Hand (parking?) brake Issue

[themfc]

Hello All,

I have a question for the experts. I have a 98 Passat with manual transmission and just last Friday the hand brake decided that it had had enough.  

The handbrake will not remain up when I pull it up. The brake itself works, just not the mechanism to hold in up position. I dis-assembled most of the center console between the seats but had trouble with one part.

I suppose that there are 4 main parts to this console: 1. handbrake itself, 2. gear-shifter and cover, 3. front part of console (with ash-tray / lighter), and 4. rear part of console (including elbow-rest). I can strip out everything but I cannot move the rear console part over the hanbrake itself and hence remove completely. Is there a way to strip the handbrake cover so that I can slide the rear console over it to remove? I know that there is the button mechanism to release the fuel-cap but that has plenty of cable and is not restricting removal of console.

Has anyone ever stripped this center console and how did they do it? Anyone ever have any trouble with this mechanism for holding up the handbrake and what did they do to fix? Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Michael