Noticed when changing wheels over on my new TJ that the rear passenger side wheel could still spin even with the hand brake on. The drivers side could not spin.

Is this normal or should both rear wheels be locked with handbrake on?

Both should lock. Look for bad or uneven adjustment at the wheel, stretched cable, seized components in the handbrake mechanism inside the rear brake rotor.

Pull out the center console bin and have a look at the condition of the cables, theres two cables one for each side so yes, each wheel should lock.

Thanks guys. Will check the cables under the center console first since that will be the easiest then move on the mechanism if i find nothing there.

there is also adjustment in the hub, pull out a rubber gromit and poke a screwdriver in it, its dark so shine a light and u will see what i mean

Correct procedure:

(1) Remove rear rotors, clean components and look for worn and seized parts. Check cables for seizure, cable mounting points for breakage. Fix/replace.
(2) Adjust hand brake shoes at the rear rotors.
(3) Adjust inside car to make up for any stretched cables.

Took a pic of the mechanism underneath the center console.

The left cable in pic is the side of the car (passenger side) with the wheel not locking. Both cables feel tight when the hand brake is engaged.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/lliamp/handbrake.JPG

If someone could let me know if if this looks correct or not that would be great.

Not correct.
This picture tells me two things:
(1) There is a problem at the left rear wheel.
(2) You need to look at the OTHER end of the cable to find the problem. (See post #6)

Thanks Madmax. Had a feeling the bracket being on an angle like that wasn't correct.

Unfortunately I am sick as a dog today so taking off the rear wheel and poking around in there won't be happening today.

I was contemplating taking it to a brake servicing place as I am always wary to mess around with the brakes myself since getting them wrong could be disasterous and unsafe. The rear brakes also have an intermittent squeal when braking that i would get checked aswell.

The closest place to me that comes up after a search is ABS in Salisbury. Can anyone recommend them or another place in the northern area? Never been keen on franchise mechanics like ABS, they tend to be a ripp off from experience.

ABS Salisbury - if it is near the Bridgestone tyre place with the service station - know their stuff. I have had discs skimmed there, as well as bought rear master cylinders for Sigmas there and a number of rubber kits to recondition master cylinders. Don't know what their labour charges or workshop ability is like though.

Brake squeal may be worn pads, get them to have a look. Maybe ask for a quote before you give the OK to do the work?

Alternatively, wait until you feel up to it. Don't drive the car, or drive carefully in the meantime!

I reckon the handbrake cable mount at the rear has broken away from the bodyshell. Have a look under the car (floorpan near the rear wheel well).

That mount breaks on many wagons, the main thing it needs at the back is the metal mount to the top caliper bolt to be not broken, this is where they changed the design with the TL using a proper cast mount.

If the tab that holds the cable on the upper calliper bolt has broken then the hand brake will be useless. Is very common on these but then remember that these cars are between 8 and 15 years old depending on the model so nothing to really be that concernd about. New cables are under $100 each from mits

My handbrake was the same and it was the tiny pin inside the handbrake housing on the brake backing plate. It had fallen out of position. The adjustment wheels on the handbrake pad ring (I've forgotton its correct name) had been adjusted the wrong way and the lever on the cable at backing plate had moved too much causing the pin to fall out of position. I reassembled everything and purchased a new dust boot and everything then worked well.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, have booked it in at ABS Salisbury on Thursday for a full braek check. Normally I would try and fix it myself but just don't have the time at this time of the year (working six days plus a birthday/baby shower/christmas party/wedding every weekend) plus being sick atm dosn't help.

Will let you know what they find.

Just get a doctor's certificate that says "This guy needs a brake - seven days off!"

Just get a doctor's certificate that says "This guy needs a brake - seven days off!"

lol "boom tish"

Update: Took the car to ABS on Thursday. Apparently they found that one of the mounts underneath the car that holds the cable had broken so the cable was loose at that point and not pulling the hand brake mech at the wheel when applying the hand brake.

They suggested that they could try and weld a new section onto the broken bracket to try and remount it but they didn't really want to do it as it was risky due to the posibility of heating up the cable itself and damaging it. They pretty much said not garuntees and i would have to pay labour whether or not it worked. Didn't sound like a good idea to me so I said no.

The other option was to replace the entire passenger side hand brake cable. They wanted to charge $350 to do this as they think it looks quite labour intensive and they stated they had never really done a handbrake cable on that model magna before. And they stressed this was rough quote and it could be more than $350 in the end!!

First off I find it hard to believe a place that specialises in brakes has never done a handbrake cable on such a common car like a 3rd gen Magna??!! Secondly is $350 (possibly more) too much to charge for this kind of job or is it really that labour intensive?

Lastly does the whole cable really need to be replaced? I am wondering why just the braket itself cannot be replaced? They were a bit vauge when i asked them this same quiestion. Can someone with experience with this let me know if what they are saying is true or not?

I will try and get under the car and take a photo of this bracket when i get a chance.

I had my left hand cable replaced by a regular mechanic for $250 and then they did the other one aswell for $250 but gave me a $50 discount.

Manual pic:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac19/rons105/brake.jpg

Where is this bracket then? Doesn't seem to be captive one on the cables.
There is one right near the end, where the "2" is. If that breaks off, you will need a new cable. Can't see it being a complex job though.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac19/rons105/brake2.jpg

I don't think it is number "2" as that looks like its right at the end at the wheel. I asked them if i it was something i could see myslef if i took the wheel off, they said no it was under car and not an easily accesible area (without having the car on a hoist). I would guess its one of the brackets that number "5" is indicating.

Would you care to share the mechanic you went too peaandham? $250 sounds more realistic.

OOOkay so this has just turned into a bit of a bad dream. Ended up getting the hand brake cable done at ABS a few days ago. After taking it to another mech to have a quick look they agreed that $350 was a fair price if it included the new cable itself (which it did).

Got the car back, handbrake felt good..... for about a day. Went to park last night, pulled the handbrake and I felt something give way and the lever kept going right upto verticle. The lever has now lost most of the tension it had and the hadbrake is only just engaging if i pull it up to the max. So of course I am fuming and drive straight to ABS. They ask me to come back first thing this morning.

Go back there this morning and they put it on the hoist and.... (drum roll) the drivers side cable has now broken in EXACT SAME PLACE!!! They actually showed me and its the last mount on the back of the drum. Of course they are just like "oh it mush have been weak or damaged aswell".

It seems that one of the guys there I have been dealing with about half the time talks a bit of shit. He was the one that made it sound like it was one of the other mounts further along, saying that it was really hard to get to and a "big job" labour wise to replace the cable. He was also very reluctant to back off the drivers side hand brake today so I had atleast the passenger side working properly, saying it was unsafe and could cause issues (even though the car had been like this for god knows how long before i purchased it). The other guy working there that had it on the hoist today that showed me the broken mount was standing there as he was saying this and I could tell from his expression and what he was telling me it was nowhere near as bad as what this other guy was trying to make it out to be. Plus he was 100% sure it was the same mount on the other side that broke originally which did not add up with what other guy (the shit talker) originally told me.

Sooo anyway not going to go back to ABS anymore, while it was on the hoist they showed me the path the cable takes. It actually looks rather simple and not hard to get to at all, hardest part actually looks like when it enters the cabin (pulling up the carpet and center console). Since I had a go at adjusting the handbrake on my 2nd gen when I was doing the brakes on that and the setup seems the same on the 3rd gen (looking at the work shop manual) I am going to attempt to do it myself

anyway [/RANT]

But I do actually have a couple of questions for people who have experience in this:
I am wondering if they have tightened the hand brake too much at either the wheel or lever end causing this to happen, could this be possible?
Also is this problem common on the sedans? (i know madmagna mentioned it was common on the wagons) 8yrs and no issues at all with the handbrake on the 2nd gen, a couple of months and 2 broken mounts on the 3rd gen. Did mitsu's take a step backwards in quality control or something?

Manual shows it a relatively easy job.

If both sides have now gone, I'd suspect corrosion affecting both. Have a good look under the back to see there are other things corroding.