850 Handbrake

[lynturk92]

I was hoping that someone with some experience could advise on the direction the toothed wheel in the hub for adjusting the handbrake should be turned.
I was assuming that turning it upwards would tighten the pads but hoped someone could advise.
Thanks in advance. Hope to have a functioning handbrake by tomorrow.

[volvo again]

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart..._Adjusting.htm

This should help.

[lynturk92]

Brilliant, exactly what I was after, thanks for your help.

[DaveNP]

We've been round this a few times before, but, what that Pelican guide doesn't tell you is that you need to go into the centre console first and fully slacken the handbrake cables before you adjust the shoes and then once you've got the shoes right go back and retension the cable, just releasing the lever doesn't slack the cable off enough.

[SwedishBus]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

We've been round this a few times before, but, what that Pelican guide doesn't tell you is that you need to go into the centre console first and fully slacken the handbrake cables before you adjust the shoes and then once you've got the shoes right go back and retension the cable, just releasing the lever doesn't slack the cable off enough.

Even slackening the cables does not always work. Sometimes you need to get the disc/drum assemblies off, and make sure that the expander unit really is pulling the inner cable right back to the stop within the expander body.

Given the general hassle of doing this, it's worth going the whole hog and removing the shoes to allow the expander to be cleaned and greased properly with a Castrol PH grease or equivalent, so that the expander arm can pass through the body as smoothly as possible. This also allows the inner cable to be pushed and pulled manually from the backplate end of the handbrake cable, and that allows you to asess whether the inner cable is sticking or not.

I have found that the expander unit and the shoe return-spring setup is not very tolerant to friction anywhere, and this soon prevents the handbrake from working properly. If the handbrake system keeps playing-up time and again, then the only realistic way of fixing it all is to fit new cables, or find some stronger return springs to go between the shoes.

HTH.