parking brake adjustment

hello , does anyone know how to adjust the parkig brake on the 2002 century.......thanks mike

Look behind and below the gas tank for the parking brake cable and a turnbuckle adjuster. Also, under the rear disc top hat rotors are star adjusters for the C shaped brake pads for each rear wheel. But the wheel and rotor must be removed to adjust these if you have disc brakes on the rear.

My century is a 2000 and i have drum brakes on the back. i had her up on jack stands and had a look at the turnbuckle adjuster, but it was so rusted it was hard to tell what to do with it. Will i find the same star wheels when i take the drums off?

Sorry to bump an old thread, but i really prefer to manage any repairs myself and save costs. Thanks in advance.

welcome to AF. We'll allow the bump since it's dealing with the same subject matter.


Yes the drum brakes on your car have a star wheel adjuster also. The adjuster is located toward the top of the shoes just under the wheel cylinder, rather than on the bottom as on most cars. There is an oval shaped access hole in the backing plate near the rear wheel bearing upper mounting bolt that may either have a rubber grommet in it or may need to be knocked out to gain access to the star-wheel without taking the drum off.

Thank you very much for your response. I have since my last post found the access hole but it is very awkward to get at. I'm thinking that if i could figure out just how to adjust the cable linkage instead that might be easier. Unfortunately it is pretty rusted and very difficult to see just how to adjust it. I gave it a couple good shots with penetrating oil but havn't had another go yet. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

With drum brakes, you have to have the brake shoes adjusted first before you can adjust the parking brake. The disc set-up uses a c-shaped special shoe that contacts the inner hat section of the rear rotor. The rear drum set-up uses the same shoes as the brakes, so if they are out of adjustment, you'll not be able to adjust the parking brake. If the cables are slack, you can adjust that out at the turnbuckle if you can free up the rust, but they still wouldn't hold the car in place if the brake shoes are too far from the drum.

Okay. Thank you for that info. maybe i will just let my mechanic do it then :)