Hi guys, hope everybody’s having a good week so far.

The parking brake on the 73 1.7 car has always been extremely stiff, and when I pulled the cover in the cockpit today here’s what I found. From doing some research I believe these are supposed to be even as opposed to skewed to one side, is that correct?



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Thanks!

Mine is offset and it works fine. I don't remember my high school German, but my equalizer bar was stamped "oben" on one side. I installed it "up".

You need to start isolating components. Does the brake drag? Or is it just hard to pull the lever?

Hi - thanks for the response. Rear brakes drag and the level is difficult to pull up (or retract).

The handle has a bushing. Probably not that.

The cables can rust and cause binding. (They could be adjusted too tight as well.)

And don't get me started on the rear calipers. I would pull the cables off the rear caliper levers and see if it changes. A lot of people don't use the parking brake (any car, any year), and that lack of use can let things corrode. You could be in for a rear caliper rebuild. Probably good preventative maintenance anyway.

There are adjusters with lock nuts on each cable under the car. Make sure the lever on each caliper is going all the way out when the brake is off.

Thanks for the responses, let me get her up in the air and take a look.

Thanks!

The piece with the hooks needs to pivot freely with the cables disconnected. The cables need to move smoothly in their respective tubes.

I would go through the whole mechanism to get everything clean and moving freely. I'd start by disconnecting the cables from the equalizer bar and pulling them out of the tubes from the engine side. Then run a wire tubing brush through the tubes to get the gunk out. Then, disconnect the cables from the cables and check that the cables move freely back and forth through the sheething. The get old and rusty, especially if the bellows seals on the ends are missing. Finally, go through the components in the cockpit, making sure the equalizer bar pivots freely as was already suggested, and the handle moves freely. My bet is on a binding cable, crap inside the tubes, or both. I have a left side cable that looks terrible but is functional you can have for the cost of postage if you are interested.