Parking Brake not working correctly

[00'BlueSteel]

My parking brake is only engaging on the driver side.

Put the truck up on jack stands, put it in neutral, and put the parking brake on. I can still freely turn the passenger side wheel. The driver side grabbed a decent amount but not enough to hold the truck in place.

I started checking the cables and found that where the 2 cables come together into the metal bar that keeps them even they weren’t pulling evenly. It was pulling the driver’s side cable a lot more. Like the passenger side cable was stuck or like the drive side cable was stretched out.

I had a helper get in and engage and disengage the parking brake while I was watching it all. What I saw was the lever that the brake cable is connected to and comes out of the dust shield on the passenger side only moves about half the distance it should and stops. I think something in the parking brake that has to do with that lever is jammed or out of place.

I have tried searching for more info or pictures of the whole assembly and what that lever is connected to or what it is called and can’t find anything. Any help would be awesome.

 

[Chubbs]

have you ever replaced the brakes shoes on the back wheels? you might start with the parking shoe assembly if they are the original pieces. If that part is out of whack or coming apart then nothing upstream is going to look right.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

have you ever replaced the brakes shoes on the back wheels? you might start with the parking shoe assembly if they are the original pieces. If that part is out of whack or coming apart then nothing upstream is going to look right.

The parking brake shoes were just replaced. I think the person who did it, my dad while I was out of town, didn’t get it back together correctly. Which would surprise me because he has been doing it since the 60s.

I need to open it up and look but I was hoping for some part name/number/pics before I dove in. I dont mind ordering parts before I started and returning what I dont need when I am done. I just don’t even know what that lever connects to, lol. I see pieces that look like the lever in Ac Delco’s parking brake kit for these trucks. But what does that lever push against inside the brake assembly.

 

[Chubbs]

i don't know how much you mess around on YouTube but you can find a tutorial for everything. I have watched at least 1 for the parking brakes.

When you get time do a search on YouTube for 'parking brake tahoe' or 'parking brake yukon' and skim through them til you get a handle on the procedure. I wouldn't watch 99% of these nuts from start to finish, but there are a few who are pretty smart and that I follow closely. I will hook you up with a few links later when my wifi speed picks up.

 

[swathdiver]

Get yourself a subscription to AllDataDIY for all the photos and part numbers and procedures and such. If your old man has been working on cars for 50+ years, he's an old timer and his memory is likely not what it once was. Mine sure isn't and I'm not quite half his age, started working on cars in the 1980s.

 

[Chubbs]

Let me know if he does parking brakes in this vid

If not, this ought to get it

 

[00'BlueSteel]

i don't know how much you mess around on YouTube but you can find a tutorial for everything. I have watched at least 1 for the parking brakes.

When you get time do a search on YouTube for 'parking brake tahoe' or 'parking brake yukon' and skim through them til you get a handle on the procedure. I wouldn't watch 99% of these nuts from start to finish, but there are a few who are pretty smart and that I follow closely. I will hook you up with a few links later when my wifi speed picks up.

I usually watch 1A Auto videos, they have a 2000 Suburban they do just about everything on. To be honest I haven’t watched the parking brake video because I know how to change them. Just dont know the name of the parts, and my Hanes manual is lacking on info. I’m going to watch it tonight, thanks for the help and the vids, I’ll watch those as well.

Get yourself a subscription to AllDataDIY for all the photos and part numbers and procedures and such. If your old man has been working on cars for 50+ years, he's an old timer and his memory is likely not what it once was. Mine sure isn't and I'm not quite half his age, started working on cars in the 1980s.

I have read about AllDataDIY a couple times now, I guess it might be time to sign up. Not bad for 5 years 1 vehicle. And yeah he still has the skill but the memory isn’t as good as it used to be, but I also think something might have just broken or slipped out of place when he was putting the drum/rotor back on.

 

[Goodinblack]

I adjusted mine out farther

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[David Kriss]

I'd also check the passenger side cable itself for binding. You may need to replace or lubricate it. I had a simiar problem that was the cable. Mine locked up with the brake partially engaged. Cables don't like all that dirt and corrosion they are exposed to.

 

[Doubeleive]

I would get it apart and then verify the cable is engaging if that is good then simply adjust the one side as needed

 

[00'BlueSteel]

I would get it apart and then verify the cable is engaging if that is good then simply adjust the one side as needed

Hey guys, thanks for all the help. I am going to pull it apart Saturday and just see what’s going on. Prob get the neighbor to help push the pedal so I can watch what’s happening inside the drum once I get it open. For now I got the one side grabbing enough it holds as long as where I am parking isn’t too steep. I’ll report back what I find for future peeps.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Reporting back: Pulled everything apart this past weekend, the passenger side actuator lever was the wrong one. It will not stay seated in the actuator it rotates on the pill and gets stuck in place causing the parking brake to jam open. Which is fine cause I can still drive, I am just having to park on the tranmission pin instead of using the parking brake. Which I hate doing. Once I knew what was wrong I called my pops to ask if he messed with my parking brakes when my truck was at his house for the winter, that’s where we put the lift on, turns out he replaced both sides with a Raybesto kit, he said it didn’t come with new actuator levers, he noticed they were different but figured they had always been like that so he left it alone. Turns out its not suppose to be like that and we aren’t sure how it ever got like that.

Anyway I got an AC Delco parking brake kit last night from Amazon and it has matching actuator levers, new actuator rebuilt kits, and everything else need to do a full rebuild. So I will be rebuilding the parking brakes this weekend if the weather holds up, and we will see then how my cables look with new stuff and go from there. I will post up photos and stuff afterwards.

 

[Steve Waddington]

...and...?

 

[OneofFew]

That video is sadly outdated. There is an updated hardware kit to eliminate rattling and shifting of the parking brake shoe onto the drum causing premature wear and eventual parking brake failure.
I have not found any useful info on the new procedure on the new hardware.
I have the kit here but couldn't figure out where the parts go.