How do I adjust my Ducato hand brake so it is equal on both rear wheels?

I finally got the brakes sorted on the camper van. I took it to another garage near where I work and stood over them whilst they stripped it down and I took photos. I was shocked when they took the drums off and showed me that a rather large adjusting bar which is crucial to the brakes function was in fact missing. It is like 6 inches long and as thick as your finger and hardly something you might miss when putting the brakes back together with new parts. It is also impossible for that component to fall off if the brakes had been fitted correctly in the first place and most worrying that they found the thing behind the brakes shoes just rattling about. In short that could have killed us or indeed someone else had it jammed in the callipers. I watched them re-assemble the brakes and properly adjust everything and they have never felt better. It took them less than an hour start to finish and cost £40.

Well I thought about it and took the decision to go back to the garage who did the work in the first place plus allegedly did what ever and made them worse over five separate return visits and confront them with the evidence. The bloke was sweating like a paedophile on a school bus when I dumped the photos on the counter and asked him to spot the deliberate mistake. He was only too keen to reimburse me the £40 and asked if he could keep the photos. I imagine one of his incompetent mechanics will be lucky to still have a job right now and I hope he got a public flogging. One thing's for sure I won't be putting any more of my business their way and I will tell everyone I know not to use them too.

Baza
November 2010

You need to slacken the handbrake cable off then adjust the shoes through the rear wheel by removing a wheel bolt. If you remove a wheel bolt from each rear wheel then jack up the rear and look through the bolt hole using a torch turn the wheel until you see the adjusting cog inside the drum turn the cog until the shoes bind on the drum then back off a little once both sides are done adjust the cable to remove any slack.

Raz
November 2010