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Hand brake gaiter

robwlondon

robwlondon

Posting Guru
Found my hand brake gaiter was just a vestige, very miffed as this has only lasted 3 years. Got new one and its about 1/8" thick. No way will this flex like a gaiter, its more welly boot. fitted it and its stiff enough to hold the brake on! Cut it to let it work but no way is this a success. Plan is now to cut the whole rear away to leave a 1" flange then fit a flexible gaiter to that. I've orgered a "universaly hand brake gaiter" from e-bay which I hope I can join on to the front of the new one.
This is the old one after 3 years: 20191012_121043_resized.jpg
 
All rubber stuff seems rubbish regardless of brand. I tend to just treat them as disposable. They’re cheap enough. Keep meaning to get round to ordering a leather set though. Someone on eBay makes them for £30 for the set of three if I recall.
 
Agreed, thing is its not even a gaiter shape, no bellows bit to allow it to bend. If the £7 ebay one can't be adapted i think i'll make one out of some tarp sheet.
 
Out of interest have you tried turning it around vertically? I had one like that. It would actually hold the handbrake on. Although it looked symmetrical it wasn’t and fitted perfectly the other way up. You are also fitting it into the seat box so it’s not visible also I assume? You see loads fitted the wrong way round because it seems logical that the gaiter bit should be going ‘up’ the handbrake lever.
 
I got a new blue bag one recently. It too was very stiff, holding the brake on slightly. Till it broke. Lasted about 3 days. Seriously.

Gonna use the first 1/2" or so as a former and use a leather or vinyl (not sure what's in my grab boxes yet) to fashion another one.
 
The suede one on mine is still good after the same period, I bought a set on ebay which includes the hi-lo stick
 
I got my wife to make me one with some thick black vinyl seat covering material I had left over from recovering a motorbike saddle. It sticks out up the stick like a gearstick gator as opposed to how you'd normally fit the rubber ones so it's not exposed to any underbody crud. Same thing on the high low lever and both still fine after 5yrs, would never bother with any of the so called rubber gators out there. Before I was changing them every year!
 
I have a soft, undamaged original here. I'm wondering if the local seal manufacturer can make a supple replacement that won't fall apart like the Chinese replacements on the market??? Of course there would be tooling costs, but it may be a feasible solution?
 
Somebody on here had a similar conversation with a local silicone supplier if I recall. I believe the issue was the cost per unit and it didn’t go any further.

Worth asking though.
 
You could probably make your own out of castings and mouldings for much less than a manufactured cost if you didn't add in personal time. It's very easy to copy something in silicone or such on a low volume basis in a shed or garage. Lot's of youtube videos on the matter. It may even be worth buying a new hard as nails one as that may be more robust to cast from.
 
Intersting idea, I didn't find these in my searches, but £44 and you don't even get to see the handbrake one if is fitted the right way round!
 
I've always liked sowing - used to make my own motorbike seat covers, and I sowed up my own seat cover for the middle seat so I think I'll have a go at one of these. I 've got all the leather off a sofa that was getting dumped. Keep me busy in the long winter nights.....(if i can see to threadle the needle, a serious problem!)
 
Series 2 club forum used to have patterns you could down load to make them . I have a Range Rover boot on high low lever and made my own handbrake one from vinyl , seems to be lasting well the 2nd hand range rover one is starting to split now after about five years
 
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