Honda Car Forum

George Macdonald wrote:
> Pad thickness doesn't matter - there's a self-adjusting screw inside each
> caliper piston for handbrake adjustment, which is why you need to screw the
> pistons back into the caliper when replacing pads. If your cables don't
> match in length, giving a widlly unbalanced equaliser bar (yoke ?) the
> suspects would be: a hang up at the clevis pin where the cable attaches to
> the lever on the caliper, a bad caliper piston which is not self-adjusting
> or a bad outer cable sheath stop where it enters the body. BTW I've never
> seen an equaliser bar which is 100% balanced - one cable is always longer
> than the other.

Thanks, George. This is very helpful. Thanks for the correct term on
that equilizer bar, I thought I had read someplace "yoke" but that's
much better. I'll check the things you mention as soon as I can get the
wheels off in a few weeks.

Any tricks to screwing that caliper piston back in? On my old Pontiac it
was a matter of using a C-clamp to push the sucker back in, but that
wasn't a screw type as far as I remember. Do I need that special locknut
wrench (if so, where to get it? Not at Matco, Snapon, Craftsman), or can
a more common tool be used? Also, how to determine that the piston is
NOT in fact self-adjusting?

Abe

> Pad thickness doesn't matter - there's a self-adjusting screw inside each
> caliper piston for handbrake adjustment, which is why you need to screw the
> pistons back into the caliper when replacing pads. If your cables don't
> match in length, giving a widlly unbalanced equaliser bar (yoke ?) the
> suspects would be: a hang up at the clevis pin where the cable attaches to
> the lever on the caliper, a bad caliper piston which is not self-adjusting
> or a bad outer cable sheath stop where it enters the body. BTW I've never
> seen an equaliser bar which is 100% balanced - one cable is always longer
> than the other.

my yoke was at least an inch off- drum brakes. it was bad enough it took
9 clicks to lock the parking brake. adjusting that one drum evened it
out and dropped it to 4 clicks to lock.

"SoCalMike" <mikein562athotmail@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:TJXSc.295640$Oq2.249136@attbi_s52...
>
> > Pad thickness doesn't matter - there's a self-adjusting screw inside
each
> > caliper piston for handbrake adjustment, which is why you need to
screw the
> > pistons back into the caliper when replacing pads. If your cables
don't
> > match in length, giving a widlly unbalanced equaliser bar (yoke ?) the
> > suspects would be: a hang up at the clevis pin where the cable
attaches to
> > the lever on the caliper, a bad caliper piston which is not
self-adjusting
> > or a bad outer cable sheath stop where it enters the body. BTW I've
never
> > seen an equaliser bar which is 100% balanced - one cable is always
longer
> > than the other.
>
> my yoke was at least an inch off- drum brakes. it was bad enough it took
> 9 clicks to lock the parking brake. adjusting that one drum evened it
> out and dropped it to 4 clicks to lock.

Are you sure that the other cable (whose adjuster you didn't adjust) is
imparting any braking effort because its drum doesn't seem to be doing
any wearing of the shoes as far as the cable length is concerned.


--
Graham W http://www.gcw.org.uk/ PGM-FI page updated, Graphics Tutorial
WIMBORNE http://www.wessex-astro-society.freeserve.co.uk/ Wessex
Dorset UK Astro Society's Web pages, Info, Meeting Dates, Sites & Maps
Change 'news' to 'sewn' in my Reply address to avoid my spam filter.

SoCalMike wrote:
> my yoke was at least an inch off- drum brakes. it was bad enough it took
> 9 clicks to lock the parking brake. adjusting that one drum evened it
> out and dropped it to 4 clicks to lock.

9 clicks?? I'm at 16! (the top) The previous owner clearly neglected it.
The left wheel may be problematic--I have some vague sense from the
"feel" that the right is holding better, and I too have something on the
order of an inch off-balance, twisted toward the right (i.e., looser
left). The right is way tighter.

Abe