Attempted to adjust the handbrake last night, cutting a long and irritating saga short one handbrake cable is seized. I've tried to remove it, but the outer sheath is stuck where it goes into the brake backing plate. It rotates freely, but won't come out. The Haynes Manual suggests I need to remove a clip, but I can't see a clip anywhere. Do I just need brute force, or is there something else I need to do first?!
If you pull the drum off then unhook the cable from the lever it should just pull out. The bit that rotates freely is the collar on the outside I assume. Mole grips and a hammer should get it off. There isn't anything holding it other than the tension of the cable AFAIK. Whereabouts along the length of the cable is it seized? It could be the brake mechanism itself needing a bit of grease. In one case I had a sticking return spring.
They do seize up at that point ...don't go crazy raunging at it as you will bend and possibly break the spot welded bracket on the bake plate where it goes in . It will be tight inthe cup bit that supports it as it enters the backplate ...twist it gently backwards and sideways using loads of WD 40 , in fact soak it and leave for abit and coax it, it will eventually pull out .
Cheers, it's definitely the cable, the flexible conduit has a couple of splits in and the whole lot is rather rusty. I've freed it off to a point, but it's still too sticky to work reliably. I left it last night soaking in some WD40 so fingers crossed it will just slide out with some gentle persuasion later.
I replaced my cables last week. It should just pull out but as suggested, take drum off and unhook the cable from the swivel plate thing. I cant think how its stuck from where you say unless there is 30 years of crud unwilling to break ties.
