changed the rear pads yesterday and i have noticed today that when i pull the hand brake on the lever goes almost all the way to the top.

What have i done to cause this?

 

did you press the foot brake first before pulling the handbrake? are the cables still connected to the caliper? is the lever pulling the cable theres a pin that goes through under the lever that pulls the cable... have you moved any of the cables, crushed them with the jack????

 

Sounds like the cable has come off each caliper

 

the hand brake still works, just the lever seems to go much higher

 

There should be an adjuster that you can tighten the cable up with , it is to wheels near on the passanger side near where the cable connects to the cable from the handbrake .

 

You should have pressed the brake pedal a couple of times initially to set the pads and caliper piston before using the handbrake. Failure to do this can cause the handbrake internal mechanism in the calipers to self-adjust to the wrong position.

If you did not do the above, I would recommend removing the calipers, rewinding the piston and reset using the pedal beforehand.

Once the handbrake has been set to the calipers, then climb underneath and adjust the handbrake height accordingly. I normally set it so that 1 click just stops the wheel from turning when the wheel is turned by hand, but other people may have other opinions depending on preference.