I think i am going to have to do this soon ,certainly adjust the handbrake but maybe replace the handbrake pads too. Never done it and can't find a link to one of those handy guide threads like the kingpin one, is it an easy job or a pain in the arse, and does the haynes manual lead you on a wild goose chase?

I seem to recall Haynes does over-complicate it rather, in my opinion.

Personally I:

Pull the handbrake on about 3 clicks.

Loosen all 4 14mm bolts on the bottom of the handbrake arms on the callipers.

Turn the hex headed eccentrics, with your fingers, clockwise, until they don't turn anymore (i.e. the pad is pushed against the disc).

Tighten the 14mm bolts back up.

Done!

If the eccentrics won't turn by hand after you've loosened the 14mm bolts, then I'd take the four bolts out completely, clean the bolts, the eccentrics, and the holes in the arms up, stick a bit of copaslip on them, and reassemble.

If one of the eccentrics can turn a full revolution without being stopped by the pad pushing against the disc, then the pads could probably all do with replacing. For that you'll have to withdraw the 14mm bolts completely, and pull the arms up out of the way. There's an anti-rattle spring in the caliper, which you'll have to be careful of when replacing the pad.

That's just the way I've been doing it recently - works for me - but the Haynes book is rather more scientific, going on about feeler gauges and stuff, and I'm sure others have different methods as well.

Easy enough job .....No special tools needed.....although [imho] removing the air filter box [on a R/H drive car] makes for easier adjustment of the L/H adjuster.
I find a small wire hook handy for removing the old pads.
If the handbrake has'nt been adjusted for a while,its also a good idea to completely remove the 14[?] mm locking nut and remove the eccentric nut to clean it and apply a bit of "Coppaslip" grease,this makes future adjustments a bit easier.


Quick tip .... remove the flat rod connecting the handbrake shaft to the actual lever on the brake mechanism [the flat piece with a split pin on each end] .....then drill a couple of extra holes in the flat bar at the [forward] brake lever end.
By moving your split pin up one hole,this makes for an "emergency adjuster" ....ie,you use it when the handbrake adjustment is completely fubar'd and lever just pulls through too far on the ratchet and locks itself.....[usually happens to me when I'm least expecting it and I'm away for the weekend somewhere with loadsa hills]

Note .....It is by no means a permanent fix,and I'm only suggesting you use it when needs must .... always adjust the handbrake by the correct method at the first available oportunity afterwards

hth
T.

It's easy enough, and it's all logical once you have a look at it. Can't remember what Haynes says, but I do it as follows (this method allows you to grease everything and adjust it all up afterwards):
You'll need:
two 11mm combination spanners
a pair of mole grips or pliers (mole grips are better)
a 14mm socket and ratchet
a 24mm spanner, preferably ground down so it fits on the adjustment eccentrics easily. You can use an unmodified one but it's a bit of a ballache.


Jack the car up so you can spin the front wheels.
Grip the end of the handbrake cable with the mole grips and undo the two 11mm nuts on the threaded end of the cable. Remove them and withdraw the cable from the actuating arms (the two things bolted to the front of the calliper).
Undo the 14mm bolts from the calliper end of the arms. Remove them.
Remove the arms from the calliper.
You'll now see two round holes in the calliper, top front if I remember right. The handbrake pads live in here. It's a bit of a fiddle to get them out, but try poking a thin screwdriver blade down between the disc and the pads and levering them out. Or poke around in there with a piece of wire. Whatever, just get them out.
Put new pads in, not forgetting a smear of copperslip grease on the back of them.
Go back to the handbrake arms. Remove the eccentrics (24mm nut with a hole in the middle), clean them up, grease lightly and reinsert. Set them so they're at their furthest point from the pads and put them back on the calliper with the 14mm bolts. Make sure they're seated properly amd don't tighten the bolts up yet.
Reinsert the cable and do the nuts back up again.
Now ... this is where it all gets a bit harder to explain. Tighten up the cable nuts until the actuating arms - with the handbrake off - are still touching their stops. Now put the handbrake on four or five notches and, using your 24mm spanner, adjust the eccentrics until you can't spin the wheel. If you can't get it to this point, you need to tighten up the cable a bit. Once you've got it to that point, release the handbrake and check the wheels spin reasonably freely. (This stage can take a while!)
Once you're happy with it, hold the eccentrics still with the 24mm spanner while you tighten up the 14mm nuts that hold everything in place. Make sure you've put both nuts back on the cable end and locked them together. Lower the car and pump the brake pedal a few times; I know handbrake adjustment shouldn't make any difference to the footbrake but it's good practice to do this just in case.

How not to do it ... DON'T just tighten up the cable until the handbrake works.
Have fun!

When I started writing all that^^ there were no other replies.

Many original Citroen garage's could learn from international 2cv friends site knowledge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes definately a good pool of knowledge here thanks gents think i'll add it to the list of jobs in the garage coming up .

More than one way to skin the cat, as far as working on disc type handbrakes, it seems.
Just for fun, here's another one...

First make sure that the cables are working freely and are correctly adjusted.
It's not unknown for one or other of the cables to be so stiff in operation that it won't return easily to the 'off' position.
This applies most often to the n/s one, especially if the bracket is missing which prevents the cable making contact with the exhaust.

With the handbrake lever in the 'off' position, the 4 levers which bear on the handbrake pads should 'just' be in contact with their stops and the amount of thread projecting on each cable end should be equal within 5mm.
Once those adjustments have been made, the only time you should need to alter the settings is to take up any slack in the cables if/when they're stretched after years of use.

To gain access to the pads, undo the 4 x 14mm headed bolts which lock the adjustment eccentrics in position, then swing the levers upwards out of the way.
The eccentrics and bolts can be removed for cleaning and greasing with the levers still attached to the cables.

To 'persuade' the worn pads out of their housings, an old feeler gauge ( about 20 to 25 thou/0.5 to 0.6mm, with the end bent over slightly, can be pushed down between the pads and the discs and used to lever the pads out.
When installing the new pads, always make very sure that the pad is offered in at a slight angle, so that its 'leading' edge makes contact with the small anti-rattle spring which sits at the back of the housing.
If that's not done correctly, the pad won't be able to sit flat against the disc.
Not only will the efficiency of the handbrake be lower, but the friction material will be worn at an angle.

Almost forgot to mention that it's worth getting hold of a cranked 14mm ring spanner to go with that cut-down 24mm ring spanner which you'll be using to adjust the eccentrics.
Something like this would be ideal, the shorter the better as there's not much clearance under the heat exchangers, the offset or crank in the spanner means that it's easier to fit it onto the 14mm head of the 9mm bolt...
< http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SNAP-ON-13mm-x-14 ... _500wt_949 >

Leave the handbrake lever in the 'off' position and whilst rotating the road wheel, gradually turn an eccentric in the direction which brings the pad into _light_ contact with the disc, then lock it in place with the 14mm headed bolt.
Repeat for the other 3 eccentrics, then pull the handbrake lever on hard.

Now check how far each operating lever has moved off its stop.
If you're lucky, they will each have moved around 3mm, but if not, the actual distances that they have moved will give a direct indication of which eccentric is too slack and which is too tight.
Release the handbrake lever and after making the appropriate small adjustments of the eccentrics, pull the handbrake on and once again check those gaps between the levers and their stops.

If it all goes well, you should have a handbrake which will lock both front wheels hard after '5 clicks' movement of the handbrake and you'll also be wondering why those tales about disc brake type handbrakes being poor could have gained any credibility...

ken

Just hypothetical;
but when you ever can lay hand on a GSA/Axel gearbox the handbreak adjustment of them is very easy... you just can turn the exenters with a 12mm socket and the best is yet to come...... they fit on the 2cv calipers as well.

Very very easy to adjust the handbreak-pads that way.......

Ken is quite right ... you don't need to remove teh cables to get the arms out of the way. It's been a long time since I had to adjust a handbrake.