Sticking Hand Brake

[Billy Smalls]

Hi

Every other time, the handbrake is sticking on my 144. It sticks for 10 yards, sometimes 300 yards - then clicks down by the handbrake cross bar and it's fine. I've sprayed some grease onto what I can see but doesn't seem to have changed the situation.

Any ideas??

[john.wigley]

I've also experienced similar problems, Billy, not only on a 140, but also on all models using that basic design of handbrake - a small drum brake incorporated into the rear disc. It has always been more prevalent afte the car was parked for an extended period and / or in damp conditions, such as those that we are now experiencing.

My 'solution' is not to set the handbrake on my 745 unless legally required so to do. As my car is an automatic and most of the time I park on my own private drive, I find that in this case 'prevention' is better than 'cure'.

Kind regards, John.

[swedishandgerman]

I've had problems with each car I've owned with that type of handbrake set up with the small shoes inside a little drum. BMW 3-series that the shoes stick to the drums if you wash the car, dive in wet, leave it too long etc. Same on a Porsche Boxster. Completely USELESS handbrake on a BMW 5 series. On my V70 and my current XC70, they have a unnerving thing where they roll back an inch before the handbrake takes up. On the latter, there's an issue where the friction material is known to delaminate from the shoe and cause all kinds of problems including jamming up the hub at speed and ripping the hub apart. As well, unless, you add an adjuster from a Volvo 850, the only way to get anywhere near adjusting the handbrake properly is ona little nut on the end of the cable.

2 things: the only way to clean the friction material and the inside of the hub is to drive the car a few yards with the handbrake slightly applied. Otherwise, I'm concerned that your friction material is delaminating and jamming up the hub. I'd whip the disc of soonish and have a look inside there.

[Billy Smalls]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

I've also experienced similar problems, Billy, not only on a 140, but also on all models using that basic design of handbrake - a small drum brake incorporated into the rear disc. It has always been more prevalent afte the car was parked for an extended period and / or in damp conditions, such as those that we are now experiencing.

My 'solution' is not to set the handbrake on my 745 unless legally required so to do. As my car is an automatic and most of the time I park on my own private drive, I find that in this case 'prevention' is better than 'cure'.

Kind regards, John.

Thanks John - mine's an auto too, so I use the same rationale as you. Will the Parking 'gear' in an auto hold the weight of the car on a hill (lots of hills in Somerset!!)

Cheers

[Billy Smalls]

Originally Posted by swedishandgerman

I've had problems with each car I've owned with that type of handbrake set up with the small shoes inside a little drum. BMW 3-series that the shoes stick to the drums if you wash the car, dive in wet, leave it too long etc. Same on a Porsche Boxster. Completely USELESS handbrake on a BMW 5 series. On my V70 and my current XC70, they have a unnerving thing where they roll back an inch before the handbrake takes up. On the latter, there's an issue where the friction material is known to delaminate from the shoe and cause all kinds of problems including jamming up the hub at speed and ripping the hub apart. As well, unless, you add an adjuster from a Volvo 850, the only way to get anywhere near adjusting the handbrake properly is ona little nut on the end of the cable.

2 things: the only way to clean the friction material and the inside of the hub is to drive the car a few yards with the handbrake slightly applied. Otherwise, I'm concerned that your friction material is delaminating and jamming up the hub. I'd whip the disc of soonish and have a look inside there.

sounds common then - cheers Adam and happy new year mate

[swedishandgerman]

Originally Posted by Billy Smalls

sounds common then - cheers Adam and happy new year mate

I was just looking at my Haynes manual and can see that the 140 has a handbrake system that would not normally require any maintenance apart from a bit of adjustment. As such, I would imagine that noone's stuck their nose inside the drums for a good while. Possibly even never!

What I can't see in the manual is whether or not there's a tiny inspection hole to let you look at the friction material without having to take the whole gambit apart! In other words, if you can eliminate the possibility of the friction material breaking up, then there's little reason to go through the ball ache of taking those discs off. All said, I would want to make sure as I would hate for you to experience the brake locking up on you at speed. I've seen the results of this happening on a Boxster and there's plenty about it over on the V70 forum. If you do end up taking the things apart, I would recommend taking lots of photos before as you can quite easily put the shoes and components back in incorrectly!

That aside, another thing I would look into is the condition of the cable. It could well be the case that a seized up cable could prevent the shoes from being able to return. I've not seen the back of a 140 hub, but it looks to me like there's a lever to which the cable is attached. If I were you, I would take a look at this when you are experiencing your jammed on situation; check to see if the levers are in their returned position. At that stage, I would try and wiggle them with the handbrake off to ensure that nothing's jammed up inside the hub. If they do wiggle, then it's likely to be your handbrake cable which looks like a doddle to change on a 140 and I doubt a new one is too expensive.

Lastly, unlike my XC70, you have the benefit of being able to adjust the handbrake down at the wheels. With reference to the above, if its badly adjusted, the inside of the drum and the friction surfaces are never going to 'self clean' for want of a better description. IE: the friction material is too far from the drum. Provided the adjuster hasn't seized up, you should be able to tighten the shoes right up tight to the drum, then incrementally back off the adjuster so that they're just not touching - back them off untill the wheel will just turn with very little drag. A little bit of drag is fine as long as the wheel rotates ok. Do both sides the same; equal amount of drag on both sides. You should do this with the handbrake cables disconnected from the levers. At this stage, you should be able to re-check the cables for any signs of seizing.

In theory, the above should result in the lever locking up the wheels at 3 - 4 notches, but if not and that bothers you, there's another adjuster near the middle of the car.

Do you have a Haynes manual? For some reason, I have 3!

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Billy Smalls

Thanks John - mine's an auto too, so I use the same rationale as you. Will the Parking 'gear' in an auto hold the weight of the car on a hill (lots of hills in Somerset!!)

Cheers

All I can say, Billy, is that in nigh on 30 years ownership I've never had a 'runaway' (drive slopes slightly downwards towards house) or a gearbox failure through doing this! Regards, J.

[Volvorama]

I have found the little lever thing that the cable is attached to has a hinge that can jam up (on 240s anyway).

[Billy Smalls]

Originally Posted by Volvorama

I have found the little lever thing that the cable is attached to has a hinge that can jam up (on 240s anyway).

Thanks - I've given every moving part in front of drums themselves a good spray with grease....as this rarely happens in summer, so I figured it may be that...hope so

cheers

[guitarman]

Yep, never bother with handbrake, esp as my 164 is an auto. Replacing a rear disc soon as the calipers stuck and it warped so I'll give everything in the handbrake area a good once over whilst I'm at it- thanks for reminding me!