shortening a handbrake cable

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Ghia15
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shortening a handbrake cable

Post by Ghia15 »

Hi all.

I am currently finishing my rear brake upgrade and the sierra handbrake cable, which I was told to buy by my poor eBay seller, is way too long.

Is there a strong enough way to shorten the cable by cutting a section out of it and rejoining it together.

Maybe a metal heavy duty crimp like they use to create loops at the end of cables?

Even if a quick fix for the weekend as need it to get to the pod on Sunday.

All the brakes bled up really well and the wilwood Calipers are the easiest Calipers to bleed. Once clear the air cannot get back in.

Really good pedal now and everything else is pretty much done. Last bit now.

Thanks
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Paul G
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Re: shortening a handbrake cable

Post by Paul G »

I had to shorten a Sierra handbrake cable when building my kit car - albeit for a drum brake. I carefully cut the cable at the required length using a very sharp chisel and wacking the cable when it was placed flat on an anvil. This gave a clean cut with minimal fraying. I then cut up an 8.8 hardness M8 bolt and cut it down until it was about 1/2 inch long and very carefully drilled a hole through the centre of it just big enough for the cable to fit in with about 5 mm protruding out the other side. I put the cable through, made sure it was exactly where i needed it to be and using a chisel (not so sharp as the first) I again laid it over the anvil and gave it two sharp wacks to crimp the remains of the bolt over the end.

It's been on there for 13 years now with no trouble but the main thing is measuring and marking - it must be in the right place otherwise you may run out of adjustment on the cable.
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Re: shortening a handbrake cable

Post by 340truck »

Tie a knot in it?
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