mondeo

[evertonplum9]

what is reverse travel on parking brake lever

[fiesata]

If you mean RESERVE parking brake travel it depends on the model.

With drum brakes (early models) any more than 6-8 notches is usually too much and with disk brakes 4-6 nothches max assuming parking on a level road.

For MOT purposes they are looking for ''sufficient'' reserve and this can vary slightly depending on the testers opinion, basically for most cars this means 16% efficiency or better

[evertonplum9]

thank for yourhelp

[rojam]

From an MOT tester's point of view, it means if a handbrake just holds the car when the brake components (pads or brake shoes) are fully applied, and you can't pull the handbrake any further, it's classified as having no reserve travel and is a failure. How many clicks it has doesn't come into it, the cable could be poorly adjusted.

[fiesata]

You're right Rojam but although there is no actual number of clicks for the MOT this is because different braking systems by design should have different numbers of clicks when adjusted and working correctly - for example the old MK2 Escorts were correctly adjusted if they had 6-8 clicks where this would seem excessive on many other cars

[david1702198]

the efficiency of the handbrake is a different aspect of the lever travel. the efficiency or effort of the handbrake is measured on a rolling road and must = 17% of the vehicle design gross weight to pass, the lever reserve travel is a failure if the lever can be applied fully and doesnt go any further due to the centre console. you can still pass on handbrake effort and fail on reserve travel.

[rojam]

Now we're getting technical let's get some facts straight.
For david1702198
1) The handbrake effort needed to pass the MOT is 16%, not 17%. The handbrake effort can be less than 16% and still pass the MOT if both wheels operated by the handbrake lock up.
2) Design Gross Weight is only used for brake tests on Class VII MOT's, not for Ford Mondeo's which are Class IV. The data used to to calculate brake tests on Class IV MOT's is taken from a Brake Data Chart or by the figures given on the new computerised system. The new ATL test stations have brake rollers that weigh the vehicle being tested and calculate the effort automatically.
If no brake data is available then the tester will check to see if all the wheels lock up on a roller brake tester. Three wheels have to lock for the footbrake, and both for a handbrake to be able to pass, if lock isn't achieved to those standards he will use a decelerometer to check for brake efficiency .
3) Some cars don't have a centre console, the correct terminology is:-
When the brake is fully applied there is no possibility of further travel of the lever because the lever is
a) at the end of its working travel on the ratchet, or
b) fouling adjacent parts of the vehicle
4)The brake efficiency in an MOT test is most certainly not measured on a rolling road although many people call it that, it's measured by a brake roller tester. A rolling road is used to measure power output.

[david1702198]

rojam at the end of the day if the handbrake is operated and travels as far as to the point where it is at the end of the ratchet or impeded because of the centre console it fails for no reserve travel.

[rojam]

Exactly, but my point was that some of the 'facts' you gave out were not just slightly wrong, they were glaringly wrong.
The problem comes when you give information to complete novices, they take for gospel some of the answers that are given out. If you don't get your facts 100% correct, you're not really doing anyone any favours, even though you mean well.