2.8 Mu HAND BRAKE

[tonkamu]

I always get pulled up for my hand brake on WOF. I know that they are not a good system and replacing them with shoe version is the way to go. But that costs money and a lot of time or a lot of money and not much time I don't have much of either.

I just put new rotor/pads on the failed side (drivers rear), adjusted piston to get rid of play adjusted cable as tight as I can before passenger side grabs.

WOF people still not happy. Now they failed me on my winch bar (another story basically they WOF guy is a prick.. I came out asking if "was that my diff making that sound" the sound of an exploding differential.. when he tried having one side of the car on the roller machine testing one wheel which won't work as I have an LOKKA... I lost my cool when he started talking about permanent locked diff is illegal) Lucky for me everything still works, pretty strong things.

Anyway.. my hand brake is only at 67% Drivers side and other side is 120% its a big improvement from 6% / 120%.

I'm wondering what else can I adjust on the bad side to improve it, can't see any other adjustments.

[geeves]

Testing handbrakes on a rolling road is fun when the car in question is a landrover or nissan with handbrake on the driveshaft. Almost as much fun as when the try a handbrake stop.
When I had the bighorn I would lightly sand the discks every 2 wofs in a pattern from center to outside which helped a little. I also lubed the caliper slides every wof. If the caliper is binding the handbrake aint going to work. Also I dont know what tyres you are running Try and borrow some in a standard size.
Only other suggestion is stay away from LTNZ testing stations. They are excellent for standard cars but dont have a clue about mods. A friend of my father in law was always failed on wheel bearings in a Austin Healy. They are a ball bearing that needs an amount of play to work correctly. He ended up driveing the LTSA adjusting the bearing till the wheels started to grab go through wof then readjust before driving home

[tonkamu]

I had the piston out it slides out easy, adjustment screw works perfectly, screwed the piston right out. The removable pin glide is quite pitted, I greased both glides up. I use my 31" tyres for WOF, I'm sure that prick would of failed me for 33" to!

Do I have to go back to the same WOF station, theres normally Indians there who are friendly and let them minor things go, but my re-check there was a white guy who likes to recite how he's the most powerful man in my car universe to me ( I am a wof certfier blah blah if there was an investigation if you hit someone with your winch bar it would come back to me blah blah)(when I was coming off the rollers the machine was showing me different numbers do you have a permanent locked diff? blah blah) something like that I zoned out when people start talking muppet.

[geeves]

other thing to check is the hand brake cables. They must be completely free in the sleeves and its wise to lubricate the other linkages as well. On mine I found water and crud blocking the travel in the U shape where iit turns up into the wheel. I hung then in the garage and worked them back and forwards while pouring kerosene in then once free redid with engine oil. I then went to pickapart and cut 2 nissan Sunny clutch cables to get the rubber boots to replace the originals. (clutch cable at picapart $30 rubber boot $2)
Bull bars on a 91 only have to meet exterior impact rules as applied in 91. If your bar is commercial for that vehicle he cant touch it. They are tested for pedestrian safety. If its home made then as long as it doesnt unduly increase risk to pedestrians compared to being hit by a 1800kg 4wd then it has to pass. If its bolted to factory mounts thats all but he could get fussy about any welded mounts which technically are reason to trigger a trip to a low volume certifier. I had that problem with my 89 bighorn. Bumper made of 70x40 rhs no issue, 2 cigarette packet sized braces welded to the chassis extensions for the bumper sent to lvta. Certifier gave me an option grind to plates off or $400 process. I chose certification which was only paperwork and a first born.
You should be able to go to a different garage but it would be wise to tell them VTNZ failed it because they dont know what they are talking about on issue x Y Z etc but it still sounds like more work required on the handbrake

[tonkamu]

Thanks Geeves you pointed me in the right direction I found the potential issue, a rusty seized cable. No hope trying to crc it, will replace.

And here is my little winch bar that failed its WOF, and yeah interesting about old cars, he threatened to make me go to LVVC.

The concept of low volume vehicles and hence certification for such vehicles was not initiated until after 1991. A motor vehicle last modified before 1 January 1992 does not have to comply with the Low Volume Vehicle Code, provided the vehicle has been continuously registered in New Zealand. It must, however, comply with the general safety requirements in 2.2.

bullbar.jpg

[geeves]

That bar does look nicely made but does have a few problems. A certifier would fail it. They are fixable though. Everything facing forwards must be 50mm diameter or bigger. They wont worry about the 40mm tube but the sharp edges on the winch plate should be reduced and those lamp mount placed behind the bar. They could get picky about the mounting plates as well. Also putting a cover over the winch removes hand traps. Fix these and it should pass.
To get the wof tomorrow just put the factory bumper back on for the day