aghhh. which model

[gumby6371]

Droplinks are simple enough as long as you can get the old nuts off, the last one I did I had to cut the boots off and grip it with mole grips.

WD40 and a wire brush help a lot!

[annie]

just finished it. really was a ten minute job each side. had allen key inserts so no grips and undid with a stanard spanner so no breaker needed. ive done a few of these and this was far the easiest. ecp or gsf have no rears so on order for monday.
silence prevails.

[Doggy]

Splodge loads of Copperslip on the threads, (this guarantees you'll never need to undo them again).

[annie]

isnt it amazing how you can go from thinking its a really grat car and what a real bargain to hating it and putting it on ebay for half what was paid.

ive spent 4hrs trying to get one bolt out of the lower rear droplink bolt.
all the guides ive seen are for rear discs and this thing has drums, how quaint

top one took 2 mins. moved top out way so i could gain access to the boot as the allen key insert was rounded badly.
absolutely no way can you get a molegrip down there even if you bend away the brake line mounting. cant get mole grip on end of balljoint end as then no spanner will fit....
ive lost a whole day i should have spent at the beach with the boys so i admit defeat.....

[waue1978]

That is pretty much the same story as every time I try to do anything on any car I have ever owned. I can do interior swaps & bits of trim fairly easily, but any time that I have ever tried to do anything mechanical there has always been a bolt I couldn't get off or something I couldn't get at.

Fair play to you for giving it a go, but stick it back together as best you can & run it to a decent garage when you get time (& funds).

Can't blame the car really. Chances are you could have had the same story (albeit replacing different parts perhaps) if you'd got another 406 or even anyother car or van.

You should hear the guy in the VMU at our work swearing at what are supposed to be straightforward jobs. It always sounds easier in the Haynes manual because they have state of the art workshop facilities & the cars they take apart are usually not that old.

[annie]

the really annoying part is ive done at least 5 sets of fronts and rears over the years but ive never had rear drum brakes on a 406. i put it back together and its no louder than it was before. will call around tomorrow to get a price but its ok for a weekor two.

[jasper5]

Sorry you had such a problem...in my case, as a pro with a customer waiting for their car, the job just has to be done no matter what snags you come up against.

Sometimes customers just don't understand the snags that happen...last week i had a rear wheel bearing job on a Jag...4 torx bolts and the ABS sensor wire (after the disc and caliper are removed)...20 minutes usually, but no, all the torx bolts rounded off and I had to use a chisel then mole grips on each bolt to remove them...90 minutes in total

[steve_earwig]

all the guides ive seen are for rear discs and this thing has drums, how quaint.

That's terrible! You really need to upgrade to disks so you too can fiddle about for ages getting the damn thing to work

[highlander]

406s with rear drums = decent handbrake, not as good with the foot brake
406s with rear drum-in-disc setup = crap handbrake (fiddly to get working, not particularly effective anyway) but decent with the foot brake

Unfortunate. But I never had any handbrake problems on my old saloon (rear drums) and they've been a pain in the proverbials on my Coupe (rear discs).

[Welly]

Jasper doesn't all of this point to one thing; cheap rubbish fittings? a friend of ours has a RR Evoque on a 62 plate from new and on Sunday whilst it was on the drive I had a snoop around underneath the thing (as you do) although the black sussy arms were decent all the bolts and threads were rusted to f*ck.

I believe the nuts/bolts at the factory have a 'plating' which is probably micro-nano millimetres thick and lasts about 45 minutes but why not use something better? in my industry we have to use galvanised fixings outdoors and they never corrode. Daft thing is galvie nuts and bolts are cheap

carry on....

[jasper5]

I completely agree with that Welly.
The bolts used these days are crap!

Regarding 406 disc/drum handbrake....I never have any problems with these.
I set up the handbrake on the estate when i got it and never touched it since...it still works perfectly after nearly 2 years.
My silver 406 handbrake worked perfectly as well!
It's all about the setup!

[benczuk]

my handbrake works perfectly as well.

Its an aftermarket one:



I have replaced the shoes, the cables, cleaned the drums, it may hold a bit better for a month or two then goes back to uselessness. So I just keep one of these in the boot for serious hills.

[jasper5]

my handbrake works perfectly as well.

Its an aftermarket one:



I have replaced the shoes, the cables, cleaned the drums, it may hold a bit better for a month or two then goes back to uselessness. So I just keep one of these in the boot for serious hills.

They work properly when set up properly