We all know that you can adjust the handbrake shoes, but having been over in Japan again via the interweb I found this, showing how you take up the slack in the handbrake cable.... might be of use ....
Handbrake Cable adjustment
Handbrake
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mikexgough
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Handbrake
Conversant with Bongo Top Pinion Oil Seals
Bongo owning Velotech Cycle Mechanic
Bongo owning Velotech Cycle Mechanic
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David Edwards
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Re: Handbrake
Handy that have got to do mine soon, or in translation as on the page viewed,...my lever must hold while grasping nuts to tighten before letting go..hope that clears it up. 
Re: Handbrake
Yes I have to grasp my nuts and tighten them before MOT time because my lever is pointing skywards.David Edwards wrote:Handy that have got to do mine soon, or in translation as on the page viewed,...my lever must hold while grasping nuts to tighten before letting go..hope that clears it up.
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mikeonb4c
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Re: Handbrake
Just a quick personal observation on this. My experience was that the handbrake lever adjustment had already partly been used up, and although I got my brake lever down to an acceptable number of clicks by using it, handbrake performance remained poor. My handbrake improved dramatically by attending to things in this order:mikexgough wrote:We all know that you can adjust the handbrake shoes, but having been over in Japan again via the interweb I found this, showing how you take up the slack in the handbrake cable.... might be of use ....
Handbrake Cable adjustment
1) slacken off handbrake lever adjstment
2) set up brake shoes using the cam adjusters you can access through the brake drums
3) use cable adjusters underneath the vehicle (2nd pic in Mike's linked article) to take up most of the cable slack
4) take up remaining slack on handbrake lever adjustment, leaving plenty spare for later minor adjustments if needed
The other thing that improved my handbrake a bit, even before making any adjustments, was using it. I made a point of yanking it on each time I pulled up at lights etc. and it did get a bit better. Which makes me think that maybe they get used a lot less on automatics and so get a bit seized.
