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X-BRAKE


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Just fitted a new x-brake to D90,took it for mot today & it failed on the hand brake as inefficient, i said it was impossible but they said , the computer said nooooo !!!!! Help they must be talking out of there arse. KR.

Those calipers hold huge sod off earth movers!

so they are talking Arse!

unless you failed to adjust it :)

Mine is 100x better than the drum was at its best

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I've never seen a LR handbrake tested on a computer, where do they plug that in then? :ph34r::lol:

I strongly suspect they're doing it wrong, if they get uppity phone VOSA - not only will they tell you how to do it right, they will have a word with the station in question and more than likely kick them into touch.

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If they tested the handbrake on the rollers, they there's a possibility that the transmission could be damaged. Also - the handbrake shouldn't be tested while the vehicle is in motion on a road test, so a Taplow meter shouldn't be used. The hand brake is usually tested by applying it on a slope and seeing if the vehicle will roll. The amount of clicks doesn't apply, but travel will (if it gets to or is close to the stop) the fail would be 'excessive handbrake lever/parking brake travel'. X-brakes are not set in the way that the standard handbrake is set, which is by 2 adjustments (adjuster on the backplate and the cable sleeve). If you adjust by the clicks (3-5), then you are going to be driving around with the handbrake on and will burn it out rather quickly :) With the cable bracket set correctly so that when the brake is applied the cable is a straight line, adjust the cable sleeve until the pads just rub a small amount on the disc (move the disc with your hand as you adust the cable until it does this). This is the usual setting for the X-brake, and you will still get around 3-5 clicks, but the lever will feel different, in that it will still travel further, but pulling it on that far is unnecessary. People get far too involved in setting-up the X-Brake, but in fact it's far more simple than the drum brake to do. I'd suggest your MOT tester is unfamiliar with a disc handbrake.

Les.

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I dont really see how they can "test it wrong"?

They input the vehicle weight into the brake tester, and it then measures how much braking force the calipers/handbrake can apply.

For it to fail, it mustn't have applied enough force.

Yes you could argue that it should be tested on the road and that it might damage the transmission, but even landrover themselves state it can be tested on a two wheel roller tester as long as the speed is low, and imo, pulling the handbrake on is no different (as far as the transfer case is concerned) than brake testing the rear axle with the hydraulic calipers, as long as you dont snatch it on. (and even if you did snatch it on, that still isnt any different to say locking up the front brakes under heavy braking...)

The fact its a disk handbrake and/or a transmission brake doesnt change the fact that when engaged it should be able to supply a certain amount of braking force. The fact its not doing it, probably means its not setup correctly.

The only possible way i could see it failing unneccesarily would be for the wheels to slip in the brake tester. But even our A4 did this, and the guy recognised it immediately and overrode the machine, so its unlikely to be a rare occurance.

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I had an MOT tester test my handbrake by pulling it on whilst moving (albeit slowly), even done gently the amount of driveline shunt in a LR transmission makes for a horrible juddering stop and frankly I'd be surprised if it does anything any good. I can see how it would fail a computerised test like that as it would be all over the place due to shunt.

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I can see two possibilities here:

1. The handbrake is poorly fitted or adjusted. It is unlikely if the OP has followed the setup procedure in the fitting instructions correctly and the lever/cable is in good order.

2. The tester has tested the car wrongly for one reason or another, I am assuming he had a good tug on the lever though little effort will be needed to provide a reading suitable for a test pass! A brake test roller can rotate each wheel independently, and in the event that the tester rotates one wheel at a time rather than both together then the prop will spin until the handbrake is applied at which point the prop/transmission will stop spinning as the handbrake bites and the differential in the car will cause the opposite wheel to spin in the opposite direction of travel showing little if any brake effort. It is worth noting that the same could effectively happen if there was a broken differential or half-shaft in the rear axle, though you would then need the diff-lock engaged in order to drive the car.

The X-brake, when correctly fitted and adjusted, can hold a fully laden Landrover Defender 130 with a fully laden 3500kg trailer on a 45° slope. I forget the exact figure but that weighs in at something around 7 tonnes.

HTH

Chris

Occasional X-eng'er

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Ye fair enough, i'm just saying make sure it IS working correctly before getting on the phone to VOSA etc...

Most MOT testers are familiar enough with their equipment to recognise when something thats perfectly fine has failed because of the equipment being stupid, as happened with the brakes on our A4 at its last MOT.

If you got VOSA involved and when Mr VOSA inspects the car it fails because the handbrake isnt working correctly, you'd have a bit of a red face...

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If the car were presented for the MOT with the diff-lock engaged it would presumably have to be tested as such and not put on the rollers... ;) This is of course not the ideal solution to the OPs current issue, more of a 'workround' solution. :)

Chris

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