I've read on here about not needing to touch the rear bearings. That they never go bad on these 240s. Also that you don't ever want to deal with the parking brake shoes or anything else for that matter to do with em.

My conclusion after a couple experiences with these two parts is the opposite of what I've been reading on here for a number of years. Sure the brake shoes are a bit tough at times to get on but no more than 5 minutes after getting a hang of it. I just replaced a parking brake cable tonight and although it had its challenges I came away with some great knowledge of how it all works.

My rear rotor was stuck on a week or so ago. I thought the cable was binding inside the casing and causing the emergency brake shoes to be stuck. But what I think happened was somehow the little metal piece that holds the cable to the brake mechanism holding the shoes had got jammed outside the mechanism causing the shoes to be as though the cable was being pulled by the handle up front.

The bearing conclusion? Once you have the caliper/rotor and p-brake shoes off (all real simple if the p-brake isn't stuck) then your real close to the bearings being pulled which is simple stuff. I found out of 3 bearings that I pulled on three different cars that all 3 of them needed grease repacked. One had its grease completely gone and replaced by the gear oil from the differential. The others also had a watered down grease from differential leaking into the bearing area. Maybe the gear oil is good enough but I wouldn't trust it. The one bearing completely void of grease was in the worse shape. It was loose and far more closer to failure than the other two which had some grease left.

Now replacing the actual bearings is a whole different thing. Don't confuse the two jobs. But repacking is simple and I could swear the car glided more freely after only packing the one side.


Parking brake shoes assembly is in the Bentley. I mentioned this before and will do it again. Using a mechanic's pic with a 45 degree bend on the end is the best way I found to get the springs into their holes. Sometimes adding the help of some needle nose pliers to hold it in the hole while removing the pic helps.

Don't fear repacking the rear bearings. I'm going to make sure the rest of my rear bearings are packed and check them every few years. Seems like a whole lot easier than replacing them.

If your rotor is not coming off then I'd remove the parking brake cover and loosen the 10 mm on the end of the cable if fully loosening the 15mm nut on the end of the brake lever doesn't loosen the cable enough.