Parking brake adjustment question

[Red Rider]

So, while doing my fuel pump, i had noticed the parking brake cable adjustment that seems odd to me. See picture. The adjustment bolt seems to have about 30 washers on it that function as spacers. This does not seem normal.

Parking brake is not as tight as I would like it and with brake lines failing on these trucks, I want to make sure my e-brake is fully operational.

 

[mizzouguy]

The washers are someone's way of trying to tighten it up. My truck has the nut threaded all the way on the stud with no washers and it still feels like it could be tighter.

 

[Junior_22g]

Correct. The washers are to take up space for adjustment.
The poop design of the rear brakes on these trucks requires removing the rear rotors from the truck to adjust the ebrake. Total pain in the ass. I just replaced everything in the rear brakes including the backing plates on my 01 Yukon.
You are supposed to adjust the ebrake at the wheels, then use the adjustment where all those washers are as a short of fine tune adjustment.
Hope this helps you. Any other questions just ask!

 

[Larryjb]

I've got new parking shoes on order (parking brake holds when pointing down hill, but not when pointing uphill, and that's after adjusting the parking brake at the drum). Perhaps if I were to adjust that bolt I would get it to work. I suspect I could use the new parking shoes anyway, but I'll keep this adjustment in mind as well.

Larry

 

[SLCHOE]

I've got new parking shoes on order (parking brake holds when pointing down hill, but not when pointing uphill, and that's after adjusting the parking brake at the drum). Perhaps if I were to adjust that bolt I would get it to work. I suspect I could use the new parking shoes anyway, but I'll keep this adjustment in mind as well.

Larry

I suspect you don't have much as far as parking brake shoes left at all with that rigging. Time to do the parking brake shoes and if your rear brake pads are low, just do it all like the guy above. New rotors, new shoes and hardware kit, new backing plate and new pads and hardware.

 

[Larryjb]

It's Red Rider that has all that rigging installed. The rear brakes had been done on my Tahoe just before I bought it, so shoes and rotors are new in the back. Strangely, the parking brake shoes had been done a couple of years ago. Do these trucks eat parking brake shoes? Or did the previous owner ride the parking brake? Or perhaps the previous mechanic used a low quality parking shoe?

I do need to replace the backing plates though.

 

[SLCHOE]

Gotcha. In your case, yes you could adjust the cable at the 1 to 2 splitter.

As for wear, they may have been adjusted too tight when they were replaced or likely not adjusted at all (which would make them tight).

 

[Red Rider]

I got the OEM manual for parking brake. I guess i will study it. I did not realize there were separate shoes for E-brake.

 

[Red Rider]

BTW, I am not a big fan of how these OEM manuals are written. They are kind of annoying. It constantly takes you to other sections and you need to bounce all over the place.

 

[Red Rider]

Correct. The washers are to take up space for adjustment.
The poor design of the rear brakes on these trucks requires removing the rear rotors from the truck to adjust the ebrake. Total pain in the ass. I just replaced everything in the rear brakes including the backing plates on my 01 Yukon.
You are supposed to adjust the ebrake at the wheels, then use the adjustment where all those washers are as a short of fine tune adjustment.

Do you remember how long it took you to do? I think the brakes are new on the truck. They must have been lazy and did not bother with the e-brakes. I think they are shot. I wonder how long it would take to just replace e-brakes.

 

[electro]

Did you get your parking brake working?

I put new shoes and adjusted and still no brake.


Thanks!

 

[Larryjb]

I tried adding 5 washers (total thickness ~ 3/8") to the e-brake equalizer, as in the picture. It didn't make any difference to the parking brake. I suspect the washers may have been installed to reduce how much the nut had to be threaded on. I have the new parking brakes shoes, but haven't had time to install them yet.

Larry

 

[Red Rider]

I have not gotten to this project yet. Cables stretch over time, but i would imagine with new shoes, it should not need washers.

 

[Red Rider]

So I finally got to this... I took everything apart on rear. Shoes are in perfect condition. I had a hell of a time adjusting though and never found the section in the FSM about how to adjust (I hate the FSM... So poorly written); maybe it is not in the parking brake section?

Anyway, I removed most washers but what i found did not really match what was in the FSM. It seems like the threaded rod at end of cable was pulled through the equalizer bar. In the FSM, it seems like the rod goes through the equalizer bar from front of the vehicle. I assume that the nut at the end of threaded rod must be a nylon locking nut? I reinstalled with about 7-8 washers since otherwise, it would be sitting on the crimped portion of the rod. I guess I could try to force it back through by loosening nut and activating parking brake?

I found that it took very little adjustment of the adjustment wheels at each rear brake. I moved it out about 1/8".

 

[Red Rider]

Oh, definitely tighter now. much better. It is a weird parking break as it gets hard halfway down, then you can keep pushing it to the floor.

 

[CdnDenali]

this is my next maintenance/project, with having to replace 1-2-3? cable(s) from the pedal TOO BOOT... hope its not too difficult

 

[Red Rider]

It is not as long as you have done some brake work before. You may need to remove rear caliper and disks/drums. If you do, i recommend lubricating shoes (or at least checking it is not bone dry). After i did the work, my parking brake sometimes sticks at the foot pedal. If i go in reverse, it pops. Not sure why. It may be too tight. I need to go back in their.

BTW, spoke to a mechanic who suggested using blue locktite on the caliper bolts not the yellow that FSM calls for (latter requires heat to take off bolts).