<span class="highlight">Caravan</span> handbrake

Gidday Humpback,
Don't know about only working in reverse but my Hydraulic hand braking system used to stop me rolling anywhere then some one told me I should set the van up with electric brakes and they and several others told me how wonderful they are, admittedly they work far better than the hydraulic system when the van is connected to the vehicle but as soon as you disconnect the van from the vehicles power supply they don't work at all, either forward or back ward so to solve the problem I just choc the wheels every time I stop. Maybe some one out there can tell me what my problem is as I haven't got a clue.

It would appear the tension you create by applying the handbrake lever isn't being transferred to the brake shoes. They should work exactly the same as the magnets do because they are operating exactly the same components.
In your case it isn't operating the system.
Something may be incorrectly assembled or the levers operated by the cables are seized or hitting stops and not able to apply the shoes to the drums.

Are the shoes correctly adjusted??? If not the handbrake system will move a long way and possibly not apply the brakes at all.

Also possible the cables have stretched a bit and need adjusting.

The "some people" gave you incorrect advise. With a correctly adjusted handbrake, the shoes should lock onto the internal drum surface and stop movement in either direction.

What sort of chocks did you use ?

If they were the wedge shape ones, then the wheels were on a hill, and the force needed to stop the van rolling down the hill would be a lot greater than if the chock was the type with indentations in them..

You should not rely just on the brakes.....think what would happen if the handbrake cable broke while you were asleep ??

The hand brake on my caravan is a very inefficient piece of equipment.
If I forget and leave it on, my vehicle will move it in either direction, without a grunt.
I never rely on it and always chock the wheels if on unlevelled ground.

Hi jack one wheel up at the time pull the brake on then check if you can turn the wheel,maybe only one is adjusted or none are right.
As far as brakes working better one way or the other is they work better in the forward motion not the rear.
Cheers hope this helps

"some people" are full of BS!

Thankyou to everybody who replied very much appreciated.
Hey Krooznalong do you want to finish off your statement or thats all you got.
Cheers
Humpback

The hand brakes on our old Chesney wind up worked both ways. And the same wit the hand brake on the Tvan we tried out recently. They worked well both ways.

Its a sad intitement on the trailer business that a simple hand brake can not be trusted.

Some you would wonder why they would even bother to put a lever there they are soo piss B&@#y poor.

But hand brakes on some full and complete vehicles subject to rigorous regulation and testing work poorly......some landcrusers are famous for being poor.

Tell me.......how many of you would trust your hand brake alone to hold your car on a steep hill.....don't they teach us in driving school to put the vehicle in gear or in park and face the wheels into the curb.

Never trust your hand brake unless it has proven to be effective and reliable.

As for some reasons and some things to be aware of.

Hydraulic hand brakes can be very efective......that is why they are used on rally cars...they can be made to lock down hard with little pressure.......but there is the issue of leaking down......if the seals are getting a bit sad, it is a very real expectation that the fluid can leak past the seals and slowly release the brakes.

Hydraulic brake seals where never designed to have continuous pressure on them.



Cable brakes on trailers generally are very poorly installed in deed.
They are typically mechanically crude in every way.
Chief amoneg the short commings are both the cheap and nasty cable used and the single cheap wire rope grips.

If you read any of the rigging texts, you will note that wire rope grips should never be used singly....because they are prone to slip.....and the smaller the cable the more grips the more required to get an effective grip......on small cables the mininum recomendation may be as many as 5 rope grips per joint..and this is proper rated rope grips and not cheap crappy hardware shop grips.

Anybody who has used these pieces of rubbish under load will know they slip.

Then there is that wire rope, that I would not consider adequate to string my clothes line.
It stretches and because it is hard and coarse stranded, it gives the cheap rope grips no help.

A very few of us, bother to get some decent load rated wire rope and swage the eyes......even less bother to fit thimbles in the eyes and shackles at the brake levers.

Then there is the matter of adjustment......

AHH and there is a little trap.....because the brake wires do not follow the same path of the springs, the brake tension typically varies with suspension travel.
Often, as the suspension travels down the braking pressure is increased as the suspenion rises the breaking pressure is reduced.

so here is one trap......so you snug up your cable hand brake......then you wind the jacks up on the van.....the suspension rises and the hand brake lets go.



Then there are some weirdo brake shoe arrangements......many trailer brakes are twin leading shoe arrangements, that use mechanical advantage from forward motion to force the shoes harder into the drums......they are far less effective in reverse than forward and untill there is motion..or at least a tendancy for motion there is no advantge and poor braking.

Oh and if you have brakes off certain passenger cars fitted to your trailer or van ( as was common in the 50's, 60;s and 70's......there where a few vehicles that only operated one of the two brake shoes as a hand brake.


Yes I could go on......but you get the idea.....DON"T trust your hand brake unless it has proven effecive.....AND...then only long enough for you to get some properly adequate wheel chocks front and rear of the wheels.

cheers