Cleaning and greasing handbrake cable

[ashaughnessy]

What would be best practice for cleaning and re-lubricating the handbrake cable? I would guess that over time the cable will fill up with crud and stiffen. I'm thinking of cleaning it out and then relubricating it. I don't know what kind of grease/oil to use nor how much to apply. Any suggestions?

Anthony

[allen]

I assume this is not the 'old' handbrake under the dash that nobody ever uses?

 

Cable oilers are available that force oil down the cable, however, if you take the cable off completely, hangd it up verically, make a small funnel out of plasticine around the top of the outer, you can fill this with penertating oil, allow to run through, follow with light machine oil.

 

Probably easier to replace the cable if it is 'that' stiff.

 

Regards

 

allen

 

Edited by - allen on 6 Sep 2001 08:43:49

[ashaughnessy]

It is indeed the old one under the dash, which I don't use very often. It's not "that" stiff yet, I'm doing preventive servicing. It hasn't been cleaned/lubed in the past 11 years.

Anthony

[R2D2]

I have an 89 car with the same handbrake arrangement and my cable has a grease nipple on the outer just ahead of the axle.

[ashaughnessy]

Thanks Chris, but I don't like the idea of that grease nipple. To lubricate the whole length of the cable would mean pumping a lot of grease into it. As the grease hardens over time the cable will surely stiffen up? And if the cable is already full of grease, pumping more in will get very difficult? I was wondering if the recommended practice was instead a light coating of some grade of oil.

Anthony

[R2D2]

I greased mine for the first time last year without any problems. Pumping in the grease was quite easy. The gap between the inner and the outer is quite small and the volume of grease is minimal and the handbrake would work quite well if I could reach it when I am wearing the seat belts. It certainly hold quite well and passed the MOT without problems.