Another job done

As I mentioned last week, the handbrake cable broke on our Land Rover Defender but wet weather meant I had to delay removing the cable and fitting a new one.

The Other Half, who’s the main driver, has had to find level parking spaces and park the car in gear, but was getting fed up with having to remember to select Neutral before starting the engine.

Fortunately for me, today dawned bright and clear, if somewhat cool, making it possible to spend a few hours under the Land Rover without being soaked.

The first part of the job was to remove the split-pin from the clevis pin that secures the brake cable to the rod that actuates the brake.

As I mentioned last week, both ends of the split-pin had corroded and snapped, which meant the remains had to be tapped through the clevis pin.

A simple statement, but much harder to achieve in reality.

Looking up at the underside of the Land Rover, I had a small space in which to work with the right-hand chassis rail on one side and the transfer box on the other. 

The space was closed at one end by a cross member and at the other by the brake drum.

This small rectangle of space is then occupied by the fairly deep mounting bracket for the brake cable, leaving me with a space a couple of inches wide and about four inches deep through which to access the clevis pin.

After trying a variety of small screwdrivers (handles too short), lengths of wire (too soft or too thick) and a ground-down tent peg (too awkward), I dug out an old-leather working awl and began picking away at the split pin.

The pin had seized in place, so I had to break it free before pushing it through the hole. It took a long time, but eventually half the pin moved a few millimetres.

I change to a straightened netting staple (which was pointed, narrow and strong) at this point, holding it with a pair of pliers and pushed the pin out.

With the pin out, I was able to remove the clevis pin after a few taps with a tack hammer, freeing the end of the brake cable.

The Haynes Manual for the Defender describes the next part of the job thus: “Slacken the cable locknut and adjuster nut, then free the cable from its mounting bracket on the transfer box”.

I wish.

The locknut is above the chassis rail, close the floor of the cab and boxed in by the transfer box and the sides of the bodywork.

To loosen it, I had to lie underneath it (wearing eye protection as crud falls everywhere), pass my left hand up between the transfer box and chassis rail, pass my right hand over the chassis rail and under the floor, and then turn the locknut through a quarter turn at the time.

Oh, and did I mention that it had seized in place and needed considerable force to move?

After a good deal of expletive deleted muttering, I freed the locknut and turned my attention to the adjuster nut—which is even more difficult to access as it sits within the mounting bracket and, theoretically, should be turnable by hand.

Expletive deleted again.

What I did was pass the freed end of the cable through a 3/4in ring spanner (yes, this is an Imperial bit of an occasionally metric car) and then fit the spanner over the nut.

I had to use considerable force—enough to lift myself off the ground—before the nut would move, but it did budge in the end.

This time, I was only able to move it through an eighth of a rotation. It takes quite a bit of time to move a nut two inches along a thread when you can only move it an eight of a rotation and the thread is heavily corroded.

The nut has to be taken off the thread entirely, although still remaining on the cable, as the cable has to be pulled back slight from the hole its passes through in the bracket and then pushed up through a slot.

Then it was time to free the other end of the cable from the threaded mounting that holds it in place where it passes through the seat box.

Again, the thread had. Again, it was in an almost inaccessible place. And again, it took a lot of effort and expletive deleted muttering to get it to move.

It did and the cable was now loose, except for a bracket that held it clear of the transfer box.

The riveted bracket was almost impossible to reach and the cable’s ends were too thick to pass back through it so I did the only reasonable thing—hacked the end off with bolt cutters and pulled the cable through.

I enjoyed that!

It took almost three hours to remove the old cable, so I was a little concerned that I might not be able to fit the new one before darkness fell. I need not have been.

I smeared a little copper grease on the threaded end of the new cable and wound it in place where it passed through the seat box. (Provided you get the threads correctly mated, it’s quick and easy to simple rotate the cable with one hand and wind it in.)

I tightened it with the spanner, bent the cable into a U above the transfer box and then tried to lower the cable through the slot in the mounting bracket.

It wouldn’t fit, as the new cable was quite a bit thicker than the old one.

I took an old screwdriver and used it to lever the slot wider until the cable was able drop into it.

I smeared some copper grease on the threads, loosely fitted the adjuster nut and loosely tighted the lock nuck.

I smeared some grease on the end of the rod, where it would be gripped by the yoke at the end of the cable and then popped the yoke into place.

More grease went on the clevis pin, it was slid into place and a new washer and split-pin fitted. One end done.

I slid out from the under the Defender and got into the cab, where I put a smear of grease on the linkage that connects to the base of the brake lever and popped it into place. 

Again, more grease went on the clevis pin, it was slid into place, and a washer and split-pin fitted. Second end done.

The gaiter went over the brake lever and secure in position with its three screws.

I slid back under the Land Rover to complete the job by adjusting the handbrake (which was off while I worked on it, but with the car securely chocked.)

I used a spanner to rotate the adjuster on the front of the brake drum until the brake shoes were full expanded against the drum (brake now on).

I wound the cable adjuster nut tight until all but a little freeplay was taken out of the cable, then held it in place with one spanner while I tightened the lock nut very firmly with another.

I rotated the adjuster on the brake drum until the brake shoes were free to rotate (brake off).

I removed the chocks, started the engine and backed the car up onto the slope, holding it with the foot brake..

Now for the test.

If I’d done it correctly, lifting the brake lever should engage the handbrake on the second or third click of the ratchet.

One click.

Two clicks.

Three clicks.

No more movement.

Carefully release the footbrake and…

No movement!!!

Release the handbrake and the Land Rover rolled smoothly forward down the slope, with no resistance.

Foot brake on, handbrake on, foot brake off, and no movement.

Test successfully completed. And it only took 20 minutes to put the new cable on and adjust it.

All that remained to be done was collect all my tools together and put them away, throw the old cable in the recycling box, and then scrub myself thoroughly. Three times.

Another job done.

And I still have skin on all my knuckles.