Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Handbrake issues - any thoughts, please?

On my 1993 +8, I have an issue with the handbrake and I'm hoping that one of you folks has been down this route, and knows the fix.

The chrome cap on the handbrake lever is immobile, and appears to be stuck in the "depressed" position. The result is that the lever can be pulled to the "on" position (complete with warning light) but it is not possible to "set" the handbrake on the ratchet, and so the lever returns to the "off" position when released. It's not possible to move the cap up or down the shaft at all, and inserting a rod into the tiny (> 1.5mm, <2 mm diam.) hole in the cap won't tighten or loosen the cap. At present I'm reluctant to try to rotate the cap by brute force (mole grips etc)

The pictures in the parts book aren't too informative, either.....

Thanks in advance for your help, thoughts etc

Dave

The cap should unscrew, but I never heard of one with a hole in it unless a PO has fitted a grub screw.

Dave this is a screenshot of handbrake system taken from 2014 on parts catalogue. I doubt it's changed much over the years. You can see that the push button (3) screws onto long threaded rod (5) and operates pawl (8) against spring (26). Maybe this will help in diagnosing what has gone wrong and how it can be corrected.

My handbrake knob has a small hole too - never been quite sure why? May be is an age thing?

Dave

Usually it's the opposite problem - I.e the cap works loose over time (which is why, when I make a new cap up, I drill and tap to take a locking grub screw.? )

I think the hole is for lubrication purposes - to lubricate the rod which operates the rachet.

Only things I can think of are that the bush in the center of the tube has worked loose and is jamming things up or the small (8mm) screw which holds the pawl in the bottom of the lever has worked loose.

Either way it's a gearbox tunnel off job to see what's gone on!

Arwyn

I'm 75 and don't have a hole in my handbrake knob

I have one of those as well

Thanks for your replies, chaps - and my chrome cap is the same as TBM's one.

I tried my best to avoid any reference to knobs in my original post, as I knew where the thread might go :-)

Arwyn - thanks for your considered comments, and I suspect the disassembly you mention will be needed. I'll try giving a squirt of lubricant into the hole on the cap (can't do any harm) but I'm not hopeful. The car is off to Techniques next month for a service, MoT and a bit of end-of-season tweaking, so I may just leave it to them to sort.

Dave

Try lifting the tunnel leather cover. It should give you a better view

If you lift the tunnel leather on the handbrake side there should be an inspection plate and you can see the lower handbrake (pawl and ratchet)

DB