Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Broken Hand Brake Cable

Have a great celebration

Steve, mine went earlier this year. If you search there's a long posting about it. There were a bad batch of handbrake cables and what happens is that the outer sheath plastic coating cracks around the wire inner spirals and lets water in. The worst spot is at the tight bend where the cable enters the brake drum. I'd urge anyone who has a post 2009 car to check the outer cable at that spot. The faulty cables have a coarser spiral sheath compared to the earlier and later ones.

The cable costs around £75. If the near side one breaks you are lucky as the whole cable doesn't need to be replaced although you have to buy the complete cable. It the offside goes, the whole cable needs replacing and that means doing the job from inside the car as the cable runs along the propshaft above the floor and is held in there by "P" clips. To get to it, the seats need removing, the leather covering to the transmission tunnel which is glued to the floor and rear bulkhead needs carefully pulling free to unscrew the tunnel screws. It would be easier if the gearbox cover could be taken off as getting to the handbrake is otherwise only feasible from under the car. I couldn't get the car high enough to do that, nor could I get the gearbox cover off as the front was sealed to the bulkhead very strongly! In the end I cut an inspection hatch in the side of the tunnel to get to the clevis pin attaching the cable to the handbrake lever.

The other problem was getting to the end of the cable in the brake drum. I just could not get the brake shoes off as the hub flange covers a fair part of the brake shoe springs. I took it the my dealer, Mike Duncan who struggled until Ben suggested pulling the hub off! Took a few minutes then!

So.....a long job and I can easily see a dealer charging for several hours labour. I'm hoping the new cable will last a lot longer than 18 months but at least I know what to look out for. Good luck!

But Jay, at 18 months it should have been a warranty job. I know such things as cables are often considered consumeables an not covered by warranty but there are consumer laws which state that a product must be suitable for the purpoose intended. A faulty brake cable is certainly not suitable!

Peter, the factory call it wear and tear, irrespective of age or mileage and ignoring the fact there was a faulty batch of cables. I was told that one snapped when the car was 3 months old and the factory refused to replace it under the warranty. With modern cables, stainless and running in Teflon and not requiring lubrication, there is no reason the cable should not last for many years.

My inner cable had not corroded through and I think was stainless. The wire spiral reinforcing of the outer sheath had corroded and snapped and the sharp edges worn through the cable.

Bit like the windscreen problem, isn't it?

Well, the cables must come from somewhere; the factory should be able to replace it under warranty and claim the manufacturer. No? Unless of course the use, design & construction in the car, was MMC's fault. It looks really cheap to call it wear and tear after just a couple of months. Wonder what grandpa, H.F.S., would think.

Too right. This, and the windscreen issue, should be quite straightforward Sale of Goods Act replacements in the UK, warranty or not. The items are not of merchantable quality.

It's why they are called "hand built"..........we have to continue building them ourselves

In my view the cable should not be considered a consumable any more or less than for example , wheel bearings or a water pump. They wear out eventually but would be covered under warranty in the first two years. But dealing with the factory at times is like hitting your head against a brick wall.

If the factory was still run by the family I suspect that this would not be an issue, nor the windscreen fiasco.

Having endured the 2 X windscreens fiasco and the hanbrake cable you certainly don't feel like a bespoke customer.

As Osprey says I'm sure old HFS and Peter would not be impressed with the level of customer service exuded by Pickersleigh at the moment.

As the handbrake can also actually be considered an emergency brake I believe it goes further than "merchantable quality" and is a safety issue that should require a recall and replacement of the cable on all vehicles fitted with the faulty batch of cables.

Just about all manufacturers have had to recall vehicles for such "minor" safety issues. American legislation is particularly strong on this sort of issue.