Parking Brake Woes, Replacing parking brake dash cable

Hi mcmoonter,

Welcome to club-xm. As you've probably realised by now you're in like-minded mad citronut land. You're sure to find solutions to all your XM woes here.

I'm through in Avonbridge near Bathgate. If you're willing to come through I'll give you a hand to fix your hand brake.

cheers

noz

Parking brake spare parts picture is so clear that I went green with envy as to where it came from. I have tried to download from citroen-pr.net and not been able to get the whole picture to print. Please tell!

I realise I'm likely breaching Citroen's copyright here - hope you're not a Citroën
brand guardian/policeman - are you!?

Well, it came off pr net as you suggest. Simply saved the .gif file it comes off the
website as. For this instance the file was then uplinked via www.photobucket.com

I always like to see such detailed exploded assembly illustrations - Does explain
a lot - in my line of work as a graphic designer, whilst a picture does say a good
few words, additional words of explanation are always handy TOO!!

Andrew

Hi mcmoonter

You have just joined two exclusive clubs! this one and the N---YBL club. Citroen only sold 61 manual 2.1 td estates in '96, they were all registered in January and were all N---YBL, so if its a genuine '96 2.1 td manual estate, thats what the registration wil be.

I have owned two of them, the last N497YBL and my present one N471YBL. I have seen several for sale over the last few years and I followed one along the A35 near Lyme Regis in the summer, so for the few they sold there are still quite a lot about.

Peter.N.

A huge thank you for all your help and the diagram, if I cant make any headway I might take up Noz's offer of instruction, spiritual guidance. I knew that a whacky car like an XM had to have a whacky Forum.

Can you imagine how sober the the Golf club would be? Previous experience with a great Saab forum shows that individual cars have a stangely magnetic attraction for GDIs .....Californian acronym for God Damn Individuals.

MC

Hi mcmoonter

Have had a look at the removed brake assembly. If you look at the exploded diagram that Andmcit found you will see item 13. This looks like a circlip but it is actually a length of thin spring wire the ends of which are bent to fit in 2 holes in the parking brake pedal while the centre section sits in a grove to hold that end of the parking brake lock cable in the slot that locates the cable end nipple. I would not have realised how this worked even with the diagram if I had not taken the whole pedal assembly out complete.

Regards

XMexc

Thanks XMexc

I couldn't find any obvious point of connection. Given the mechanisms location and access, It sounds like the only way to get reconnected is to remove the pedal assembly. I've removed the release cable from the other end, it will be easy enough to thread it back. Can the whole mechanism be removed without removing the steering column? It looks like there are two bolts which bolt through the floor (8) and two in part (20). I hope the wee spring (13) is still in position.

Many thanks for your persistence,

MC

Hi mcmoonter

The bad news. Bracket 8 is fixed with 2 bolts that come through from behind the engine. Brake linkage 9 is mounted in the steel box pedal assembly frame that bolts onto the chassis and then carries the steering column. I think the whole parking brake pedal (item 1) unbolts with 2 bolts but at least one of these is too long to remove because of the heater pipes.
Sorry I intended to bring on the parking brake pedal assembly last night but forgot. Home and my workshop are 8 miles apart. I was hoping to be able to look at it and compose a reply. I could not remove the rest of the foot pedal assembly as the hydraulic clutch is still connected to it and the engine and I want to recover it as a working spare.
It may be a day or so before I go back but I will see what information I can sort out then.

Regards

XMexc

A huge thank you XMexc,

I could see that this was uncharted territory. The parking brake mechanism will be one of the first things to be bolted into the cabin and everything else built up around it. I think I'll try removing the column and the panel/plate that sits behind it, but I'll hold fire till I hear from you.

Thanks MC

Dear XMexc

Had a look at the parking brake again. I can see that the cable fits into the 'barrel' with the slot as you described, however on my car it doesnt look exactly like what you describe or what was illustrated in the diagram, but the principal looks the same, may just be my interpretation.

The straight leg of the 'circlip' lies across the centre of the groove. What I think I need to do is to pull back the 'circlip' leg and locate the pear end of the release/locking cable inside the barrel. Its a four handed job with space for one.

Can you think of an Apollo 13 procedure to retract the 'circlip' the spring tension is very strong and I need to move the leg over sufficiently to allow the cable to locate underneath it.

Dont want to pester Noz when I am this close to a solution.


MC

Hi mcmoonter

Will go and get the parking brake lever this evening and send you a reply. I think I left the latching cable insitu so should be able to see how much tension there is on the spring clip. Sorry it has been a busy weekend so no chance to work on the cars.

Regards

XMexc

Hi mcmoonter

Have collected the pedal. You are right it is not quite how I described it and the spring retainer is nothing like the Citroen drawing. The spring retainer loops through 2 holes at one end to lock itself to the pedal then the other end sits through the two groves in the side of the ring that holds the nipple on the end of the release cable. I found that the retaining spring end projects just enough to lever it back towards the pedal to release or insert the cable end nipple. You also have to push the little lever with the nipple ring over towards the middle of the car to get enough space to insert the new cable and nipple. Are you sure the old cable end and nipple have been removed? If they are still there there is no hope of fitting the new one.
I will see if I can manage a photo tomorrow when I get back from Heathrow.

Regards

XMexc

Hi

I forgot to mention that once I had the cable out it was easier to reinsert it. A bit of pressure on the nipple just sprung the nipple past the spring. If you can fiddle a thin piece of metal like a small electrical screw driver blade behind the cable and nipple (parallel to the cable and same thickness as the cable) then just a little pressure springs the nipple into place.

Regards

XMexc

THanks XMexc,

The release locking cable is complete with its nipple still in place. Using a small dentists mirror on the end of a bicycle spoke I managed to see that the groove on the side of the barrel looked larger on the side closeset to the bulkhead. Does the barrel rotate? Could it have turned?

The tricky thing is that I need to push the release arm forwards to get room to move the retaining clip to locate the cable. Its as close to micro surgery as I ever want to get.

Sorry to be a pest but I've never seen one before and dont have another to compare it with. If you can get a picture that would be a help. I cant figure out how the cable managed to get out in the first place.


The great thing about a conventional handbrake is that the space it occupies isnt shared with anything else! Are there any advantages to having it at the front?

MC

Hi mcmoonter,

I never gave it a second thought as to why its on the front wheels until now. It seems obvious that it would be better and simlper on the rear wheels. However, if you read here:

http://club-xm.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1582

I think I stumbled across the answer by mistake. If the handbrake was, conventionally, on the rear wheels then, due to the gometry of the rear trailing arms, the handbrake would fight the suspension height control. It does not happen on the front wheels because the struts move in the vertical plane and the handbrake has no effect on this.

Another piece of trivia for that pub quiz....

Cheer

noz