Jon,
I never used to park the 4200 with the handbrake on in the garage, unless I was out of course then you have to..!! I still used to get the crack off with the brakes when first moving off, i think this was the pads as you brake and come to a standstill and if you have a tiny rust film on the discs overnight, this will do it..!!
Frank,
Handbrake I always pull on for a few seconds when moving slowly, two or three times, this cleans the shoes and the inner edge of the braking surface..!! Your issus sounds like the cable is not pulling on the shoes enough..!! If you have cleaned the shoes and the surface and it still does not bite, then it sounds like a cable issue to me, it is a simple system but every part has to work..!! Have you taken the drums off and pulled on the handbrake to see if you get full travel..??
Cheers
R
Jon, drop the rear wheels off and adjust each side set of shoes with a screwdriver as discussed and back off enough to just have no contact, put the rears on again and jack the near side front and back. Jerk the handbrake several times quite violently to settle and balance the cable then from the left side go under the mid-rear side of the car (around the back of the doors) and find the adjuster for the cable, with a couple of large adjustables you can tighten the slack out of the cable so that 1 click gives light contact and three is fully on. Remember to regularly apply for a few seconds (10 seconds) at low speed (20 mph) to keep the friction surfaces in tip top condition.
Responding to post 53 P.
Stated it felt like the hand brake was sticking despite not being used. In this wet weather you can find the brake pads sticking giving a similar effect