Applying Handbreak - Press Release button or Not

BeenThroughItAll

Zandoni wrote: »

I disagree, there will be wear on the tip of the ratchet. Picking people up on their spelling is much more important though.

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Wear is in the form of rounding off the tips of the segment teeth and the pawl, plus wear of the pawl pivot casing it to "oval" because it's concentrated over a small angular movement .

The pawl will take the worst of it because, if your handbrake takes an average 5 clicks, it'll get 5x the wear on its tip as individual teeth will. As the pivot wears it'll also tend to wear the edge of the pawl at an angle, reducing its ability to latch.

The self-adjuster ratchets don't operate anything like as often as the handbrake does - maybe 100 or so "clicks" over the lifetime of a set of shoes - and tend to fail regularly anyway. They also don't "hold" position by force on the ratchet, as the handbrake does. The ratchet simply operates a screw adjuster and is under no load except when it's taking up the next notch. Even so, they're nasty, unreliable, inventions that often need replacing as often as the shoes do.

Yeah, you're both correct. I didn't think that all the way through in my haste to simply use it as a vehicle to carry the spelling correction... I'm not always as pedantic as that - I wince A LOT when reading posts online (not just here), documents, emails and similar. Unfortunately, the difference between BREAK and BRAKE is the one that really gets to me.


Sorry for the inaccuracy of the supporting post, though.

Joe_Horner

No problem, and I tend to wince as well at the common mis-spellings. I've given up picking them up tough because it seems the language will evolve weather u like it or knot!

As for the hand brake wear question, to be honest I can't think of many times I've seen it be a problem within the normal life of a car because most of them will take a LOT of wear before they stop holding. It just grates on my mechanical sympathy to hear all those little clicks

EdGasket

You should always press the button in when moving the handbrake to stop the ratchet teeth wearing out. If applying the handbrake, after releasing the button just give a little pull to check the handbrake is locked in position.

andrewf75

Can't believe I have been pushing the button in all these years when it seems I didn't need to.

Joe_Horner

andrewf75 wrote: »

Can't believe I have been pushing the button in all these years when it seems I didn't need to.

Don't worry about it. You don't need to press the clutch when you change gear, but it's usually kinder on the car in the long run if you do

mickburkejnr

I've driven a 12 year old Peugeot 306, 130,000 miles on the clock, and I saw the owner pull the handbrake up without pressing the button. That car never rolled back, never slipped either.

The real danger with handbrakes is over pulling them. That stretches the cable so it can snap off. The ratchet sound is used to basically say "it's on enough any more it'll be tight".

My girlfriend always pushes the button, and she drove a Honda CR-V I had where the handbrake is like a joystick, you pull it towards you. I got in the car after her and she had it on tight. I'm a big strong lad, and I had two arms on this handbrake to pull it up before I could let it go.

Samsonite1

I was always taught to press the button, but I too have a Ford and noticed the instructions not to press the button. I cannot snap out of the habit of pressing it though!

If I recall previous cars, I do think that I was always over-tightening the hand break and it tended to get loose. Once I had to get the spanner out and sort out the hand break, but it was a Fiat so maybe it was just falling apart?

Car_54

EdGasket wrote: »

You should always press the button in when moving the handbrake to stop the ratchet teeth wearing out.

That's what I was taught too, many years ago.

However, things change. Now it seems the entire motor industry disagrees with you. What makes you think they're wrong?

Joe_Horner

Car_54 wrote: »

That's what I was taught too, many years ago.

However, things change. Now it seems the entire motor industry disagrees with you. What makes you think they're wrong?

Well, if we were a cynical bunch n here we might suggest that wearing the ratchet out is in their interests cos they get to sell a new one :rotfl:

Samsonite1

Car_54 wrote: »

That's what I was taught too, many years ago.

However, things change. Now it seems the entire motor industry disagrees with you. What makes you think they're wrong?

I guess ratchets are designed to be ratcheted and so it would not be a huge leap to make them durable and to function in this way. As you say, why would a manufacturer tell you to wear it out? As mentioned, I think I have worn my handbrakes out quicker by pressing the button.