430 Handbrake

what do you mean by reduce the pull?? is it too hard too pull up? if so, it will ease up a bit over time. i wouldn't even dream of adjusting it yourself, go to the dealer.

 

Dave (probably dead or car is sold or wrecked),

I don’t think I’ve been in a car that didn’t have an underperforming hand-emergency-parking brake. They can put a man on the Moon, but they can’t make a parking brake that works effectively and consistently. Oh, well.

If your 430 parking brake takes more than about 5 clicks to even start working, it’s time for an adjustment. It’s more tedious than difficult. See Section G3.05 in the 430 Workshop Manual (The adjustment procedure is by itself in the chapter on brakes.); there is a nice picture of the turnbuckle. The manual is free, if incomplete, at ferraridatabase.com.

1. First, jack up the back of the car or raise it on a lift. Whatever method, the wheels have to be able to turn and the rear underbody cover has to be removed. I jack up the car using the rear jack pockets and a 2x4 block cut to fit the pocket. I put my jack stands on the A-arms as far inboard as I can. For this procedure the car needs to be high, about 16” at the underbody-diffuser joint.

2. Remove the underbody cover. It is fastened with 22 6mm screws with 10mm hex heads. While the cover is off, you can look for evidence of leaks or other bad things and wash it and recover all those sockets and screws you dropped when you were working in the engine bay from above.

3. With the parking brake lever all the way down (fully released) make sure both wheels turn freely. Pull the parking brake all the way up, then fully release. Then, pull the handle up just two clicks. The wheels should still turn freely.

4. From the left side cooling air intake (part of the left rocker panel), move under the car inboard about a foot. Look up at the car and you will see the adjusting turnbuckle in the middle of the parking brake actuating cable.

5. Using two 8mm open end wrenches, hold the barrel (long center part) with one wrench and loosen the two thin jamb nuts on either side of it. Note that one nut is left hand thread and the other is regular right hand. Move both nuts away from the barrel about ¼”. This process is made easier if you lightly attach a pair of vise-grips to each stud-end fitting (male-threaded parts crimped to the wire rope sections), leaving the handles hanging down; this keeps the wire rope sections from twisting with barrel rotation.

6. Turn the barrel to tighten the wire rope assembly. Get the tightness “about right”: closer to too tight than to too loose.

7. Fully release the parking brake lever. Try to turn both wheels. They should turn easily but with just a bit of drag. If they don’t turn your adjustment is too tight. If there is no drag your adjustment is too loose.

8. Engage the parking brake lever to two clicks. Make any adjustment to the barrel tightness setting.

9. While holding the barrel fixed with one wrench and leaving the vise grips in place, tighten the jamb nuts up against the barrel. They can be stripped, but make sure they are tight enough to not work loose with use.

10. Final-test the hand brake. Significant resistance should occur at 3 to 5 clicks at which point the rear wheels should not move even with a major effort to turn them. With the lever fully released, you should be able to turn the wheels with some ease but also feel a little drag. The drag should disappear with driving the car a bit.

11. Remove the vise grips. Inspect your work.

12. Replace the rear underbody cover. Engage the tongue in the front middle of the cover early in the replacement process.

13. Jack the car down and test drive.

Tom

 

I would hope that after nearly 8 years the OP managed to get it sorted....

 

Aldous,

Well, yes, but, just in case, I threw in the little note next to the salutation.

I haven't pulled the handbrake on any car (other than my own, of course), with any mileage on it, that didn't need at least a little adjustment. My 430 only has 7600 miles on it and the handbrake was near the top of its travel. So I adjusted it. I saw Dave's post and thought FerrariChatdom might benefit from my experience, even if Dave IS dead.

BTW, I have benefited from YOUR website, especially work with the Becker radio. I am installing the navigation capability. Also, thanks for the warning on the depth-of-insertion of the Becker radio removal keys (I have mine marked, now!!). The radio could probably be repaired after the short, but would never be the same.

Tom

 

As for me, I hope Dave (AND his car) are still alive and kicking.

...and well-adjusted.

 

I have a question on this thread. I have got everything sorted as described above, so no worries getting to the turnbuckle and following the procedure.

I found when I went to the turnbuckle that the nuts are right against it, ie, there is no screw thread showing outside the nuts to bring the cable further in to the turnbuckle.

So in order to tighten the overall system, does that mean I need to loosen the turnbuckle, slide it further at the caliper, and then do the turnbuckle adjustment procedure?

Or is there some other way to tighten it when its already fully tightened?

Thank you!

John

 

Perhaps look at the pad thickness of your ebrake on the rear calipers.

 

Mine has good pads and I have adjusted it so at 2 clicks the wheels are hard to turn. If on a hill I need to virtually get the lever vertical. It passes at Ferrari service. The 430 handbrake (and as I recall same as my old 360) is rubbish.

 

Thank you both for the info

Ebrake pads do look light, ill do that first

Driveway is a 10% incline and I can't leave it in the driveway in neutral without it rolling away....

I suppose I could leave it in gear, but always prefer the brake to hold the car, not the transmission

 

These are mine, not sure how much thicker new ones are, do these seem to need to be replaced? Thank so much Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Receives the new pads, they are basically a millimeters or two thicker, so is it that the cable has stretched and needs to be replaced? There are no screw threads left outside the turnbuckle.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

Thank you

John

 

Not what you asked, but I would certainly leave her in gear on a hill like that, especially with a V8 parking brake. Just remember to always put her in neutral before starting.

 

My dad taught me that one, always leave it in gear

With an inclined driveway though, I'd like to back it out of the garage, take pictures, let it warm up, so it's running, but can't leave it running in neutral on my sloped driveway while it's running

Not the end of the world, just would be nice to be able to do that

 

A bit tedious perhaps, but maybe snag a pair of wheel chocks? Back it out, shut off, ensure it's secure (or have someone waiting and forego shutting off), chock it, let it sit in neutral warming up.

Not the ideal solution of course, but quite inexpensive and gets the job done.

 

Thank you for the suggestion, that is what I do now. Its still a bummer and looks pretty lame.

I'm not concerned about the cost, and I can fix it, just not sure what I need to do to fix it, replace the cable? Or can it be adjusted somehow.

I'll give my nearby Ferrari dealer a call, perhaps they'll help.

I sometimes get parts from them.

 

Yeah it's not the ideal solution, by a long shot, but it's inexpensive and effective in a pinch.

PROBABLY would be better to replace the cable and start with new parts, but if the turnbuckle's position itself can be altered (i'm far from an expert) i'd start with that first.

relatively easy to sort out either way.

 

Thank you again for the suggestion. Just want to avoid purchasing unnecessary parts. Just bought pads and it wasn't that, so want to be sure before buying more stuff.

In case there is something simple.

So for now chocks while I do the struts, and underwear bands in the capote...that just kills me

 

If I’m visualizing correctly about what you are saying, it sounds like the parking brake cable has stretched and there is no more adjustment left.
I have a 2009 F430, so I’ll have to look at mine the next time I have the bottom panel off.
Please keep me posted about how difficult it was to cha FE the cable, in case I need to do mine in the future. Thx.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Darn I was under there recently and thought I grabbed a pic, but guess not

Well, there is no threads left to twist the turnbuckle tighter, this i can attest to.

Whether or not that means the cable is shot and needs to be replaced, I do not know, I was hoping someone has seen this and could share how they addressed it.

When I get sufficient info (hopefully from Ferrari or other), if in fact the cable does need replacing, I'll share outcomes.

Sounds like this is a relatively common problem but folks just deal with it being not tight/grabbing, I mean its easy enough to work around and I've certainly done so with cars in the past.

I'll report progress!