Pictorial - Rear End Rebuild Part 7 - Handbrake demystified and rebuilt

[WGB]

Even though some of us grew up with drum brakes the 116 handbrake is fiddly and time consuming to repair as it is small and hidden behind the large flange of the hub.

Faults I have personally encountered in 116/126 land include sticking mechanism causing the shoes to burn out and a rusted and frozen left rear cable from outer casing damage caused by exhaust heat which then lets in water. This car had no particular issues and had a good healthy original handbrake but I have protected the part of the cable that runs near the exhaust with heat resisting silver tape.

There is a precise order for re-assembly noted in the workshop manual and I have used this after stuffing around for about three hours trying to get one brake back together (I finally read the book).

Here are the right rear brake components including original shoes laid out as seen from the backing plate side with front to the left of picture.



The cable and it's components changed with the 1975 update and this is a later cable with the stirrup on the cable end rather than in the mechanism itself.



A pin is used to join the cable with the expander



When the the extender mechanism is in it's functioning position the pin is held by the sides of the expander.



Two special tools are mentioned in the manual. Here is the first which I have made by cutting off the end of an old phillips head screwdriver and cutting a vertical slit in the end with a cutting disc in an angle grinder.

It is used to grip and turn the stabilising springs.



The second is a hook - again made from the shank of an old phillips head screwdriver which is used to pull the main spring into it's final position.



This is the hole in the backing plate through which the cable passes.



And is held by an allenbolt.



This allenbolt is usually quite tight and access can be a little difficult so it is not unusual to round out the head trying to remove it hence I have replaced both with new bolts and washers.



Here is the cable in it's final position.



The cable can be pulled through and the expander mechanism attached to the end.



And the cable pulled back.



The main spring is then placed in position  but remember it is not symmetrical and the top loop is larger than the bottom loop to allow for ease in re-assembly.



It can be a squeeze to get it into this position.



The shoes adjustor and smaller spring are then assembled and the open end stretched over the hub



And placed in postion on the hub aligned with the expander.



The top and bottom stabilising spring clips have to be engaged in these slots which are parallel to the ground and found top and bottom on the backing plate.



The modified screwdriver works a treat first with the top clip.



And then with the bottom clip.



The main spring is jiggled until the bottom tag fits in the lower shoe and then using the hook (or a small strong screwdriver) the larger top end is forced into the slot in the top shoe.



And then the spring is snapped into final position.



Here is the final view from the front.



And the back.



The new disc was fitted with anti-seize paste so that if it ever needs opening again it should be easier (This is a recommendation for the same job in the M-B WIS 126 section).



New discs also complete the all new look.



I might add the dics were $55 each and the set of hand brake pads were $50 for the set.

Bill

[Big_Richard]

Have you bed them in yet ?

My hand brake is still questionable after replacing everything, including the cables. It does not hold the car unless you pull with extreme force on the handle and that surely cant be normal...

[WGB]

My old handbrake was really good as is the one in my 450 - new LH cable and linings.

Something is not right.

Bill

[koan]

My hand brake is still questionable after replacing everything, including the cables. It does not hold the car unless you pull with extreme force on the handle and that surely cant be normal...

Something not right there and I've seen a broken handbrake handle so be careful.

Adjustment procedure is in the library.

koan

[oscar]

I've only managed to adjust these things.  I was keen to put much better used shoes on the 350 from a wreck but even the wreck I couldn't work out how to remove the cable.  Cutting was the easier option  Thanks for the photos and tool descriptions.  Anyhow, looking great Bill.  

BTW, you've got some cool gear and tools, but loafers for workboots?  

[thysonsacclaim]

Excellent pictorial, Bill. If only my camera, photoskills and techniques were as well honed. 

I suppose the handbrake will be something I'll get to eventually. I find the more work I put into the gold beast, the more I think I want to take it for the long run. Still less than 6 months into my addiction, though, so I've got some time to work on the hand brake I suppose 

Not do wander off topic, though, but what camera do you use? I find your photos excellently clear.



Cheers


Adam

[WGB]

Hi Oscar - sorry if my shed "fashion  sense" offends you but they are comfortable old shoes and especially kept for "Bogan Duties".

Hi Adam - I have a Nikon D90 with a collection of lenses and flashes including a couple of macro lenses and an R1C1 macro flash kit but most of the photos in the past two months have been taken on my little Nikon S8100 . Previously I had an S8000 but I gave it to my daughter when in Singapore over xmaswhen the new model came out.

The little nikons take the most amazing 12mp pictures and as it is in "Basic bogan black" it can lie around the shed and be used with grubby fingers. It has a very reasonable macro function and so long as you are careful with the flash and avoid shadows it works well with this type of photography.

Where the SLR is much quicker and better is when photographing movement as the small camera has a smaller brain and is more likely to stall making it's mind up but with still life the quality is pretty reasonable.

I then pull the picture into Photoshop Album and then using  the Photoshop album's e-mail feature I reduce the picture size from 2.5 to 4.5 meg down to about 90k and post it on Photobucket.com.

It is a bit time consuming but the quality remains as you can see.

Bill

[ponton]

As oscar mentioned, getting the cable out can be a real bear...I resorted to the cut method as well when replacing mine.  Since I was only replacing one of the cables I only undid the drum/shoes on that side.  As I was cursing under the car trying to put the new cable in I realized that you have to at least remove the rotor on the opposite side otherwise as you pull to hook the cable into the balancer in the center of the car, you are pulling the shoes tight against the drum = not enough length to install it.  That is about 8 hours of my life I will never get back.

PS - I am totally with WGB in my shop shoe choice; it draws much scorn from my "shop buddies"

[WGB]

The shoes in question are actually a very comfortable pair of German Reikers that cost me $350 some years ago and after being retired front frontline duties (They have almost walked on every continent in the world) they now serve as my old work shoes.

Maybe we should start a shoe thread and in the next pictorial I'll put on a pair of Moreschi's or similar

Bill

[KenM]

Nice work as usual Bill, thanks for going to the trouble of putting up the pics, most valuable info.

[Big_Richard]

wow, theyre pretty flash "old work shoes" I just wear a pair of k-mark special double pluggers 

Perfectly suitable for any occasion from anything to taking the mrs out to dinner to cutting a car body up with an angle grinder..