Hyd' Handbrake?

[brian]

Have rear discs and rather than use the standard handbrake and cables i want to use a hyd' unit. what would be the best way to plumb this in?
could the handbrake lines (usin their own resevoir) be connected into the calipers with the lines already there and bled?? :grab:

[Stuart]

technically you should have a seperate master cylinder for the rear handbrake, BUT you can fit a simple line lock and have a ratcheted leaver to operate it, but you need to put brake force on b4 you engage it.

a proper hydralic handbrake is ?192 from DT red (which is about ?130 every where else lol)

[brian]

the handbrake unit i have has a master cylinder, so would that work once it has its own resevoir too?

[CP]

Check with an MOT place first - I think that hydraulic handbrakes that are plumbed into the rear disc brakes may not be road legal. Its something to do with the wording I think along the lines that the parking brake should operate independently from the rest of the braking system. Apparently its a bit of a grey area tho'? :?

[Ste_Nova]

it can be hyd' but it needs a cable aswell.... just set it up so the cable is fixed all the time but you can remove the link to the hyd' section of the hb..... have you converted it to flyoff? it's an easy conversion with the std lever

[neiloakley]

MOT states that a vehicle must have a parking brake that does NOT rely on stored perssure. I.e, a hyd h/b works by maintaining the pressure in the calipers. If you had a leak, the pressure would decrease and eventualy brake would fail. That is why lorries use compressed air to keep the brakes OFF and have BIG springs to hold the brakes on. That way, if the air leaks out, then the brakes stay on.

So hyd h/b would be an MOT failure and if caught driving a car with one, then your insurance would be invalid as the car would not be roadworthy. So aswell as paying a fine for having an un-roadworthy vehicle, you would get points for driving without proper insurance.

If you want a hyd h/b then you would need a mechanical one ASWELL i'e a cable and ratchet.

Hope this helps

[brian]

was kinda thinkin hyd' was mot failure alright. just tryin ta figure out what would be the best way to run a good handbrake, poss with the hyd' unit. i have no handbrake a da min.
whats da story wit da flyoff conversion Ste? :?

[brian]

well got the hydraulic unit fitted the other day. at the moment its not got any cables (ill sort that out next april when the mot is due)
blocked off one of the lines to the rear and ran a new line from the other in through the handbrake back to a T-piece and out to each caliper.
savage power in the handbrake!!!!! :D :D :D
thanks for the help lads.