Club 80-90 Forums

Has anyone considered moving their handbrake before?

My icebox would fit snuggly between the cab seats if it weren't for the handbrake. Can they be moved relatively cheaply?

Cold can of beer for anyone that helps!

Ta muchly,

you want to move the hand brake ...for a cool box?

get a cool box that fits!


answer is no to the cheap moving

forget the icebox between the seats.you dont want to be messing with the position of the handbrake lever.

re engineering a saftey device.. cheap.......

Put a brick under wheel

Can I have Stella please


On a serious note.....

....Dont go there

You can put the lever whereever you like as long as you have enough cable, and it works as it did before, the main issue is finding a secure place witin reach of the driver for it to be re-mounted, and then welded into place, lets face it its only a cable which needs to be pulled and locked into a holiding position

A KIRK wrote:You can put the lever whereever you like as long as you have enough cable, and it works as it did before, the main issue is finding a secure place witin reach of the driver for it to be re-mounted, and then welded into place, lets face it its only a cable which needs to be pulled and locked into a holiding position

True, but it also becomes a modified vehicle and your insurance would want to know about it.

bigherb wrote:

A KIRK wrote:You can put the lever whereever you like as long as you have enough cable, and it works as it did before, the main issue is finding a secure place witin reach of the driver for it to be re-mounted, and then welded into place, lets face it its only a cable which needs to be pulled and locked into a holiding position

True, but it also becomes a modified vehicle and your insurance would want to know about it.

Your MOT tester could be interested too

Of course you would have to notify insurance company, same as you would have to if you fit alloys etc.

MOT man won't care providing hand brake is secure, safe and the the hand brake performance isn't reduced in any way.

Thing is anything is possible, but comes down to your confidence or how much money you have to pay someone else to do it.

Certainly not something you can bodge though

Not exactly many places you could mount it either - unless you go the 1920s route and mount it on the footplate. You'd need to be damned fast on the window winder if you had to apply it in a hurry though...

Just a thought, but could a Bay handbrake be modified? They run through the dash. My ol' man used to have an old diesel merc with the same type of handbrake, so there may be variants on a theme that may be slightly different sizes.

Surely you'd have to skewer it through your radio (or somewhere close by)...

How about mounting a bay handbrake diagonally against your central console, allowing you to simply pull up the handbrake from your left knee upwards?

Not sure if you'd have enough space between the edge of the footwell & your clutch pedal.

Its still one heck of a lot of work just for a cool box though. Whats wrong with pulling over?

Technically you shouldn't eat or drink at the wheel anyway. I made an insulated buddy seat for my Caravelle that will keep things hot or cold - very lightweight and I can stash my frozen stuff in there when I go to supermarkets. Theres also those 12v chillers that hold a couple of cans of drink on a hot day. They work very well and take up no space at all - great for long journeys.

Just a quick note , you can not take anything out of the cool-box while driving cos the LAW will have you if they see you doing it and they have nothing better to do that day , so stick it in the back and then when you park up stick it in between the seats .
If you still wish to move it then have a look at a LHD LT , mine is on the left between the seat and the door , works perfectly , and sometimes as you exit the van .... pokes you up the bum , you could look at a merc's foot parking brake

If you fancy some cannibalisation then I used to run one these things ...



It had a T-grip handbrake that came up from just below the dash board next to the steering wheel, I had to take off and seem to remember the mounting bracket had only about 4 bolts to hold in place ... though where you'd find one these days is beyond me, they were as rare-as back then!

Came across this on Ebay by accident ... was listed as a "Mitsubishi VW T25" ... a new one on me but at least it shows the handbrake affair