Exactly as Qintec put it, couldn't agree more.

The point about a website like this is really self-evident -- it is to help people with their vehicle troubles who maybe don't have too much money to throw around and be caught by incompetent so-called professional mechanics.

The complaining poster should realize none of us actually get paid for any of the time and effort we put in to helping others. And I'll hazard a guess the complainer has been helped over SOMETHING on this website, otherwise why would he be reading just "what the hell this is all about".

Quod erat desperandum.

Leedsman.

 

My reply (or question) was actually in reference to the post about sticking bits of scaffolding tubes & wood over the handbrake lever..... what's that all about ????

MG

 

its about 2 things treally .............

.1.

- its about someone who paid others for years for maintenance - only to find slipshod or no maintenance had been done
- its about a very specific [to his vehicle] issue of the metallurgy of brake lining material being compromised by the above crap maintenance
- and some-one individual's unselfish preparedness to experiment in a piggin cold old shed looking for answers to .1. & .2.

.2.

- the fact that as yet no GV handbrake will hold well (in neutral) on a hill like this one I drive [see pic below] every week
- and some-one individual's unselfish preparedness to experiment in a piggin cold old shed looking for answers to .2.



There are many odd general threads by others including myself, and three in the particular long threads by Leedsman on attempts to see why .2. does not work in the UK Eurovan LWB GV. I'm sure if Leeedsman cracks the GV handbrake issue the 'blue peter' plastic and dowel rods can be replaced with properly engineered 'add ons'. I'm sure you will agree that at the early experimental stage cheap bits of scafee tube and laggy bands will do as a dirty experimental fix till a workable outcome is found.

 

To some people a glass of water is half full, to others it's half empty. Meaning that analysing bio-computer in your head can have a bias, one way or t'other. Some call this bias an "attitude" some call it a "mind-set". Whichever, it's well known in human psychology. An unfortunate attitude is just that -- unfortunate to the one with it.

Leedsman.

 

Put simply I wouldn't be parking my car on that there hill whether there's double yellows or not, as I don't fancy fishing it out of the sea afterwards.

 

I would dare park my GV on that hill with the back facing downhill
After I renewed and adjusted the shoes of my parking brake it still holds very bad rolling forward but I tested the brakes rolling backwards on a steep hill recently and it holds perfectly well

 

Let us not forget that women also drive the G.V. (like taking the kids to school, shopping etc.), and if a male is having to use all the force he can muster to hold the vehicle on a hill with the handbrake, what is a woman with less physical strength supposed to do when faced with this problem? Getting the handbrake "off" when it's been forced on can also be a problem for them.This is where a handbrake lever with superior mechanical advantage as in my mod. comes to the rescue.

A handbrake/emergency brake ideally should be able to lock the wheels to which it is applied (it's not always on the rear wheels, example; the Citroen 2CV) while the vehicle is in forward motion. You can't get better than that. This is why I described the GV handbrake as only "adequate" esp. for passing the MOT. If your footbrake fails, the steering and handbrake is all you have to get out of trouble.

So far, none of the mods. I have engineered into my GV have failed, or failed to do what they were intended to do. Time will tell on this handbrake if it continues to perform in a more superior manner with the mod. If it fails, I shall not hesitate to say so. To date I have had two published "thank-you" messages on site. One for my large capacitor mod. across the battery, curing flickering dash-panel lamps: And one for my second thermostat mod. warming his diesel GV much more quickly and making his heater work properly -- and before I forget, saving him E200 to E300 to boot. Possibly there may be other grateful people out there, I can't say.

The size of the handbrake shoes reminds me of those fitted to the BMC mini and Morris 1100, british cars of yesteryear. I think Qinteq's comment about the GV handbrake system being too puny for the job, i.e. not fit for purpose in a vehicle weighing 2.2tons british is quite correct.

Now if only I could modify/fix PEOPLE as easily as cars...

Leedsman.

 

Agreed goggsy, but then I'm sure no one other than a nutter would actually try to park their car, it would be illegal and classed I'm sure as some kind of 'dangerous act'. The issue is if you get an engine cut out for any reason up or downhill you are completely booogarred. You would have no steering, no footbrakes and in this case no working handbrake. Parking it in gearbox park lock in either direction is also not something I would want to risk in a 2+ ton GV .. .. over the cliff you go landing neatly on all the people wearing hankies on their heads sitting in chairs having a cup of tea in the seafront car park directly underneath you. Of course Saltburn bank [1:4] is only [part of it I'm only on the way to visit family every week and that's down this 1:3.

 

- it will - I posted the answer to that months ago Vmaxxer mate !

 

I know QinteQ, but I thought I add it here as a reminder so even females can park the car as long as they remember this