Bmw e 60 530d 2004 hand brake adjustment

wait a bit ....is it rear disc or rear drums on that ute

will assume its under dash hand brake pull lever tyoe

the disc setup may have single cables for each rear
rear disk brake cable is approx $ 150

if your XH it is close to the XE and XF set up drums
a complete one line loop cable outer and inner
with plastic grommets along the back chassis rail ( they break )
so the one inner cable works both rear handbrake shoes


hand brake cable is a shorty

undo the adjustment thread
just below the hand brake cable point up somewhere above the gearbox
(drums )
after new cable fitted
drums are adjusted with the old school way with the handbrake adjuster tool
handbrake cable adjusted

then the handbrake handle when pulled out to hold needs14 plus clicks
comes out a long way for some weird reason
on drums
if cable adjustment is done wrong onrear drums the handbrake cable will come loose in the drum as you drive along

There should be an adjustment along the cable line that can tighten the slack in the lever. Adjustment might be at the lever itself.

Hi Steve, The problem sounds as if it is the park brake adjustment or wear on the cable, (which may be binding inside the outer cover. This can be caused by a frayed inner cable and the ends catching). Try adjustment first and then only replacement of the cable. I have not carried out the job on a vehicle of this type, but replacement should be straightforward and logical. I'm fairly sure it will mean the removal of the center consul and disassembly of the brake activation levers on the parking brake shoes. Take some photographs or make some sketches before disassembling so you know how to re assemble. Regards John

Check to see if it has brake shoes inside the rear disk or it pulls on the caliper direct first before you mess around with it as their could be a fault here ??

The brake shoes need adjusting. Disengage the parking brake.
Before fitting new shoes you should slack off the parking brake cable completely. Locate the adjuster(just follow the parking brake cable. Undo the locknut and slack off the cable.
Remove the rear wheels and drums again. You will find a screw-in type adjuster between the shoes. Turn the adjuster to increase the distance between the shoes. The left and right wheel's adjusters turn in opposite directions to achieve the same result. Fit the drum to see if it slides over the pads easily. Do so until you start having diffyculty sliding the drum over the shoes. Fit the drum and rotate it. You should not hear any scraping or have any resistance on the drum when it is rotated. Refit the wheels. Test the parking brake. If it is still too slack adjust the cable under the car until you when you engage the parking brake it engages fully after 3-5 clicks.

Generally you should not have to replace the parking brake cable. It should have an adjustment to give more slack or takle up slack as needed. Get a Haynes manual (around $20 at autozone) for your car. It will tell you how to adjust the parking brake cable and/or how to replace the cable if that is needed. In most cases it is just an adjustment that is needed

with car on stands use punch to remove pad retaining pins pull out pads can be tight remove 2 calliper retaining bolts move calliper away from disc remove disc retaining bolts remove disc check hand brake shoes and clean look for adjuster between shoes if it has one back it of some models just have hand brake cabel adjustment clean and fit new disc secure adjust hand brake shoes using screw driver through wheel bolt hole clean refit calliper slowley push back calliper pistons fit new pads refit retaining pins do other side pump up brake pedal check and adjust handbrake if neededcheck brake fluid level

hi fro uk when you reassembled brake shoes? did you notice the tubular bar just below b/cylinder? it fits between the two shoes and has a toothed wheel on the treaded side(l/h) this is the auto adjuster ie as tooth wheel is rotated it extends the treaded side thus adjusting shoes to drum o/k? this is normally done auto by the small lever below but when fitting new shoes you must adjust this rod with tooth wheel and keep trying drum fitting when you can fit drum /just? fit and press brake to centralise shoes to drum then adjust again if req'd so that drum fits and rotates withh shoes not binding ?? do both sides THENyou willdrums fitted you will feel b/pedal is improved ie less travel on braking ? SO FIRST THING YOU HAVE TO DO IS SLACKEN OFF H/BRAKE CABLE ADJUSTMENT /SLACK ? then proceed with the above instruction afterwards if you do as above then you pull h/brake up one notch ? then adust slack from cable to light tension release h/brake and ensure wheels rotate freely when you apply h/brake it should hold on approx four//five notch ? hope this helps

i had the same problem with my crysler voyager 1997,a friend of mine who is a mechanic found the problem,it is a self adjuster on the handbrake itself,once drums are adjusted up you need to go to your hanbrake area and you will find a white plastic clip on the bottom of the lever ,once removed you pull up your handbrake a few times and it self adjusts,then put the plastic clip back on,this soved my problem,by doing this my handbrake went from about 13 clicks on max to hold . to about 6 clicks and held perfectly