I spent most of today swapping out the rear axle on my '86 Volvo 200. The differential was shot, and I found a guy parting out a 240.

Everything went fine with the swap EXCEPT I cannot get the stupid parking brake spring back in place. I've tried leveraging them with needle-nose pliers, with different size screwdrivers. No luck. It's driving me crazy.

Anybody have any suggestion on how to do it: what tools, what sequence (top or bottom spring first?). Does it help to strap the shoes in place (not sure how) until you can get the strings attached?

BTW, these do not have the adjuster, just the bar at the top. The parking brake hasn't worked right for years, and I'm about inclined to just leave the damn shoes off entirely. ( would greatly appreciate any help.

I used a small pair of needle-nosed vice grips brand vise-grips.

"Assemble" the shoes, metal bar, and back spring, then slide over the axle behind the hub. Then try and stretch the front spring between the two shoes with the vise grips. If you can just get the spring hooked in the hole, you can get it the rest of the way by tapping with a screwdriver.

Not a fun job.

-Ryan
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Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars, GT Braces
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars

get a pair of these or similar. the brake spring will fit into the slot allowing you to apply pressure (but not excessive) without the spring slipping

Sorry, it is a pain. I had good luck putting the smaller spring on first and then stretching the larger one into place. Its still difficult. I'd never heard of the brake spring pliers mentioned, I just used needle-nose pliers and leather gloves to protect my hands when I lost my grip on the spring and slammed my hand into something. It takes a lot of patience.
Mine were difficult enough that I priced the star adjuster parts thinking that would make life easier, but they were over $100 a side at the dealer.

While you have the rotor and shoes off check the two parking cables to make sure they move smoothly and retract properly. The cables run from the back of the hub though two $5 foot-long plastic sleeves with rubber seals parallel to the axle. On my car the plastic sleeves had somehow been punctured and water was collecting inside and stopping the cables from retracting properly. Two junkyard cables and new sleeves later and I have parking brakes again.
Adjustment problems inside the car on the parking brake lever are more common, but check both ends while you have things apart.
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1981 242 Turbo 1980 Bertone Coupe

Go to autozone and buy a brake spring pliers. $20 well spent. I have used the screwdriver approach before and it can work with enough patience.
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'92 240 wagon, 285k, '90 240 sedan 229k

Hi there,

I use the old brake spring pliers to set and remove the grid springs under the chairs. But, every time I've set out to replace parking brakes, I bring them to the arena, only to find no use for them. I wind up mainly using a screwdriver ground to a spoon shape, combined with another screwdriver to pry and lever. Can you teach me how to make use of the brake spring pliers? They make working with the seat springs effortless and safe.










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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft, and I'll show you A-flat minor.

I have a pair of brake spring pliers similiar to what Art shows but mine are much older and not nearly as bulky--and they are still useless to get the parking shoe springs snapped into place. Needle nose don't usually hold on tight enough. I use a pair of diagonal cutters levered against the hub flange to attach the heavier spring. Yes, they do put a mark on the spring--and no, I've never had a spring break because of the dimple. Loosen the adjusters at the handbrake lever if the shoes are thicker than the ones there originally.--Dave

ps--there is a brake spring tool that looks like a screwdriver but ends with a curl and a point-sometimes useful - but the hole for the spring end in the parking brake shoes is small -- Dave

Hey Dave,

The tool I had leftover from the 60's has features on each handle not visible in the photo. One is a cup shape ground into the side of the tip used to capture the end of an extension spring's hook and allow it to be levered around a post. That's the part I thought might be useful when I grab the tool, but it is too big to fit in the Volvo p-brake.

The other handle tip has what looks like a socket with a T-tab protruding from its outer edge, used to remove and install the retainer washers from the compression springs as well as hook an extension spring to rotate it over a post.

Like you said, it's too big in there.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she'd dye.