Ugh...

The parking brake no longer holds, and since I don't feel like paying a mechanic $150 to replace the shoes, I have a couple of questions.

1. The parking brake on the 850 is separate from the rear brakes, right? People keep telling me that they're the same thing.

2. Is there a guide somewhere?

3. Will a tire iron be sufficient for reattaching the wheel, or will I need one of those pneumatic drills?

 

You might just be able to adjust the rear shoes and be fine.

 

Sorry for the incident, but we all do that kind of stuff once a while (and I just did the same at work with some POS Nissan truck[8D]).

No, the parking brake is separate from the rear brakes, except they share the rotor. General braking is done by pads, but parking brakes have shoes, identical to drum brake shoes. Follow Tech's advice and you should be fine, unless the brake shoes have worn out if dragged more than once, in which case you just need to replace the half-moon shoes but I doubt you need a new pair.

>People keep telling me that they're the same thing.
They are called "Average Drivers"; think they know about cars but don't[8D].

Edit: Asfor a guide, I would start from getting Haynes manual. The manual is not the best in the world but is usually sufficient for beginners to mid-level home mechanics.


JPN

 

+ 1 to both Tech and JPN

FWIW I have changed the parking brake shoes on the rear, and I was able to get the rotors off with regular tools I had around the house. It should not be too much of a pain to check them. Be sure you check inside of the rotor where the parking brake shoes contact to make sure it did not get heated up and blued, or that the shoes glazed.

Good luck.

Glenn

 

Well, what originally made me realize something was wrong was a smell of burning plastic when I stopped at an intersection. So it seems possible that they may be "glazed"

 

They may be glazed, or may just have worn down a bit, in which case you only need to adjust them. If they're beyond limits, they may need replacement.

I just checked the price on Roulands & ATE (both are OEM parts), and a set of both E-brake shoes cost $30 plus shipping at:

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo850brakes.htm

If you can DIY, the cost would be $30 plus shipping, but if the rear rotor has never been replaced, I would get new caliper bolts too (a total of 4, 2 on each side). If you decide to DIY, call FCP Groton and ask for the availability on those bolts. They usually have all kinds of hardware but the availability depends on who answers the call.

Or, if you do not wish to DIY, see if you can find a shop that is willing to accept parts from customers. I would not go to a generic town garage or any of the franchise shops, I would try to find an independent shop that specialises in Swedish/European models.

>Will a tire iron be sufficient for reattaching the wheel, or will I need one of those pneumatic drills?

I am not sure as to what a tyre iron is, but do not use power tools on lug bolts if you have aluminium wheels. A power tool can crack aluminium wheels therefore a torque wrench is a must.

Good luck,


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/7EC8DF23C2AF4F408EFBF6E3DD7ECD5C.jpg[/IMG]

 

I have the steel wheels.

But I just looked it up on wikipedia, and it said that the real name is a Lug Wrench, which I believe is the same as a torque wrench.

 

^It's not.

Torque wrench should ONLY be used to put the lugnuts on. It is used to ensure that the lugs are torqued at the correct setting.

If you use them to take off bolts, you're putting wayyyy too much pressure on the lug nuts and they might break.

 

That is not exactly correct if that was the case then everytime someone used an impact gun to remove the lugs they would snap.

The real reason you should not use the torque wrench to remove the lug nuts is because you could throw the specs out in the wrench.
The torque wrench is calibrated to specs.
If they are on tight and you use the torque wrench to remove them you might put more torque on the torque wrench than it can handle and throw it out of wack.

Thus next time you do a headgasket and torque the headbolts to the specific specs and they would be off. That might cause you to have to redo the entire gasket job again.

Also torque wrenches look like these.
They usually look like on of the 2 pictures.

 

^Oh. Thanks for the correction. At least I got half of it right..... :P

Now let me ask you this. Why's it so important to torque the lug nut to the right spec and make it exact using a torque wrench? When you use an impact gun to torque it back up, how do you know that this is torqued correctly and not too much or not too little?

 

When you use an impact gun you never know what it could be torqued to. It could only torque the bolts to 40ft lbs, or it could torque them to 100ft lbs. Since Impact guns mostly run off air, it's never really going to torque the same.

Using a torque wrench will allow you to evenly torque your wheels or any bolt to the OEM Spec, or whatever spec you so wise. The torque wrench is deff the best way to go to tighten up a wheel.

If you've ever gone to a shop and they take your wheels off, chances are they just impact them back on. Thats why some cars don't always have all of their lug nuts or bolts on each wheel.

 

I hate it when they do that, but unluckily I have never seen a tire shop put them back on with a torque wrench.

 

My impression was that they didn't want to be bothered with looking up the part numbers. I called the local dealer and got their part numbers, then talked to FCP, and the gentleman looked up the number I gave him and said they had them in stock. I ordered them for my pending DIY brake job (please pray for me).

For those wanting to order the caliper bolts from FCP:
Caliper Bracket Bolts (front) Volvo P/N 976419
Caliper Bolts (rear) Volvo P/N 975249

You'll need two for each wheel (if replacing all rotors, not in the OP's case of course).

In regards to using a torque wrench - I have read that the number one cause of warped rotors are improperly torqued lug nuts. I bought a $40 1/2" wrench (cheap AmPro brand) at the local auto parts store and a 3/4" socket for it to do the lug nuts. I've never used a torque wrench before but it sure does take all the guesswork out of putting the lug nuts on your car. If it's calibrated correctly, it seems shops have a habit of putting them on WAY too tight. On an 850, from the Haynes manual the correct torque is 81 ft-lbs, which doesn't seem very tight.

 

+1.

As for a torque wrench, I personally recommend Sears Craftsman Digitork (has readings in digit numbers in both ft-lbs & nm (Newton Meter, an ISO unit)). I believe they are about $100, if you can afford one. It's 1/2" drive and covers wide range. I'm not sure if it was guaranteed for life or only for a year. Visit a local Sears and grab a free brochure; Craftsman now has quite a few selections of torque wrenches, some of which I would like to try out.

I use Snap-on's click-type and it is neither excellent nor poor, I just don't like its feeble click, as well as round shank (I like those with flat shank, Tohnichi seems to be the best in the industry but availability & price are not very good).


JPN

 

Assuming you have good air pressure(Which you usually know if you don't after working in a shop for many years)
They sell what is called torque sticks it looks like a funny looking extension. When it gets to the specified torque it makes a rattling noise on the air gun.

Also I keep my air gun set to the one setting that almost matches exactly.
81 is the spec and my gun does about 82.
which won't make any difference at all.

 

So... does the fact that I have steel wheels change any of this?

 

Not at all.