Jag handbrake adjustment

[Pills]

Has anyone had any experience in adjusting the handbrake on a jag rear end in a cobra? Sick of using a brick in the driveway while playing under the hood.

Chris.

[cobrarkc]

There should be a treaded section with a nut on the cable close to the brakes which is where you would adjust it.

[Excaliber]

Could be big trouble! I have adjusted mine by removing an access panel that is just in front of the rear brakes/differential to gain access to the threaded adjuster thingy. However, it only moderately helped!!! The problem, typically, is that the emergency brake calipers themselves need to adjusted to move the brake pads closer to the disc rotor. The cable adjustment only provides a limited amount of travel, which in your case MAY be "just enough", for awhile, until the calipers need to be adjusted as well. Without the access panel (ERA replica) I don't see how in the world you could gain access to the inner adjustment thingy. The one at the end of the cable MAY work a little bit, but you really need to get to the main one near the differential area.

I am SO frustrated trying to get them adjusted. I've maxed out all possible cable and linkage adjustments and it has only helped a little bit. I see no freakin' way in hell to get the e-brake calipers adjusted short of dropping the entire rear end out.

[dcdoug]

My e-brake on my CSX is pretty marginal at best. Would never hold the car on a hill. I have heard the same from others.

[Excaliber]

And I'm pretty sure the cause is the e-brake caliper itself in that the pads are to far from the rotor and the hand brake linkage only moves the pads so far and no farther. I THINK the e-brake calipers are supposed to be "auto adjusting" in that they keep the pads a set distance from the rotor. It's obvious that for the most part the "auto adjust" feature does not work after a very short time. Requiring you to make a manual adjustment of the clearance and cleaning/lubing the auto adjust mechanism ON the caliper itself. When all works as it should the e-brake is actually quite strong and will hold the car very well, but it's maintenance intensive and extremely difficult to access.

Here's a link on how to access adjust the e-brake caliper. Something about it being an 8 hour project....

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xjlovers/x...earcaliper.htm

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

And I'm pretty sure the cause is the e-brake caliper itself in that the pads are to far from the rotor and the hand brake linkage only moves the pads so far and no farther. I THINK the e-brake calipers are supposed to be "auto adjusting" in that they keep the pads a set distance from the rotor. It's obvious that for the most part the "auto adjust" feature does not work after a very short time. Requiring you to make a manual adjustment of the clearance and cleaning/lubing the auto adjust mechanism ON the caliper itself. When all works as it should the e-brake is actually quite strong and will hold the car very well, but it's maintenance intensive and extremely difficult to access.

Here's a link on how to access adjust the e-brake caliper. Something about it being an 8 hour project....

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xjlovers/x...earcaliper.htm

Maybe my handbrake is sufficient in it's current state....

[Excaliber]

I hear that Doug!!!! Mine holds the car just enough on a very slight incline and thats "enough" for me.

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

I hear that Doug!!!! Mine holds the car just enough on a very slight incline and thats "enough" for me.

Yeah, sounds like I'm about the same. If I spend 8 hours on the car doing something, it's not going to be adjusting the e-brake......I prefer 1-4 hour projects followed by a nice drive.

[Rebel1]

Chris, There are two adjustments which need attention and both are a pain in the ar$e in the original jag let alone when the rear end is in a cobra.

1. As some others have mentioned is the cable adjustment. Depending on how the builder has adapted the cable run to the hand brake ears on the rear caliper but typically is a threaded nut where the cable attaches to the right hand hand brake ear lever. This adjustment really only needs attention at initial installation of the cable and typically, if adjusted properly when first installed requires little follow on attention.

2. This is the adjustment which typically is the main problem. It is the self adjusting mechanism within the hand brake lever mounted off the rear caliper ears. The levers which squeeze the hand brake ears/pads onto the rotors have a bolt which adjusts the distance between the the two ears to account for pad wear. This bolt enters the lever and goes thru an alloy tube nut which has a series of "teeth" around the outside of the nut and operates like a ratchet against a spring loaded stop.

From the factory liberal quantities of grease is applied to this ratchet but overtime the grease turns to glug and together with corrosion prevents the tube nut from rotating.

Once this ratchet seizes no amount of cable adjustment will make the hand brake work. The ONLY solution is to remove the levers, disassemble, free up the tube nut on the bolt, re lubricate and install ensuring the initial zero adjustment is done.

The Zero adjustment is simply turning the bolt which connects the two ears until the pads contact the rotor then back off a half turn. Finally install a split pin thru the bolt head to prevent the bolt from turning further.

Self adjustment operates when the pads wear sufficiently to allow the tube nut to rotate on the bolt one or more teeth and this reduces the distance between the ears/pads.

Once you get the levers apart it is all pretty straight forward. The real problem is removing and re-installing the levers. If the above is done properly when the diff is first installed and a good grease ( I use marine grease - made for outboard motors) used, then all is good for about 10 years.

[Pills]

Seems like I have a big job on my hands.
Excaliber, do you have a photo of the access panel you mentioned. Can this be adapted to other cobra makes. I couldn't find it on the ERA websitebut it seems like this would make life much easier for future adjustments/repairs.

Cheers Chris.

[Excaliber]

Well you JUST missed it. Yesterday I finished putting the access panel and trans cover back in place, now sleeping under the carpet until next time. With my luck, that would be sometime this winter, again.

Now here's a pic with the trans tunnel out that may help. Notice the floor, of an ERA, is aluminum, not glass. The "fire wall" directly BEHIND the seats is also alloy about half way down and glass at the top. The access panel is simply a section that is cut out of that alloy at the end of the trans glass trans tunnel. A new cover, slightly larger than the hole in the rear panel, is screwed into place over the hole. The rear of the trans tunnel cover then screws into that rear cover. To access you still have to remove the seats and the rear panel carpet. Unscrew all the cover screws AND the four screws that also go into the rear of the trans tunnel cover. Pull the thin sheet metal panel straight up and out. Voila!!! Easy access to bleed the rear brakes, replace the pads and see that the emergency brake setup is STILL a complete unaccessable nightmare!

[Pills]

Just my luck. My timming always seems to be wrong Excaliber. Can you tell me, as you have a good knowledge of the rear setup, if i was to create a similar access panel, but from the Trunk side, would this allow me good access to the necessary hardware to adjust/repair the E brake.
The reason for my question, is that I have seen a similar access panel on a RAM on the uk site, where the owner then mounted an electric fuell pump on a bracket essentially over the diff. The way my trunk is set up, I have good access to this area as the fuel tank is located above the shelf in the trunk, and with the spare wheel out, there is clear access here. If i can work out how to post a picture, I will put it up for you to see, otherwise its on cobraclub.com in the RAM section with the thread heading of Fuel pump location. or to that effect.

[Excaliber]

A panel with access from the back would be useless on MY car because ERA uses the standard Jaguar "box frame" that houses the entire rear end assembly. You cannot access anything from the TOP, you need to go underneath or from the front (cockpit side). Now IF your RAM does not use the standard Jaguar mounting box or like the Kirkhams and CSX cars have nothing blocking access to the rear end from the back or the top, then maybe a rear access panel would work for you.

The E_brakes unbolt from the main rear caliper and then slide BACK and then DOWN to remove for servicing. Whereas the rear main calipers slide forward to remove or service. Lets assume you have the entire rear end assembly out of the car and sitting on the floor in it's standard Jaguar box frame assembly. In this case it's only marginally more easy to work on, it's STILL a pain in the ass to do any serious work. I mostly use the access panel area to BLEED my rear brakes every year. I totally flush out the system because I race enough where I get paranoid about my brakes.

[Pills]

trying to post photo as promised.
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/s...0/ppuser/39917

[Excaliber]

Well you can reach the drain plug easily from the back side, in case you wanted to drain, check or refill the rear end. Which I've done from underneath but it is difficult from "down under". You still can't service the brakes, bleed the brakes or adjust the e-brake linkage from the rear.