How to replace your handbrake cable

[matthew1]

Replace Handbrake Cable 850, S70, V70, XC70, C70 (first generation).

Thanks to Johann we have this excellent tutorial. If you perform this and have comments, please add them to this thread.

Thanks

[holler1]

Excellent tutorial and photos. I need to replace my handbrake and have one question. Can you pinpoint the place on the inside of the car where the cable goes through the floor? I looked under the rear seat and don't see it. Do I have to take the seat all the way out or just fold it up?

[Johann]

the cables are going through the rear floors, you won't have to remove any seats, maybe just lift the carpets. But if you push in the cables from the outside, they will come through to the rear of the console.

[terrencekeenan]

Johann,
hope you're still around. I have the same year and model as you. I've got e-brake troubles: shoes, and I think the cable. I've disconnected the cable on the console and try to pull it through the back, but it seems bound up. Did you have a hard time pulling your cable through?
-Terry

[CarVolvo]

Maybe i can help answer both of the obove questions.

The cable snakes around the floor of the back seats and comes out towards the outside... just look under the car and you will see where they are coming out. You do have to move aside bothe the carpeting and the underpadding to see it.

You cant just pull out the handbrake cable without tracing the wire in the back seat and removing the ..lets call it the big rubber gromet which holds it in place.. kinda reminds me of a mini CV boot. You have to push grommet though the hole to get the cable loose. The cables are also tied near the console just around the seat belt holders under the carpet.

Hope that helps!

[steveartz]

In other words... pay the dealer to do it. If you have to ask, you can't do it.

[terrencekeenan]

That's what the forum is for - not for pro-mechanics like yourself, but people with up to no experience who want to do things themselves. I went to a non-dealer, and was quoted almost 500 on the job. Way too much. I did the job w/o ever having done anything similar. It took me about 6-7 hours. The cable was stuck in there from corrosion. You just have to tug - a lot. The only hard part are the springs holding the shoes together. Tug tug tug, and they finally go on. Needle-nose vice grip helps.

[meine39]

I did this repair a couple of months back - rather than tugging on the cables to remove them, I took a pair of bolt cutters to the cable (WARNING - ALL TENSION HAS TO BE REMOVED FROM CABLES FIRST - handbrake in the down position and the cable ends removed from the handbrake equalizer, and the rear emergency brake shoe assemblies completely removed) and cut it in half somewhere between where the cable exits the floorpan and enters the rear brake assembly - I did this after drilling out the rivet and removing the torx screw that mounts the old cable on the rear suspension.

Kind of a 'take no prisoners' approach, but you're replacing the cables anyway. That made it easy to pull the cable into the interior, and also allowed me to easily remove the cable from the rear brake assembly (my cables were pretty well frozen).

Also, a reassembly tip - before replacing the rear rotors, I took a can of bright orange spray paint (the kind that contractors use to mark the ground for digging and such) and marked the location of the star wheel adjuster on the backing plate - this helps tremendously in locating the star wheel adjuster with a screw driver through the locating hole in the rotor when the rotors are back in place.

You don't need to use spray paint - it just happened to be on my bench when I was doing the job - a bottle of the wife's nail polish (maybe some of that bad bright orange stuff she doesn't use anymore ) would work as well, eliminating overspray worries and allowing a little (ok a lot!) more precise marking.

[mannie]

I am sorry! but I can not see the pictures, where are they?

[matthew1]

Here it is: Replace Handbrake Cable. Sorry! URL changed.