Brakes: V70 handbrake cable change

[Luxobarge]

1997 V70 T5, auto.
OK, so during the cold snap a couple of weeks ago, I came to use the car and found that the handbrake had frozen on. I drove for a short distance before I noticed, and found that the hubs had got quite hot, so it wasn't anything frozen there, and so I suspected ice in the handbrake cables. This more or less cured itself when the thaw came, but I did notice that the rear right hub was still getting slightly warm after a run, whereas the rear left was cold.

So today I decided to investigate, and found that it is indeed still the handbrake that is binding a little, i.e. it's not a stuck caliper or pads. Handbrake shoes are still in good shape, but I took it all apart and cleaned/lubricated as you do, and found that the handbrake cable on that side is very reluctant to fully release, i.e. when I slackened off all the adjustment on the cable adjuster the shoes didn't move back to the stop on their own accord - using a screwdriver as a lever and some pliers got it back, but it's still very stiff.

OK, so my diagnosis is that I need new cables, and the question is (at last!) - how do you change them, how easy is it, is there a guide anywhere on here or can someone talk me through it?

The handbrake on these cars isn't great at the best of times, and mine's no exception even when adjusted using the proper procedure, but I suspect that rusted and stiff cables are making it a good deal worse, so looking forward to getting this sorted. The car's driveable at the moment, so no major rush, but I'd like to know what sort of a job this is going to be.

Cheers!

[volvo again]

You need to remove the center console, rear seat and carpet in order to remove the circlip and cable from the lever and get access to cable entry in the floorpan.

Drill out the rivet holding the cable to the trailing arm, twist the cable plastic guide sleeve back & forth to release it from the stub axle, remove the cable from the shoes and withdraw cable our from inside the car.

This is according the Haynes manual, sounds easy but can be a pita, took me most of a day to do it.

[cyclogenesis]

Have a check of this thread as well if you are not getting the best performance from the handbrake.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=280759

[klausc]

It is probably rust that is keeping your cable from moving, not just ice. Replacement is a royal pain, especially the T25 bolt attachment by the frame rail, because of rust.

There are a few online tutorials. What most of them leave out is a plastic hold down piece under the carpet. The plastic gets prised up using a screwdriver.
The carpet does not have to come out, but you will have to get under it.

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by klausc

It is probably rust that is keeping your cable from moving, not just ice. Replacement is a royal pain, especially the T25 bolt attachment by the frame rail, because of rust.

There are a few online tutorials. What most of them leave out is a plastic hold down piece under the carpet. The plastic gets prised up using a screwdriver.
The carpet does not have to come out, but you will have to get under it.

Yes, exactly, maybe I didn't make that clear. Water in the cable froze, thus jamming the cable completely. That's now thawed, but the presence of water has rusted the cable so that now although it moves, it's very stiff.

Didn't think about tutorials, I'll have a look, great idea and thanks for the tip.

[Luxobarge]

So I took the car for a short drive today and the driver's side hub is still getting hot, so I think my efforts at the weekend didn't improve things at all really. So it's new cable time, ordered them today.

I had a look at the RobertDIY video covering this job, and it's strange how much more enthusiastic I am at having a go than I was before! He answers so many questions, and the example he worked on was a lot more rusty than mine, so I think I'll have a go - at least I don't have to use the car very often so I can choose a warm dry day and prepare for it, I'll leave a whole day aside for the job and if I do it quickly then that'll just be a bonus. Thank you RobertDIY!

Will post back with news when I do the job. Thanks again for all the responses - very useful. Cheers all!

I keep detailed records of what I spend on my cars, and I was just putting in the handbrake cable cost into the spreadsheet and realised that I've had the car for exactly 10 years last month! Not including service items and consumables it's cost me around £2,400 in repair costs (mainly parts) over that time, although the majority of that was spent when I first got it. I kept it off the road for a few weeks while I went through it and fixed absolutely everything that needed it, so it was nigh on perfect when I started using it - I reckon costs for parts since then hasn't been more than £100-200 per year. I'm well happy with that, most newish cars will depreciate more than that per month.

[Martin Cox]

I did mine a little while back and don't recall it being too bad a job. In my case, the cables and handbrake were working as well as they ever do on a 1998 V70.

So why did I change them?

One of the clips holding the cable to the trailing arm failed and allowed the cable to rub against the sidewall of the tyre, which promptly wore a hole in the outer plastic covering of the cable so of course it was no longer waterproof. Rather than muck around with trying to seal it with self-amalgamating tape or similar, I decided to replace them.

As I took the first one off, the outer casing literally fell to pieces around the plastic bit in the middle that anchors the cable; the end that goes into the brake assembly wasn't much better. The cable on the other side was in a similar condition. Replacement was obviously long overdue!

You may find that the area on the brake assembly where the cable enters will will need a thorough clean so the new cable will seat properly. I found the hardest part of the job to be refitting the handbrake shoes. Springs and I seldom get on well together: as for circlips, let's not go there!

I used aftermarket cables from PFS but with genuine Volvo shoes. These had done less than 5,000 miles at the time and were virtually as new so I didn't bother replacing them but I did renew the caliper bolts.

There are a few good write-ups on this forum on how to set up the handbrake which I found helpful.

As far as I recall, it basically comes down to making sure there is no tension at all in the cables by backing off the handbrake adjuster all the way before setting the shoe adjusters.
When they are both right, use the handbrake adjuster to set the handbrake travel. It worked for me.

Martin

1998 V70 Tdi auto 227,000 miles

[Luxobarge]

@Martin - thanks, very helpful. Yes, I will make sure the new cables are properly located on the trailing arm and take your advice about cleaning the point of entry into the rear hub.
I've had the shoes off and back on a few times, so I'm OK with doing that, it's encouraging that you found that the hardest part! I've also ordered new cables from PFV Online, as you did. Shoes on mine are still properly bonded and still have plenty of "meat" on them, so will be re-used after a clean-up.
Yes, I'm familiar with the proper way to adjust the handbrake - releasing the cable tension allows the shoes to sit tight against the stops at the bottom, and be adjusted to come up close to the drum surface by using the adjuster at the top of the shoes through the little hole. My problem is that the cables are so stiff, that even with the cable adjustment right off, the shoes still won't sit correctly on the bottom stops, so the adjustment is never correct, and when I release the handbrake at least on the driver's side it's not backing off properly so it's dragging. I'm confident that new cables will sort both problems.
Thanks again!

[Luxobarge]

OK, so I started this job today - good thing I set aside a whole day as it's still not finished! One of the reasons it's taken longer is that the whole rear wheel arches were very clogged up with road muck, so I took the wheels off and jet-washed it all under there before I started - tons of muck came out! But much nicer to be working in there without all the mess eh?

It's a time-consuming job, but following RobertDIY's video is actually not that hard, I got the centre console out and the handbrake cables out from the inside of the car fairly quickly, then it's just a matter of dissembling the rear brakes and fiddling it out from there. It also takes a while to properly clean up all the components before re-assembly, but I like to do this so it's all nice and clean and new, with copper-slip applied properly etc.

The left side went fine with no problems, and the right side was going fine too until I came to remove the torx screw that attaches the cable to the delta arm mounting bracket - the bracket was so corroded that I was able to pull the cable off without even undoing the bracket, it just broke off. Removing the bracket revealed massive corrosion and holes in the bracket, so the whole job has stopped while I source a new one of those. It's part number 8631284, and I've started a new thread to ask if anyone can help with obtaining a new bracket - here: https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=314882

Other than that it's going well - both cables had broken outer sheaths where they attach to the delta arm bracket, which had clearly let water in as the section below this was seriously stiff, and the right one had lots of rusty water in it, as I suspected it would. So looking forward to getting this completed and having handbrakes that are as good as they can be on these cars, at least it should stop the binding and getting hot!

Cheers all - I'll post again when the job is complete.

[acshortt5]

Partsforvolvos sell the brackets on their website. There's 2 variations from memory.
Edit, sorry just seen your other thread. They had both sides not so long ago.