Parking Brake Help 2003 Yukon

Hi,

GMC Yukon 2003
Engine Type Votec 5300 (I think. 8th letter of my VIN is "Z" and it's not listed in the engine specs part of my manual)
about 50 K miles on it.

Issue: When I push my parking brake down it goes directly to the floor. It just started doing this. I checked the cable from the brake pedal to the bracket and it's good. Doesn't look stretched out or worn. The bracket is in good shape and the two cables from there to the rear disc brakes are good. No visible wear and when the brake is pushed down, the little latch thing on the back of side of the rotor engages all the way.

However, the truck will still roll with no resistance with it on. I did tighten the nut that connects the cable from the pedal to the bracket. There is minimal play in the cables when I "twang" them.

I don't really understand the parking brake but I am wondering how to check the pad, if that's what is on the back side of that rotor and how do I adjust it or change it etc? Or is there maybe something else wrong? I prefer to fix this myself for educational purposes. I have an extended warranty on it and am still well within it.

I appreciate the help up front. :banghead:

Actually there is a parking brake "shoe" on each side of the truck. To check it you need to remove the rotors and you will see a horseshoe shaped brake shoe. Most likely the friction material has disintegrated away. this seems to be a common problem at my shop. The parking brake doesn't wear out it just dries up and the friction material falls off leaving nothing for the brake to grab the inside of the rotor with, hence your rolling problem. The other flaw in the design is that the spreader only will push the park shoe out a little bit, so if the shoe is worn or missing part of the friction material it will not expand enough to lock the brake sufficiently.

Thanks for the info Joe. I'll check that out when I get home. How hard is it to change those things? I would assume it would along the lines of changing the brake pads themselves but again, still trying to educate myself on this.

Are there any special tools I would need? Thanks