hand brake problem on 80 series! is there a fix?

Ha!! I had an 80 series for about 10 years - and it is the only thing I dont miss about it!!!
My sister once borrowed it and woke up the next morning with it parked across the road. There are also numerous photos of them floating at boat ramps.....
I tried numerous times to fix it and spent a farirfew $$ doing so - but gave up in the end - when launching the boat I used 1st gear low, and kept it in gear whenever it was parked - but it did give me the bleep s!!!!

Google Autocraft at Geelong Vic as they do an upgrade that gets a lot of good writeups on landcruiser forums.

Peter Koning at Hoppers Stoppers has a kit to put the handbrake on the tailshaft at the back of the Transfer Case. It works very well.

Dick

Have you checked the brake pads inside the drum /disk and the drum itself , they get GLAZED and no amount of adjustment will give a decent grip ,roughen up the pads and deglaze the inside of the drum for starters.

How worn are the handbrake shoes?

I've had 4 Landcruisers now with a drum in rear disk handbrake, and I find they need a tighter adjustment than what the manuals say (tighten the star wheel up as tight as it will go, then only back it off 3 notches instead of the 8 notches it says in the manual).

They seem to loosen by themselves - they are usually loose by 10-15 notches when they don't work.Mine get adjusted every 10-15k.

Hi GN,
Hmm, Have you had a look inside the drum? They can over time clog up with crap/dust.
Is the hand brake lever coming to the end of it's travels? if so it maybe in need of new shoes or adjusting them out a bit more. a pretty easy job to do.
Sit her on stands, remove rear wheels, there is a rubber plug on the dics, remove it, spin axle till the hole is at the bottom. Insert a blade screwdriver and turn the toothed wheel a half turn, this will spread the shoes a bit more. Do this to both sides till you can just hear it scraping the drum. If you are keen, remove the disc brake assembly and clean out any crap, you will see how it all works by doing this.
This can take just over an hour to do. It may make a difference, As others have mention they are a PITA on the 80, and there are upgrade kits available for them.
I just recently adjusted mine, and it made a world of difference, I feel a lot safer now hand brake parked on a steep track now.
Hope this helps.
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put it in 1st gear when you pull up and if the slopes steep chuck it in low range
- never leave it running when you get out on a slope

- problem fixed

i havnt had a working hanbrake for many years and its never been an issue

"When you first apply, it feels like its tight and ok but if you apply a slight bit of forward motion, it does not hold in the least and then the lever is no longer tight and you can then pull it up another few clicks, it will then hold ok as long as you apply it quite hard. "

Put some new discs on it, the handbrake drum on the inside becomes conical in shape from wear and expanding application of handbrake shoes.

Brings back memories. Had ours looked at many times on our trip around oz. Was good for a week and that was it. 4 weeks before we sold it we finally got it fixed. It was funny cause we put it in for a service and the guy said "I fixed your hand brake for you". I thanked him and thought yeah right. Well the next week I rang him and thanked him and asked what he did. He did what is mentioned above. Everyone else just wound up the adjustment which only works short term.

Josh

GN
That's a known feature on the 80s and not much better on the 100s.
DONOT rely on your handbrake, particularly in the bush.
Cheers
Trevor