Yep - did the unthinkable, and drove with the hand brake on.
We were in the city where I never go and the tension built up and we were going up the wrong street using the wrong lanes... 3T lanes, bus lanes we did it all.. LOL
Parked to yell at each other (meant to be a nice night away from the kids.) and ended up driving with the hand brake on... not far, a good few K but enough that it no longer works.

Looked under the car but I cant see FA - 1989 convert.

Ok - looked at some posts about pads been ripped off.. where do i start..?
Annoyed is an under statement, I will never go in to the city again.!
We went to see the America Cup and a concert... not worth F'n the handbrake.

 

Get the cage down and fix it!

 

If that pads are just a bit worn and still present, try applying the handbrake (hard) and removing it a few times. There is a self adjuster that is supposed to move the adjusting arms to compensate for pad wear. Usually they seize over the years, but you might get lucky.

On an 89 the pads are up high next to the differential, where the disks are, you won't see anything until the car is jacked up and you get underneath. I can't remember if the XJS is like the earlier models, but on those there is a large screw that is used to be a the coarse adjustment of the pad to disk clearance. You might be able to screw it in a bit and get some braking action back. Or just carry a brick to use as a parking brake.

The pads are small, and if the worse has happened and the pad material has come off it's backing plate, then Greg's advice is good - drop the whole IRS and overhaul the handbrake mechanism properly. It seems daunting, but it's not actually that bad to do, especially you don't have rust. Allow half a day the first time, but once you get experienced you can have the IRS out in 45 min. I can guarantee if you try and repair the handbrake in place there will be outbreaks of Tourettes....

 

Duke
Jagboi wrote: "I can't remember if the XJS is like the earlier models, but on those there is a large screw that is used to be a the coarse adjustment of the pad to disk clearance. You might be able to screw it in a bit and get some braking action back. Or just carry a brick to use as a parking brake."
There is the large adjuster, held in position by a split pin. The problem is that it is extremely hard to remove the split pin, axle in car; and even more hard to replace the pads axle in car. But I 100% agree, get under there and see if the pads are still in place. Also, I have often thought about wiring a buzzer to the handbrake switch somehow; but have not done it as now my handbrake is bulletproof and if left on, the car will clearly be held back. The circuit is a bit complex including the brake light tester as it does, but it would be well worth experimenting to try it, I believe, short of my permanent solution. In my case it was the handbrake test on the bi-annual inspection that twice tore the pads off. It is, just, possible to do this without removing the cage, BUT as so much has to be undone, and as for the first time you do it particularly it is doubly hard, I honestly believe removing the cage is the best option. Reassembly of the handbrake caliper and the pads-off fork is also VERY tricky axle in car. Cage out, you can do it all far quicker and almost certainly far better, and no wishbone or driveshaft unbolting is required. In the pics below, I managed it, axle in car; but only because all the fixings etc etc were new and had recently been undone as part of my rear axle rebuild, and I just needed to check the handbrake mechanism to ensure all well - which i had forgotten to do earlier.
The first pic shows what access looks like even with the driveshaft removed:

Access with the driveshaft, front shocker and lower wishbone disconnected

Access with exhaust disconnected. showing caliper in the process of being unbolted. Note the lower wishbone has to be swung right down to get the disc off. The large adjusting screw and split pin is visible at the top of the handbrake caliper

Caliper in the process of being wriggled free

 

Stock the beer fridge.

Cage out, fix it properly, and enjoy.

I NEVER use the handbrake, even after the refurbish, the "P" works just fine in all mine.

OK, in NZ and the lack of flat ground, maybe using it would be a good idea. Park Pawl and hilly parking, NOT a good match.

 

My gearbox man did that and it pulled the pads off there backing plates. You will be best to drop the whole subframe down. Not a bad job if you have decent Jack's and tools. But don't expect that you will only need pads
I have now fitted a buzzer to remind me when it's on.

 

How did you wire it up please, Rex?

 

Just for the record is is 100% possible to remove the handbrake calipers without dropping the rear cage. Not pleasant, especially if you're working on your back, but possible. If you remove the tie plate the handbrake calipers can be 'rolled' towards the rear of the car and dropped out thru the bottom

Cheers
DD

 

Duke, I "liked" your post, not for your unpleasant experience, but for the way you told the story.

I'm a bit sorry that my first thought was, I hope this doesn't put you off the Jag...

 

Hi Dukejag,

Sorry to hear your tale. Self inflicted damage is the worst - I know having stove in the passenger door panel of my immaculate Triumph Spitfire trying to put it into the garage in the dark many years ago.

My own XJS lost a handbrake pad. The friction material is very small (see picture) so I guess there is not much area to bond it to the backing plate. A Jag specialist replaced the full set with everything insitu. The mechanic said he knew just where to put his fingers having done so many but from the comments on here it sounds like cage out may be best for a first timer. I was also advised to use only genuine Jaguar pads as some of the others debond quite easily.

The only other advice I can offer is that New Zealand makes some excellent wines. Have a glass (or two) and it won't seem quite so bad - works for me anyway.

Good luck,
LeeP

 

What do you mean? Locking wire?

 

No, how did you electrically wire your warning buzzer.

 

Ok - so its cage out.... great. Thanks all for your responses.
The car is on ramps, I do not think it would be a good idea to try and remove the cage while on ramps... thoughts?

I need to start thinking about this, it will be a winter job, so I will be driving with no handbrake until then.
Jacking up the rear, will blocks be ok to stop the front wheels? I was thinking of a couple of large pieces of angle iron on a plate, I could even bolt them to the floor so there is no way the car can move forward?

Parking on a hill without and hand brake using park, OK?

Regarding a beeper... can we use the handbrake switch and use it to turn on a relay / beeper?

 

Yes, a block of wood in front of the wheels is fine. I usually jack the rear of the car up quite high and put it on jackstands. The hardest part can be finding a solid place to put the stands, yet allow you to remove the radius arms. Then exhaust comes down, propshaft, handbrake cable and brake hydraulic line disconnected, ABS wiring if you have it and lower the cage down on a trolley jack. Balance point is further forward than you think, roughly at the forward edge of the bottom tie plate. Once lowered, I roll it out the side on the jack, rather that out the back. The car doesn't have to be as high that way. In the photos, I have the car on a bridgejack, not on stands.

If you're parking on a steep hill, the usual procedure is to turn the wheels and let the car roll to the curb, so that acts as a natural chock, then into park. Moderate slopes, park is fine.

I removed the IRS with the car on a hoist, and that actually made it more complicated to get the whole assembly out from under the car.

 

Thanks for the pictures, my ramps are not that stable.. I had to open a beer after looking at your pictures, looks scary as hell, but hey I was an engineer once and have the tools LOL
Like most things I find the hardest part is starting.. then you just get on with it!

I'm thinking on the ground - I have lots of axle stands and two trolley jacks, one small, one large.
Wife is already saying... sell the dam thing, how much will this cost , relax women !- piece ok cake, few beers, a few hours and a set of pads...good to go............ yea right!

 

all i remember is one of the 3 wires on the h/b switch becomes either live or earth when hand brake is activated, I took a wire off that connection to activate a new relay and connected a 2 wire buzzer to the relay all on the floor under the seat, cant be more specific as it wasn't rocket science so didn't think to photograph or document it,

 

Duke
If you have no proper ramp that you can raise and lower the car on (as distinct from fixed ramps) then proceed as follows:

• chock front wheels solidly
• jack up the car under the cage plate (piece of softwood between the jack and the metal)
• Chock the rear in the air with jackstands under the rear jacking points
• remove wheels
• If not high enough, place wooden spacers under the jack and re-raise and re-chock the car
• disconnect all the things mentioned in the posts above
• it is best to undo the two long bolts that go through the chassis on each cage fixing, so that the four mounts are attached to the cage still when it is removed. Counter-intuitively the cage is far easier to reattach that way
• Wheels back on, lower jack, and wheel the axle out fro under. As someone also so sensible mentioned years ago, a skateboard or dolly under the nose of the diff makes this a doddle.

 

Just to give another glimpse of the task.....

After disconnecting all the 'stuff' I just lower 'em down with a floor jack and drag 'em out from under the car. They're not made of glass :-). The nose-heaviness makes them unwieldy, though, so be ready for that.



Cheers
DD

 

AH yes the wonderful Jaguar engineering at its best!

 

That's all you need. Doing it on flat ground is probably the easiest. I think most of the fasteners are 1/2" or 9/16", if you have a battery impact wrench that will make the job much faster.

If you have some rust (and I don't know what that is like in NZ) the most difficult part can be getting the radius arms off the body. What I have found to be the easiest is have a large pry bar to exert downward pressure on the arm, and then use an air chisel on the centre cup of the rubber mount ( not the cup on the body!!) and the vibration usually breaks it free. Plan on putting in new rubbers anyway if they are original.