator levers are all free and seem ok. When I pull on the cable the passenger side works. That said I can’t seem to get the drivers side to work. I can’t tell what action will move the lever to the rear to work the drivers side.
Thanks,
Tom
Newton tells us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so if the friction and weights being moved are equal, it’s going to behave like a centre pull brake anyway, so you’ve asked a trick question!
From the diagram, the (US) passenger side is pulled tight by the cable and there is friction between the cable and sheath to overcome. The (US) driver side has to react and pull the entire (heavy) handbrake cable towards the back of the car. The sheath twists and moves around in the process.
I’d guess the passenger side starts to engage first. In practice you ought not to care if the cable length is such that there is enough left to engage both sides as the heavy handbrake cable will eventually move about to take the strain.
If the free length of cable to the clevis pin is too long, both sides won’t engage; too short and the pads will always be bound to the discs. The big adjusting screw on the end block of the handbrake cable is there to take out that free play.
The mod works because it’s decoupling those differently characterised but ultimately equal and opposite forces from being so side specific.
kind regards
Marek
Push the handbrake cable sheath towards the back of the car, or rather don’t allow it to come towards the front of the car with the inner cable being pulled. The whole cable is flexible but it is held tightly at the handbrake lever end and constrained from moving too much by a hoop in the centre tunnel. That means it can’t deform infinitely so when the inner cable is pulled, it will eventually bind up and push back at “a up-arrow” in the diagram.
kind regards
Marek
Got it, if you look at the diagram, bottom right the point I labelled “a” is the threaded block that adjusts the cable tension. That arm is actually free to pivot, just grab it with a pipe or a pair of channel locks and push it towards the cage and it should move and engage the brake. In practice, it’s hanging in space, only connected by the pivot arm that everyone is telling you to cut. So, when you pull on the handbrake lever then that pulls the cable in to the sheath, but because the threaded adjustor is not fixed to anything but the arm, when you pull point “b” in with the handbrake lever, it’s braced against the threaded adjustor at “a” (the a and b on the bottom right) and so the reaction means that “a” will move towards the cage while “b” will move to the front of the car because they both pivot around the pivot arm, but in opposite directions. It’s really easy to see if you disconnect the brake arms from the mechanism and try it then. If that arm will not pivot, something is wrong in the pivot point. I have my car on the lift and just went and pushed the cable adjustor towards the cage with my hand and the mechanism pivoted easily and moved the brake arm enough to know it works. If it pivots freely when it’s disconnected from the brake arm, but won’t move at all when it’s attached, the the problem is in the brake mechanism itself - the pads are already jammed against the rotor or something came unhinged in the internals that is preventing the arm from moving. At least you have the IRS out of the car for now 
So is it the sheath that pulls the drivers side lever to the rear?