V70 Handbrake Again

[GeoffNorthWales]

Hi all,
We all know how the handbrake on Volvos can be crap, my V70 has the high handbrake and not really holding, in a perfect world I would replace discs, handbrake shoes cables but as Im on the skint side as per usual, I have bought the £12 manual adjusters off Ebay, so as I dont want to strip it then have to do the job over again, will these adjustors do the job or am I better of biting the bulletand buying the new cables discs shoes etc?

[daveyb]

Yes they do work. I had the cables as well but didn't need them once adjusters fitted and set up

[abdiel]

I fitted them to my 2001 V70 & the difference was like night and day!
Some here would say the OEM flat plate adjusters should work fine if everything is adjusted & free moving and I certainly wouldn't argue with that viewpoint except in my case they just weren't doing the job regardless!
Provided your cables aren't stretched beyond redemption, I would say go for it.

[GeoffNorthWales]

Thanks for the replies peeps will give it a go and see, Im getting Paranoid MOT not due till 1st August but trying to offset the cost of a possible fail and doing the jobs one by one to spread the cost

[ians]

On my car it was the cable at fault 3-4 clicks will hold on any hill. The mechanic said it was a bad job to do. I also replaced the pads just in case and the handbrake is brilliant now. No adjusters fitted

[Clan]

Originally Posted by ians

On my car it was the cable at fault 3-4 clicks will hold on any hill. The mechanic said it was a bad job to do. I also replaced the pads just in case and the handbrake is brilliant now. No adjusters fitted

exactly .

I'm waiting to see the first case where this bodge causes a car to run away when the stretched cable or collapsing outer cable ,about to break , breaks ... the investigators find exactly what has happened and you end up in a serious court case and with no insurance for not maintaining your vehicle properly . Which is Your responsibility by Law .
If the handbrake does not grip there is a fault with it , if you do not fix that fault it will catch you out sooner or later . Its a wonder how anyone doing this can sleep at night .

[Joe Harding]

I found the thickness of the linings makes a substantial difference to the handbrake efficiency.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Joe Harding

I found the thickness of the linings makes a substantial difference to the handbrake efficiency.

yes there are a lot of factors which deteriorate over the years :

The inside of the disc ( drum) gets pitted with rust ,
Non volvo shoes get used which are poor quality and don't grip,
When volvo shoes are used , they are not bedded in by heating them up , they need using to get them hot then then re adjust when cold .
The expanders on the cable interface to the shoes can get stiff..
The inner cable can rust and fray .
The outer cable can collapse slowly over many years ,
The adjuster on the end of the Handbrake lever isn't used .
The Shoes can loose chunks of material with age .

However when all is as standard and satisfactory it is a superb handbrake .

[gingerbiscuit69]

just finished rebuilding mine, new disks, pads & shoes front&back. MOT garage which failed my handbrake suggested that i should only use OEM volvo shoes, as many after market ones don't fit correctly and fail to operate as they should.

In my case, it turned out somewhere along the time, somebody had attached the cable on one drum to the wrong part of the fish hook thing, so one side essentially was 10mm shorter, thus the 'loose' side had siezed up totally from never being used. Now i've replaced the lot and freed it all up it holds fast. Tested it on a 30degree tarmac slope of my neighbours driveway and it would still let me get to the biting point in first without moving off.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Joe Harding

I found the thickness of the linings makes a substantial difference to the handbrake efficiency.

The linings should never wear , if they do something is sticking .. a point to ponder ..