Emergency Brake needs service Topic is solved

[June]

They fail when they aren't used regularly, as about 90% of men and 50% of women fail to use the ebrake.

Well, it is not used because on an automatic transmission it is basically useless.

Apart from that, any area in the line that needs to be lubed or greased?

Alex

This is not true on a front wheel drive automatic. If the car is at all on a incline all the vehicles weight is resting on the engine mounts and transmission parts which I understand some FWD transmissions have chains internally or so both reasons were given to me at the purchase of the 1986 Buick Park Avenue I bought new.

Also from a safety standpoint the car is less likely to cause injury or damage if accidentally knocked into gear. I guess I am one of the 50% who always uses the emergency break. June

[Metallo]

Hi all,

Today I have replaced the shoes on both sides.

The dealer was right with his diagnosis on the left side, in fact on that side both linings were detached.





Instead on the right side, I found the shoes were basically new, not genuine but those from Professional Parts, however they were shoes for the XC90 and not the XC70, they are flat on the top, so I replaced them with the original and new hardware on both sides.

Now the main problem.
Before doing the job, the handbrake was pulling up for about 4" without any resistance and then eventually started to hear the click of the teeth.
Once I replaced the shoes, I realized that the rotors were very hard to be pushed in.
I located the adjusting screw and started to turn it counter clockwise (unscrewing) so that I could narrow the two shoes, I got the expected result and the rotors could fit, but when pulling the handbrake it is now without any resistance for 5" (an you can actually lift the handbrake lever for 2" without any resistance at all, very loose).
Vice-versa, if I turn the adjustment screw clock wise (to tighten), the handbrake pulls as it should (you can hear the click of the teeth almost when you start to pull the handbrake) but I can no longer put the rotors in because the shoes are too far apart.

In a bicycle it is easy to resolve, but here... how do I tight the cables do that I get the right tightening strength on the handbrake and I am able to put the rotors in? There must be another adjustment somewhere or perhaps the cable needs to be greased?

Thank you!
Alex

[abscate]

You loosen the screws, install the rotor, then tighten the screws to spec the handbrake lever. I'll look up the P2 hand brake spec and post

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[Metallo]

Thanks Abscate, but I have VIDA and can see those instructions, my point is that the handbrake is very very loose before it gets to click on the first tooth and to me this is not normal.

On the other hand, I do not see any sort of adjustment screw on the shoes themselves.

Alex

[Metallo]

OK, finished, assembled and went for a test drive.
I drove at 30km/h and then slowly pulled the handbrake till the car stopped in order to allow the shoes to bed in the brake drum.

I went back home, lifted the car again, and fine tuned using the adjustment screw.

While spinning each wheel and pulling up the handbrake:

The left wheel brakes at the second ratchet tooth.
The right wheel brakes at the fourth ratchet tooth.

I do not know what else to do, the adjustment possibilities are very limited and cannot explain why one wheel brakes before the other.
I can only think that the equalizer (that metal part that links the single cable and allows to hook the two cables left/right) may not be balanced but I guess there is not much I can do.

It should be OK to pass the motor inspection now, but I'd like to have the two wheels braking together rather than one before the other.

Alex

[abscate]

Alex ,,I think if you go up a page in VIDA there is a check of the component parts in each wheel described? Does that all look ok?

[Metallo]

Yes it does, also because there are not many parts involved, at least at wheel level.
I will leave it as it is as I very rarely use the handbrake so hopefully it will now pass the inspection.

Thank you for your assistance during this 'trip'

Alex

[DrDan]

Hi Alex,

There's a part that can be retrofitted to allow adjustment of the handbrake. Here's an article describing the part. It's in German, but the pictures should make it clear: http://www.skandix.de/de/aktuell/handbr ... olvo/1631/.
Volvo part number is 30793437 and 30793438.
I have no personal experience with this part, but it might be helpful to adjust each side individually. Maybe others have used the adjuster and can comment. Good luck with the inspection!

Daniel

[jbeebo]

honestly it sounds like it's working perfectly. When the ebrake handle is all the way down there should be some slack in the cable, as you want the brake shoe springs to fully retract the shoes from the drum when the brake is not engaged. If there's any tension in the cable, the springs probably won't pull the shoes from the surface. 2-4 clicks to engage them is perfect adjustment.

Don't worry about the spin test you did. Remember the objective here is not to get the L & R to stop perfectly evenly. This is a e-brake, 99.9999% of the time it's job is to lock the wheels (provide huge friction) while stationary. If you need to use the ebrake to do a real emergency stop, you'll be yanking on the handle pretty aggressively anyhow; this will not be a finesse maneuver.

If this will make you batty then DrDan has a good suggestion. Use those parts or perhaps make a hybrid system using e-brake adjuster mechanism from a 2001-2004 rear brake system. Might need to take the backing plates off the donor car too. Not sure anyone has tried this so you'd be forging new ground. An adjuster will equal the gap L to R so the shoes will engage the drum on both side evenly.

[Metallo]

Hi folks,

Today I had the motor vehicle inspection and the car passed the severe controls they make at the Volvo dealer.

Thank you all for your help, as always.

Alex