Parking Brake

I have a 2001 Denali, my Uncle has a 2002 Chevy Silverado, and my friend has a 2001 Yukon SLT and we have all noticed that our parking brakes have not worked ever...Just wondering if anyone else has this problem and if so to see if anyone has a fix for it cause our friend got stuck on the boat launch ramp because of a torque locked transmission from the weight. When i push the pedal it goes all the way to the floor and if the tranny is in neutral the truck just rolls away. so i need to do something quick.

I have the same problem. Did anyone came back with a solution?

Sorry no one has posted a solution or e-mailed me with one. As soon as i have one i will post it though!!

I'm having the same problem. The pedal goes to the floor with the parking brake cable adjusted as tight as it will go. The dealership is telling me that there is a separate set of pads for the parking brake actuator. I haven't seen that in other rear disk systems. They are telling me that it is about a $350 repair on a vehicle still under warranty (friction surfaces not under warranty).

Is there really a separate set of pads for the parking brake???

Yes it is true that there are seperate brakes for the parking brake. Don't know why GM did this but they did, there is an actual small drum brake inside the rear wheel brakes that are for the parking brake purpose. they are crap and do not work and they were only designed to hold about 1200rpm new. The first time you drive off with it on, even slightly, they are shot. My Uncle told me this about a week ago, he works in the service department at a Chevy Dealer. He also told me that they do not have a solution to it because it isn't a warranty item even though it is more of a hazard to people than the folding seats in the second row that have a recall because someone pinched their fingers?

Howdy all,

With 110,000 hi-way miles on our 2001 Yukon Denai XL, the emergency brake bracket that attaches the pads to the drum on the drivers side has failed twice due to the poor design that suspends the pads allowing them to vibrate, fatique, and then break allowing the pads to fall inside the drum and then score/cut a grove in the drum causing it to be replaced. The first time this happened I thought it was a fluke as I never heard any noise coming from the wheels. On the passenger side the pads are mounted at the bottom of the drum reducing the vibration. Because I never use the emergency brake, and the repair/replacement is expensive, until I find a solution I have removed the pad assemblys from both drums. Dealers only shrugg their shoulders and say it is a poor design!!! Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a solution? You may want to have your parking brakes inspected. As I said, you don't hear the damage happening and it is expensive to repair.

Thank-you,

Jas. Hoppa

We have just found out that we have the exact same issue as you, Hoppa. We actually had a slight noise that we had investigated by a non-dealer repair shop, who told us the exact problem you describe above. This repair shop told us that his was the 5th one this month they have worked on with the same problem. When we went to the dealer, they said they had never heard of the problem. We got an extended warranty, but my guess is that this will not be covered. So, in order to get the vehicle back quickly and without the usual headaches we have at the local dealer, we will probably just shell out the cash and get it over with. Too bad you pay so much for a vehicle only to get poor design and poor service.

There is a tech bulletin on this issue.
It includes new shoes and retainers and a new adjustment procedure.
I have had great sucess with it so far.
I own a 02 Serria w/ 47000 miles on it and have never had a problem with my parking brakes.

I have a 2002 Suburban with a parking brake problem as well. I just bought it from the first owner and it never occured to me to try the parking brake and when I did, boy was I surprised. No tension at all on it. When I asked the original owner, he said they'd never used it once.

Now, every so often we also get the parking brake warning light and chime going off sporadically...only at first start up. Then after 3-5 minutes, it turns off. Anyone else have this problem?

GMMerlin, you said there's a tech bulletin on this issue now? I'm not sure what a "tech bulletin" entails, but it does sound official. :) Before I head to the dealer clutching my wallet, I thought I'd check you with you fine folk first.

I have a 2002 Suburban with a parking brake problem as well. I just bought it from the first owner and it never occured to me to try the parking brake and when I did, boy was I surprised. No tension at all on it. When I asked the original owner, he said they'd never used it once.

Now, every so often we also get the parking brake warning light and chime going off sporadically...only at first start up. Then after 3-5 minutes, it turns off. Anyone else have this problem?

GMMerlin, you said there's a tech bulletin on this issue now? I'm not sure what a "tech bulletin" entails, but it does sound official. :) Before I head to the dealer clutching my wallet, I thought I'd check you with you fine folk first.

Steve

Regarding the 2002 Suburban warning parking light and chime going off, it might help to mention the following for diagnosing my problem:

- the previous owner had the dealer check out the brakes the day before I purchased the car. The diagnosis was that the brake pads looked only about half worn.

- the ABS light is NOT on

- pressing and releasing the parking break does not deactivate the alarm. It seems to have a mind of its own as to when it wants to turn off. As stated before, it usually takes 3-5 minutes of driving.

- It does not happen every start up...maybe half the time. When it does happen, the parking brake warning light flashes immediately AT startup, and turning off the engine, restarting; or just turning off the key and back to on position does not remedy it. :banghead:

All of this started soon after I decided to test the parking brake!

Suggestions?

Thanks!

Steve

A tech bulletin is information sent to us by the engineers on fixes for some product problems....may include revisions on diagnostic procedures, new parts or change in operation of a system.
When we in the field see a certain problem, we send in a report to GM, they do research and develop a correction....
This by no means makes a repair a warranty issue for the consumer, but a way for us to improve customer satisfaction and confidence in our product.

What may be happening is the parking brake and cable are out of adjustment or stuck bad enough to engage the switch causing the light and chime to activate.

Thanks for your reply GMMerlin,

As I read your post, I have two questions:

1. Parking brake adjustment... With ABS and rear disc brakes (knowing that the parking brake uses a drum on the rear wheel hub), can a parking brake on a 2002 Suburban still be adusted by the reverse/brake, reverse/brake method? Or does it need to happen manually?

2. Where is the switch that activates the parking brake warning light located? They used to be right there by the pb pedal. I didn't find one there.

Thanks,

Steve

As I read your post, I have two questions:

1. Parking brake adjustment... With ABS and rear disc brakes (knowing that the parking brake uses a drum on the rear wheel hub), can a parking brake on a 2002 Suburban still be adusted by the reverse/brake, reverse/brake method? Or does it need to happen manually?


There is no self adjuster assembly in the park brake system..it has to be adjusted manually

2. Where is the switch that activates the parking brake warning light located? They used to be right there by the pb pedal. I didn't find one there.

It is located on the park brake ratchet assembly...if the return spring or cables are misadjusted, it may allow the pedal to fall enough to engage the switch

Hey GMMerlin,

To adjust parking brake, do I need to remove rear wheels, caliper and rotor to adjust? In the good ol' days, we'd go through the backside (inside wheel hub housing) brake adjustment hole to access the hub brake adjusters.

Regarding the warning light and chime, strangely enough, it seems that it only wants to go off when the car is cold (first thing in the morning) and turns off after the car warms up a bit. Surely that can't be related to the warning signal, but that's when it happens so far.

Thanks for your replies,

Steve

i just bought my 2001 yukonxl so i am still getting familar with its systems. the parking brake always felt weird but i thought it was just the way gmc did it. per owners manual, one does not just push down on the parking brake but first you must push down on the regular brake and then press down with the parking brake. the parking brake goes all the way to the floor without any resistance...which i am not used to. when i checked it on an incline in neutral the park was holding, it just feels weird having it go all the way to floor without any resistance. is this normal or do i have something wrong here?

In upgrading my 1991 C1500 truck to rear disc brakes, I used a complete 2001 Yucon assembly (with the intergrated e-brake drum in the rotor). Since I believe that the parking brake problem may not be addressed by GM, I have decided to do the following:

1. Remove the shoes,
2. Have Hi-performance material (Ceramic/Carbon, if possible) bonded/riveted on the stripped shoes from a brake rebuilder.
Note: The "Organic" OEM material can be removed with a big screw driver!
3. Drill a small hole in the bottom area of the backing plate to allow the brake matgerial to fall out as it come of the shoes (i.e., a dust hole).

Some may want to use rubber plugs for this and at given periods, blow air into the hole to clear the dust.

4. Shorten the e-brake cable to allow for min. engagement. This initial condition will change as the brakes wear and alert me to check/recheck the dust hole.

Steps 1,2 & 4 are the min that should be done or new $140 ea rear rotors (+ labor) are in your future budget. I hope this helps some and is at least informative for all.
Gary

Hi GMMerlin, I know I'm a little bit late but I just found out about this internet site. So, i also bought a 02 Suburban Z71 and wondered why the parking break goes all the way through down to the bottom. I replaced the shoes and read in the repair manual that the breake will adjust automatically. So I turned the adjustment screws all the way in (since the pads were new) and pushed the pedal multiple times. Unfortunately I never found a way to get the parking break working to hold the car at an incline. Can you help since it seems that you have a serious solution? Thanks, Hans

I'm trying to collapse my SSBC brand e-brake rear caliper and it won't move. I'v tried turning the piston clockwise and counter cw. No amount of pressure seems to move it. I've removed the cable and return spring from the caliper with no success. Help!!

I have a 2001 GMC Denali and have the same problem as well. Unfortunately for me, I tow a 28ft travel trailer and when camping on a hill, i'm really concerned about not having an Ebrake. Right now I just chock the wheels.

I just came inside after changing the back brakes, both the disc and the parking brake. After putting on brand new pads, I thought to myself there has to be something I am doing wrong when it still did not work. Well after reading here I am not the only one that has this issue.

I looked all over for an adjustment for the ebrake but found nothing. I am going to take both wheels back off and adjust the dial as far as it can go without binding on the rotor and see how that goes. It's a shame you pay this much for a vehicle and it does not have an ebrake. No wonder everyone is going with an import now.

As you can see I'm pretty pissed about this whole thing since I depend on my ebrakes and it seems there is nothing you can do. I am also thinking about buying new rotors since the older ones may be too worn in now. We'll see.

If this does not work, I'll post up and try to start a class action lawsuit, I'm sure there are a lot more out there that have these same issues.

Anthony

It will work, there actually is a measuring device used to set the e brake adjustment based in the drum width, I set mine for a slight drag. This thread is way to old, as of now it is closed.