Hand brake problem ('58 Beetle)

[cbbond]

Hey y'all:

I have a problem with the hand brake on my beetle (i.e., emergency brake). The two cables are fine, but the handle will not stay up.
You can stop the car with the hand brake, but the mechanism will not hold the handle up. I know I need to pull the device apart and adjust the inner parts. Do I need to adjust the rear brakes again with the back of the vehicle raised? All brakes were repaired recently (this repair caused the problem).

Any clues on how to repair this hand brake?

Please advise.

Thanks, Casey

[bluebug]

If the main brake pedal works well and is not spongy or low, you do not have to adjust the shoes.
What it sounds like is your pawl is not catching inside the hand brake lever. When you pull up do you hear the ratcheting noise or is it silent. If it is silent you probably have a bad spring on the pawl or it has come undone. At the base of the handle you will find a curved serrated plate the pawl is the small pointed thing that rides in the notches. It should be spring loaded against that serrated plate and when you push the button at the top of the handle the pawl should pull away from the serrated plate. Clark

[boschmann]

It definitely sounds like the ratchet has come undone. Just to try to elaborate on a difficult to describe proceedure the parts you are looking for are on the underside of the handle & you need to pull up the handle to see them & reset it. The curved plate with ratchet teeth is fixed to the floor pan & doesn't move, but the small pawl with teeth is attached to the handle and will flip out of position. There is a rod which runs inside the handle & goes to the button that you push on the end of the handle. This rod has a bend in the other end that the rounded end of the pawl goes into. You must lift the handle high enough so that the pawl will flip into the correct position and move the rod (using the button end) so that the pawl flips into the rod bend. Basically once the pawl is in the bend you push the button to fully seat it so that the pawl teeth will pass over the fixed teeth and you can lower the handle. Once you get the hang of it it only takes a couple of seconds to do. The reason it pops out is that either the rear shoes are out of adjustment or the park brake cables are out of adjustment, letting the handle come too far up. First adjust the rear brakes, then the cables. The handle should only come up 3 or 4 notches when it's right.

[bluebug]

You may want to diconnect the brake cables from the handle, then pull the handle up to get a better look at it.