Taking advantge of the weather I changed my oil, oil filter and adjusted the parking brake on my 308 this weekend. Changing oil is covered on his site but I have not been able to find a guide parking brake adjustment. Just a caution that if it not done properly that you coluld damage to componets. To that end I did it this way: Tools: 2 vice grips (to prevent the cables from rotating) 2 10mm open end wrenches (one for holding the turnbuckle, one for looesening and tighting the locknuts. 1. you have to raise the rear end and put on jackstands covered on ferrarichat, I use a lift. 2. SET the parking brake 3. attach the vicegrips to the cables just before the threads 4 using the 10 mm wrenches one hold the turnbuckle, the other to loosen the locknuts at each end of the turnbuckle. 4a. rotate the nuts so that there is at least 2 or 3 threads visable at each end of the turnbuckle. 5. using one 10mm wrench rotate the turnbuckle so that the number of thread visable reduces by 1. 5a. try to rotate the tires by hand repeate step 5 until you cannot rotate the tires by hand CAUTION - you might have to do 4a again- if you are not able adjust the cable with a total 6 threads visable at each end so that you can't rotate the tires by hand you should check the parking break shoes (not covered in this posting) 6. RELEASE the parking break 6a. Rotate the tires by hand 6b.If you are not able to the tires by hand SET the parking break and rotate the tunbucke so that 1/4 more threard is visable (repeat 6 thu 6b until you can turn the tires by hand when the paring brarke is RELEASED and you can't when parking brake is SET 7. Tighen locknuts using one 10mm wrench on turnbuckle and the other on the locknuts. 8. Remove vicegrips and jackstands. I did not have to tell you to clean your hands before Releasing and Setting paring break, did I I have included short instructions on photo. stephen Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Steve looks good and I might add that the 1st step should be measuring and adjusting the gap between the brake pad and the rotor. Once you do that then the brakes will pull equally . I was impressed on how good these are and its easy to do a rear wheel lockup and spin with these handbrakes. Enjoy the ride
On A 308............Thats the first time I've heard someone saying that the handbrake is good and can lockup the back wheels. PS:I am not doubting that you have done this in your car
I copied these instructions for this job sometime back, I believe that they were from F-Chat (I haven't done the adjustment myself...) They may be a useful cross reference ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is Ric Rainbolt's 308 handbrake adjustment instructions: 1) Jack the car up and place it on jack stands. 2) Remove both rear wheels and release the parking brake. 3) On US-spec cars and some others, you have to remove a flat metal underpanel to gain complete access to the parking brake cable. This panel is held on by four 10mm bolts. 4) Find the cable that runs between the calipers. We'll call this cable "A". It should route through low friction "eyes" (or cable guides on early 308's), mounted on each side of the car, on it's way to the calipers. The eyes are either nylon or brass, depending on production at the time (or in some cars, a simple metal tube). Refer to the parts book if uncertain. 5) Note that in the middle of the undercarriage, cable A runs through a two-wheeled lever mechanism. It's quite common for the cable to jump off a wheel and/or become severely frayed at this point. Clean this assembly VERY thoroughly and lubricate with a cable lube or synthetic grease. I usually remove the assembly so I can check the operation of the wheels. 6) Locate the buckle on cable A. It should be between the two-wheeled lever and the right side caliper. Two open end wrenches are required to operate the buckle (10mm?? I forget). Loosen the stop nut and the cable adjustment is made by turning the long part of the buckle. 7) At this point, loosen the buckle until it begins to "slack up". That is, until the caliper levers quit pulling, but not so much that the cable falls off the calipers! 8) Inspect the condition of all four rear brake pads. If necessary, remove the pads from the calipers. You'll get the best parking brake effect from a new set of pads. Also, make sure the rotors are not warped. 9) With the pads installed in the calipers, it is necessary to set the take-up adjustment within the caliper. This is accomplished by removing the two covers over the adjusting ports. On the outside of the caliper, normally, there is a plastic cap covering an adjuster. On the inside, there is a cap head plug, just under the parking brake lever along with a copper gasket. If it's the original ATE plug, it can be a to get out. What I've done to get the inner cap off is actually use a punch to "drift" the cap in the counterclockwise direction. I use a stainless steel cap to replace it when done. If a significant amount of fluid is released when the inner cap is removed, the calipers need to be rebuilt. 10) The outer adjustment is kind of tricky. You must loosen the locking nut (12 or 13mm, I think) to turn the adjustment (4mm hex wrench). Place a .004 inch (0.1mm) feeler gauge between the pad and the rotor and adjust the take-up until the feeler just slips out. It should not drag significantly. Check that the feeler feels about the same at the top and bottom of the pad area. If its drastically different, either the pads are tapered, the rotor is warped, or the caliper is not true. 11) Once the outer pad spacing is set, tighten the locking nut. The problem here, however, is that tightening the locking nut has the effect of altering the adjustment. You have to play with it a little bit to figure out what's going on. After a bit you'll develop a feel for it and you should be able to lock it right at the right point (.004 inch clearance). After everything is tight, double check with the feeler. 12) The inner adjustment is easier because there is only an allen head adjuster (up inside the hole that the cap plug covered, 4mm I think). Using this adjuster, set the inner pad to the same spacing as the outer (again, .004 inch). If the adjuster feels "crusty", shoot some WD40 up in there and turn it back and forth to break loose any corrosion or dried lubricant. 13) After setting the adjustment, replace the inner cap and copper gasket. 14) Tighten the buckle on Cable A until the levers on the caliper *just begin to move*. Any more than this can cause the brake pads to drag, causing premature pad and/or rotor failure (not to mention stinky smoke!). If in doubt, check the pad clearance afterwards and re-adjust. 15) Check the lever "feel" in the car. It should only click 3-4 times before becoming fully firm. If not, have someone help you while you observe the 2-wheeled lever under the car. The 2-wheeled lever should begin to pivot just as the parking brake handle is pulled. If not, there's excess slack in the cable that runs from the handle to the lever. The slack can be adjusted in the cockpit by opening the zipper on the leather shroud. Looking in with a flashlight, to the right side (passenger side on US cars) of the lever there's a nut that can be turned to adjust cable slack. 16) Reassemble the car (underpanel, wheels, etc.).
I believe Andy's how-to is from Ric Rainbolt. I recently performed the above service after rebuilding my rear calipers (leaking parking brake lever) and though my parking break is a tad better, it has a long way to go to stopping the car or being an effective parking brake. I'll be giving the procedure another shot shortly hoping the calipers are still off.
My car is currently in the garage for a rebuild of the rear calipers - solely for the purpose of getting the handbrake in a working condition. It had gone beyond the limits of adjustment...
Thanks Andy for more comprehensive set of instructions. Thanks Steve for the 'step 1' tip. And thank all of you for not 'flaming' for taking a 'break' while posting a 'brake' tip. My wife noticed 'after' I posted and comforted me, by saying 'men are the only ones that read the Tech section, and we know, that men can't spell. Andy I did not have to remove a panel to get to the turnbuckle. On my 81 308 it is located in the rear after the engine and transaxle between slightly to the right of center. My 308 is a NORTH American rather than a US version. I don't know if that matters. stephen
My experience with the handbrake on my 78 308 is that the 2 bolts that are holding the handbrake assembly in place are mounted on the square steel rod in the back of the car. That steel rod is not strong enough to provide a proper support for the parking brake assembly. Tightening the bolts will not solve the problem as it will only squeeze that square steel support and damage it. I wouldn't be so worried about counting individual threads on the tensioners rather than making sure that the assembly is secured solid. I think that this issue could be the cause for the poor 308 handbrake performance. I added a crossbracket to add strength between the 2 nuts (that hold the assembly in place) and the steel rod. Originally there are only washers. Helmut
I just completed a brake system overhaul which included Stainless brake lines, rotor machining and new pads. I set the pad-to-rotor clearances in the rear calipers (with new pads) to .004" as described above. I did not adjust the cable. I assumed that by properly setting the gap I should have good parking brake actuation. However, now my parking brake lever inside the car has too much travel. It engages too "late" when you pull it up, and is not engaging hard enough to hold the car on even a slight incline. I never had this issue before. So my question is....did I screw up setting the gap at the pads or should I now adjust the cables as well? For some reason I was under the impression that the parking brake was "self-adjusting" once set right, to take into account pad wear. True or not? Rather than post this question in my stainless brake line thread I thought I would put it here so that it would be easier for others to find later in a search. Thanks! Birdman
Birdman have you tried adjusting the cable?By loosening the cable clamp (part no 22 in TAV 34 in the 308 spareparts manual) you can pull the slack on the cable and retension.Another thing that you can check although it requires removing the centre console is to make sure that the handbrake lever isn't broken.My lever broke from forcing it.There is a shaft that conects the lever to the fulcrum that sheared off on mine.Its a splined shaft about 50mm long.I had a new shaft made up from a machine shop for about $20 but I also got a complete hadbrake lever from fellow FChatter Moretti as a spare.Fiat 124 use the identical lever.Hope this helps
I haven't adjusted the cable. My question is basically, do I adjust the cable or go back and adjust the calipers again? Perhaps after driving it, the gaps are too large? Or is setting the gap at the calipers just to even up the left and right caliper clearances so you can do the final adjustment on the cable? Birdman
On my 308, i found after changing rotors and calipers that she needed a readjust after a few miles as things settle in i guess. As you know, it is easy to just release the parking brake, use a feeler guage and readjust both of the rear's outboard and inboard calipers to spec, then adjust the cable so at the fourth click of the in-cabin e-brake she grabs. On the 308 here i found the spring on the calipers needed lots of cleaning/lube as they get all messed up from dirt/salt/etc. So guess what i am saying is do not only adjust the cable, adjust both in and out board calipers to spec.
Found this article in the TRW web pages. Active Safety Systems Brake Systems Electric Park Brake TRW's Electric Park Brake (EPB) enhances vehicle safety, driver comfort, convenience and allows for greater freedom of vehicle interior design and packaging. In addition to providing parking brake functionality, EPB is a fully integral part of the brake system that also allows for emergency brake control. When combined with TRW's Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system, emergency braking is executed through the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) unit on both axles allowing for full four-wheel ABS stop functionality if required. In a standard park brake system, only the rear axle of the vehicle brakes during an emergency event. EPB also eliminates the need for a parking brake control mechanism inside the vehicle. This results in enhanced ergonomics, improved vehicle styling, and improved space management The EPB system's communication interface with onboard computer systems means that a number of design features can be added or deleted as specified for the application. Among the many features that can be offered are: Drive away assist upon acceleration of the vehicle, the park brake releases Hill Hold prevents vehicle rollback on a hill until the driver accelerates Manual release - only when the brake pedal is pressed Brake wear sensing - brake pad wear monitoring to signal the driver of worn pads Interface between the EPB switch and accelerator pedal prevents false-apply Automatic parking brake apply when drivers door is opened
