Focus Mk1: Manual Handbrake Cable Setup Issue - Cable Too Short After 2 Years Unused?

Can the handbrake cable be contracted over time? I have a car that has been unused for 2 years, the cables have been removed from the terminals. Manual operation worked very well before unfastening. Now, after a while, I am not able to install the cable from the left side of the car despite the complete loosening of the adjusting screw and the swing of this wajhy at the hub, behind which the cable is to catch. I think she is missing even 4-5 cm. This cable from the other side of the car is 2-3 cm longer. I will add that the cable does not get stuck, if I push it from one side it slides out from the other side of the armor. How is this possible?

The armor sits in its place probably not.

The fact that the car has stood for 2 years has nothing to do with it. Put the armor in its place and it will be okey. Certainly the rusted nest and did not crawl completely. 4 ÷ 5cm is a lot.

Added after 1 [minutes]:

A colleague above advises you well.

piotrekwoj1 wrote:

The armor sits in its place probably not.

I mean, is it attached to the car floor?

Added after 4 [hours] 33 [minutes]:

So I decided to check everything carefully. I took these plastics from the armor on both links to see if they had gone too little. Here, one end of both lines, as you can see armor entered the same:


The other end, the same situation:


And here the length of the lines after maximum extension to one side:


As you can see one is about 2 cm shorter.

Now I don't quite understand what's going on. After all, I did nothing with these links, the brake once operated normally, the lines on this splitter for one line were of equal length. Has it shrunk? It's impossible.

PS Ignore my question in the previous post. I didn't get it

What about the manual lever? Maybe you contracted it when the links were unfastened and jumped out of their place. Have you looked there?

If you remove the bellows from the hand lever, under it is a nut to adjust the tension of the cables, unscrew, put on and only pull up the cables

SKM 1964 : the hand lever is of course fully lowered.
carrot : As I wrote in the first post, the nut is loosened as much as possible, it can not be more because it will fall from the thread. Despite the maximum loosening of this screw, this shorter cable cannot be attached to this "splitter" with 2 cables - it is too short.

It is unreal, since you write that it was ok, better make photos where you put the armor I mean the place under the floor and the calipers near the wheels.

piotrekwoj1 wrote:

It is unreal, since you write that it was ok, better make photos where you put the armor I mean the place under the floor and the calipers near the wheels.

It was ok, nothing was done with the cables, except for their disconnection from the "splitter" on one cable and from the fixings to the floor (better access for maintenance). I'm not an idiot and put them on properly, but ok - I'll take pictures.

It was 100% ok, before I had been driving this car for over a year, the manual one worked without a problem, and when I disassembled the cables, I remember that they only protruded themselves and were of equal length in the place where they connected when separated into one cable.

Added after 21 [minutes]:

I upload photos:
one wheel:



second wheel:


Where the lines come off:




now I noticed that even this longer line is a bit too short to put on this "splitter".

Added after 6 [hours] 33 [minutes]:

I shortened the wire armor with the saw blade, one by 3.5 cm and the other by about 2 cm. They are now of equal length. I have put together and for now everything is ok, manual works, the links are arranged evenly. The topic can be closed.

Don't you think this is very weird ?? It will definitely come out in the further use of the car.

Hello. This is not surprising, unless the cable has certainly shortened, armor after two years of non-use due to corrosion can be significantly extended.

The armor is already quite corroded in places, so maybe that's the reason. Perhaps it is simply a matter of not squeezing it for a long time - when you pull the hand - armor squeezes. It wasn't there for 2 years, so maybe it "relaxed" by a few centimeters.

jano720 wrote:

Hello. This is not surprising, unless the cable has certainly shortened, armor after two years of non-use due to corrosion can be significantly extended.

Maybe max 1cm but certainly not 4-5 as the owner writes.

Very well said. In my life I will not believe that 4-5 cm has corroded armor.

Since I have shortened as much as I wrote and it's ok, I think I didn't think of it. As I wrote - in my opinion, the armor due to the lack of squeezing for a long time just slightly "parted". For now, manual still works well. In any case, the problem is solved and the topic can be closed.