Hi and good morning!  

 

Recently did my front brake pads on 1982 Leone.  I managed to find a guy who knew to turn the pistons, rather than compressing them (I broke a c clamp trying that).  all good with the main brakes now... however:  The parking brake lever located on the caliper was shifted all the way to the front when I re-installed it (strange setup, by the way).   I have almost no pressure on the hand lever now... it kind of goes halfway at low tension, clicks, and loses all tension.  (though it does hold a bit - i think one side is working while the other is not.)          my question - does anyone here know what the trick is to these strange parking brakes?  how do i get it working properly again!!   thanks,

Are you saying that you broke a c clamp on one on your car now? That would ruin the parking brake system in that caliper.

       i broke a c clamp, but not the caliper... brakes work fine, i'm just wondering how to re-set the parking brake lever that sits on the caliper 

just reading through the manual i turned up... "  do not push the piston into the caliper bore without rotating it or damage to the handbrake spindle may occur"

 

OK wish I had seen that before.  But i've still got hope that its just an adjustment thing... still hoping for any advice on correct adjustment of the crazy front parking brake system

It sounds very much like the handbrake adjuster screw / spindle has been damaged.  It is inside the piston, so the entire caliper must be disassembled to inspect it.  I am not sure about parts availability.  Other than getting a used or rebuilt caliper.

I agree that the handbrake mechanism is most likely damaged. Look on Rock Auto or eBay for cheap rebuillt calipers, I got mine for less than $30 each and have had no issues and no mucking around getting them to work!

 

The idea that the handbrake mechanism is unusual or strange is not really true when you consider its design and operation is very similar to the rear disc brakes of many cars. The only difference is the handbrake is on the front wheels.

hah, thanks guys.   I'm going to take it apart this weekend when i have some time... flip that lever around (i'm pretty sure i had it in the wrong position when i re-installed)  and if it still wont work, will have to look into replacement caliper.   I still don't quite get how exactly how this spindle would get damaged... maybe a thread got mashed when i tried to compress the cylinder?  anyway i'll take a look

Exactly. The spindle thing is threaded. So that the handbrake compensates for the pad wear. If it got crushed bent, it could cause the no brakeing. The fsm warns against forcing the piston. If the lever isn't right, maybe assembly error, or maybe crunched up spindle.

Exactly. The spindle thing is threaded. So that the handbrake compensates for the pad wear. If it got crushed bent, it could cause the no brakeing. The fsm warns against forcing the piston. If the lever isn't right, maybe assembly error, or maybe crunched up spindle.

The rear calipers with parking brake in them that I have taken apart would never cause a no brakes situation of the rod was messed up by someone pushing the piston back in wrong.  It's just not possible on the ones I have been inside of.

 

If the fronts on the Subaru are of similar design then the OP has nothing to worry about as far as brake loss goes.

It is entirely possible that the rear ones are different. I am mostly going by what the fsm specifically warns about, as I have never tried to force one back in. For clarity, I'll add that by "no brake" above I was referring only to the parking brake, not the driving brakes.

On a 82 brat i had the drivers front piston wouldn't screw back in so i took the caliper off and put it in a vice. Then i gave it a few good hits with a hand sledge and a piece of rod. It hit back in pretty good so i put it back on and everything worked like it should.

re: turbosubarubrat...    yeah,  i was able to compress the left side (was really tough!)  but broke the c clamp trying the right side!     i think the side i forced is still working, which is why i have hope that i simply didn't adjust the parking brake lever properly on right side re-install;   the guy who showed me how to turn the cylinder in cranked the lever all the way over, and i don't think i cranked it back enough.   will find out more on saturday ; )    whats up with the lever... should it be all the way forward, or all the way back, on re-install?

In my opinion it's probably fine. Regarding the slop in the cable, ensure the cable isn't snapped somewhere, make sure your bracket is on right, and then under the coin holder (plastic trim between the seats) there's a way to adjust the slack on the lever handle.