Parking Brake Adjustment Procedure
08-01-2014, 04:29 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Parking Brake Adjustment Procedure
Hello all,
My friends 94 w202 chassis' parking brake was not holding the car at all.
So I pretensioned the cable slack thing under the rear seat (turned clockwise til locked). Then I went to the wheels and turned the adjusting gear (little star with teeth through the lug hole, whatever you call it) with the wheels off to tighten the force the shoes exert. Released the cable slack thing and tested the P brake.
I was able to get the car to hold itself, but as we drove the car we noticed that even though the P brake was released, the car seemed to drag a little bit + he noticed what seemed to be dust coming from the wheels.
So we removed the wheels, loosened the adjuster until the P brake would not stop the wheel, retensioned the adjuster again until applying the P brake 5 clicks just made the wheel stop spinning in the air. The problem is, with the cars weight, it still will not hold the car now.
I am afraid to increase the tension with the adjuster again because I feel it might start dragging again.
Do you think the shoes have worn down?? How many clicks/notches does it usually take to tighten the adjuster to the right setting?
Thanks for any wisdom on this
My friends 94 w202 chassis' parking brake was not holding the car at all.
So I pretensioned the cable slack thing under the rear seat (turned clockwise til locked). Then I went to the wheels and turned the adjusting gear (little star with teeth through the lug hole, whatever you call it) with the wheels off to tighten the force the shoes exert. Released the cable slack thing and tested the P brake.
I was able to get the car to hold itself, but as we drove the car we noticed that even though the P brake was released, the car seemed to drag a little bit + he noticed what seemed to be dust coming from the wheels.
So we removed the wheels, loosened the adjuster until the P brake would not stop the wheel, retensioned the adjuster again until applying the P brake 5 clicks just made the wheel stop spinning in the air. The problem is, with the cars weight, it still will not hold the car now.
I am afraid to increase the tension with the adjuster again because I feel it might start dragging again.
Do you think the shoes have worn down?? How many clicks/notches does it usually take to tighten the adjuster to the right setting?
Thanks for any wisdom on this
08-02-2014, 01:59 PM
#2
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Location: Oregon
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'97 c36
I bite the bullet and pull the drum to take a look. Make sure your friend doesn't need his car for a day or hopefully two as the drums will most likely be stuck to the hub. Spray some pb blaster or wd-40 in the cracks between the hub and drum in the lug holes as well as on the centering part of the hub and let it sit over night spraying it several times. Here you can see the surface the drum will stick too.
A block of wood or a plastic dead blow hammer can help unstick these just make sure your rotating the drum and not getting carried away as your beating against the wheel bearing. It's pretty beefy but it's not indestructible.
Once you get the drum off you can inspect/clean/lube the Parking brake cam as well as the shoes and get a better idea as what your looking at.
A block of wood or a plastic dead blow hammer can help unstick these just make sure your rotating the drum and not getting carried away as your beating against the wheel bearing. It's pretty beefy but it's not indestructible.
Once you get the drum off you can inspect/clean/lube the Parking brake cam as well as the shoes and get a better idea as what your looking at.
