dbullen

I know it sounds lame but I can't find the adjustment for the parking brake......its not back by the rear wheel and when i follow the cable forward It disapeers , does it go through the passenger compartment? what I thought was going to be such an easy thing to do turned on me. any insight will be apprieciated, thanks

Don Mason

My haynes manual says that the parking brake is self adjusting. But if the lever travel is excessive or the brake will not hold the vehicle, the parking brake shoes may need to be adjusted or replaced. Hope this is of some help. -Don

baskerj

Don, what are parking brake shoes? I've always wondered how parking brakes work on 4-wheel disc brakes. I know in rear drum cars it just uses the rear drums (and shoes) with a manual cable attached to it, but I've never really examined a rear-disc configuration for a parking brake. It sounds like you know exactly how it works...can you explain it to us?

Don Mason

Wish I could help you out more on this... but all I have is what is in my Haynes manual. I recommend picking up one of these to anyone attempting to do any work on their vehicle. There is a detailed section relating to parking brake shoe adjustment/replacement in the manual but it referes to a couple of different sections in the manual and would be diffocult to type everything out in here. Also the illistrations in the book are a big advantage. Hope this helps, -Don

lt2000

The parking brake shoes are inside the rear disc.
gary

baskerj

So the rear discs (rotor?) are also drum brakes for the emergency part then? I just figured they were like any other normal rotor. Hmm...I'll have to take a look at them.

Thanks

yar02169

Just last week I was replacing all four rotors on my 02 w/35,000 miles. When I got to the rears, I saw two threaded holes in the rotor, simply thread in 2 10mm bolts and tighten away, the rotor starts to move off the hub. Once the bolts reached thread end, the rotor was loose but would not come off. I removed the removal bolts and started a little tug-of-war with the rotor. Finally it broke free, and I then realized the e-brake shoes. Interesting concept, but unless the brake is used as a brake occasionally, the 'drum' rots away just like the rest of the rotor. I had absolutely no braking surface visible, just rust bubbles.
Since it is obvious I don't use the e-brake to much, the shoes were in good enough condition not to need replacement (but w/35k miles, I shouldn't be replacing any of the brakes yet). One thing a book may be helpful on is the installation of the shoe. The shoe is best described as the letter "C" rotated with the open end at the top. The open part slips into the wheel cylinder, but at the bottom I had a question. The bottom has a little metal flange/clip type of thing sitting there. The shoes can either be 'hooked' to this clip thing or sit free. Since I didn't see how the shoe was positioned when it fell off when the rotor broke free, I did one shoe clipped and the other unclipped. It feels like there is drag, but I can't tell which side. Unless someone knows the proper install method, I'll have to check both again and see which one is dragging.