Emergency Brake Maintenance question -- 07 Tahoe

[07Burb]

Here's the story. I've got a buddy who just acquired an 07 Tahoe. It's got high miles but has been meticulously maintained (he's got all the records on it) and is super clean.

With that said, there are some bits that need some attention. One of those things being the emergency brakes it is not working as well as he'd like for them to and he uses them a lot when loading and loading his boat at the boat ramp. The good news is he's very mechanically inclined but he's new to the GMT900 world as he's spent the last several years in square body suburbans. He's had the rear rotors off to take a look at everything back there. It all looks to be in good shape. So he just cleaned everything up real good and adjusted what he could. It helped a little but is still not 100% and there is no adjustment in the cable whatsoever.

Anyone out there with some tips and tricks that I can pass along to him? He's a member on the forum here but has very little time in his day for forums right now.

 

[Yuko04]

Here's the story. I've got a buddy who just acquired an 07 Tahoe. It's got high miles but has been meticulously maintained (he's got all the records on it) and is super clean.

With that said, there are some bits that need some attention. One of those things being the emergency brakes it is not working as well as he'd like for them to and he uses them a lot when loading and loading his boat at the boat ramp. The good news is he's very mechanically inclined but he's new to the GMT900 world as he's spent the last several years in square body suburbans. He's had the rear rotors off to take a look at everything back there. It all looks to be in good shape. So he just cleaned everything up real good and adjusted what he could. It helped a little but is still not 100% and there is no adjustment in the cable whatsoever.

Anyone out there with some tips and tricks that I can pass along to him? He's a member on the forum here but has very little time in his day for forums right now.

Those come with 3 different cable lengths if I remember correctly. Also....2 different style of emergency brake shoe sizes. If he has the wrong cable which is longer. They will not compress inside of the rear rotor tight enough to hold. If the emergency brake shoe is the wrong thicknes (too small) even with emergency brake pedal pressed all the way down, will not hold like it should. I ran into this problem on my 04. Several trips back and forth to parts house. On the 07, It is easier to give parts guy VIN# especially dealing with brakes.

"Square Headed and Dually noted"!

 

[89Suburban]

Thank you Jacob for the thread and any and all responders. I am assuming the cables are the factory ones. This truck has 300K on it. Yesterday I replaced all the rotors and pads. I order new parking brake shoes but they gave me standard drum brake shoes instead of the disk brake top hat shoes. But upon inspection of the old parking brake shoes they seemed to have plenty of meat on them. And I snugged them up so the rotor would slide on with slight resistance. It just seems like the shoes aren't holding and slipping. It holds ok forward but terrible in reverse. And that is a problem because I launch a boat just about every day of the year.

Jonas thanks for the info and I will use your advice to get the correct shoes to install. Doesn't help much when you have retards to deal with at the parts counter either...

 

[89Suburban]

Ok I got this fixed. Ordered new parking brake linings. Found that the driver's side rear wheel seal has a weep in it and it contaminated the brake lining so it wasn't grabbing. Cleaned it up real good in there. All good now except now I got to keep an eye on it and eventually replace wheel seals. Which I am no stranger to doing but I never messed with a Gov-Loc rear before so I'll have to study up on pulling the axle shafts on that setup.

 

[07Burb]

Ok I got this fixed. Ordered new parking brake linings. Found that the driver's side rear wheel seal has a weep in it and it contaminated the brake lining so it wasn't grabbing. Cleaned it up real good in there. All good now except now I got to keep an eye on it and eventually replace wheel seals. Which I am no stranger to doing but I never messed with a Gov-Loc rear before so I'll have to study up on pulling the axle shafts on that setup.

Nice job, buddy

 

[89Suburban]

Nice job, buddy

It was a hell of a learning experience but I got it now, thanks for all the help.

 

[swathdiver]

The adjustment is in the mechanism inside the cab. Most common issues are stretched out cable(s). The weather is finally getting cool, hopefully I can do mine this weekend and that all the parts I ordered months ago are correct!

 

[89Suburban]

Here's the story. I've got a buddy who just acquired an 07 Tahoe. It's got high miles but has been meticulously maintained (he's got all the records on it) and is super clean.

With that said, there are some bits that need some attention. One of those things being the emergency brakes it is not working as well as he'd like for them to and he uses them a lot when loading and loading his boat at the boat ramp. The good news is he's very mechanically inclined but he's new to the GMT900 world as he's spent the last several years in square body suburbans. He's had the rear rotors off to take a look at everything back there. It all looks to be in good shape. So he just cleaned everything up real good and adjusted what he could. It helped a little but is still not 100% and there is no adjustment in the cable whatsoever.

Anyone out there with some tips and tricks that I can pass along to him? He's a member on the forum here but has very little time in his day for forums right now.

 

[Doubeleive]

 

[89Suburban]

View attachment 424676

That was the beginning of you people having to deal with me. And it's all @07Burb 's fault.

 

[07Burb]

That was the beginning of you people having to deal with me. And it's all @07Burb 's fault.

y'all be welcome

 

[petethepug]

That’s the one thing on these trucks that’s really important to check is those rear axle seals at the backing plates. Have the rear discs pulled off to inspect those rear seals behind them. If you’re a potential new buyer, be aware that both sides should be changed, not just one.

This job requires the wheels, brakes, parking brakes, backing plates to come off on each side. Then the axles need to be pulled for the $12 seal so the rear diff needs to be drained and the clips removed and correctly installed after the axles are back in.

If you catch bad rear axle seals before you buy one of these have the seller pay to do the job before you get it. Give the technician a new set of parking brake shoes, new rotors, new pads and a happy meal.

You’ll get the equivalent of a $1.4k dealer rear brake job and a $150 rear diff service for free just because their disassembling everything.

Congrats and update the title to FIXED!