93 850 tighten parking brake

[Mike Mayer]

Hello all,

I have already used the hex-head screw behind the parking brake under the
pop-off cover, to tighten the parking brake. I've gone all the way with it,
which I have been told means that I have to go tighten up the cable with
some kind of adjustment at each of the rear brake drums.

I'll assume you back-off the parking brake hex screw by the parking brake,
then tighten the cables by the rear brake drums, then re-tighten the hex
head nut to get the parking brake tight again.

I've never done the part back by the parking brake drums - could someone
please advise with details?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[David Taylor]

I'll assume you back-off the parking brake hex screw by the parking brake,

then tighten the cables by the rear brake drums, then re-tighten the hex
head nut to get the parking brake tight again.

Pretty much but you don't need to do anything with the nut inside the
car, or at least, you didn't need to! I'd slacken that off to where it
was and then take each rear wheel off in turn.

You'll find a hole in the drum part of the disc, turn that to roughly
the top and you might find it easier to use a torch to find the adjuster
through the hole.

Basically the shoes are seperated out by a threaded rod and a long nut
with wings on it, you need to flick the wings down to tighten the shoes
and up to release them.

Turn this adjuster until the disc locks then back if off a quarter of a
turn and check that the wheel rotates freely.

The actual official Volvo procedure might specify this slightly more but
I have to say that when I last took my 850 to a Volvo dealer for a
service they had it adjusted so that the handbrake locked on just 1
ratchet click which didn't feel right at all.

Immediately after the service, I replaced all discs and pads and with
the normal adjustment procedure, the handbrake was back to a few clicks
which felt much better.

David.

 

[Mike F]

Pretty much but you don't need to do anything with the nut inside the
car, or at least, you didn't need to! I'd slacken that off to where it
was and then take each rear wheel off in turn.

You'll find a hole in the drum part of the disc, turn that to roughly
the top and you might find it easier to use a torch to find the adjuster
through the hole.

Basically the shoes are seperated out by a threaded rod and a long nut
with wings on it, you need to flick the wings down to tighten the shoes
and up to release them.

Turn this adjuster until the disc locks then back if off a quarter of a
turn and check that the wheel rotates freely.

The actual official Volvo procedure might specify this slightly more but
I have to say that when I last took my 850 to a Volvo dealer for a
service they had it adjusted so that the handbrake locked on just 1
ratchet click which didn't feel right at all.

Immediately after the service, I replaced all discs and pads and with
the normal adjustment procedure, the handbrake was back to a few clicks
which felt much better.

David.

You may also find that the friction material has rusted off the shoes,
that's why you need so much adjustment. I'd remove the rear rotors just
to make sure everything is OK inside.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[David Taylor]

You may also find that the friction material has rusted off the shoes,

that's why you need so much adjustment. I'd remove the rear rotors just
to make sure everything is OK inside.

Yes and a handy tip is to use the adjuster to wind in the shoes before
trying to pull the disc off otherwise they'll likely just bind on the
ridge that will no doubt have formed.



David.

 

[Mike Mayer]

Thanks to all for the advice!

Mike