Can't get E-brake adjusted (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
May 12, 2015
Threads
78
Messages
2,564
Location
Bakersfield, Ca
New rear pads and rotors, parking brake pads were fine.
Adjusted out to where they're just touching the rotors and can't get any kind of stopping out of them.

Maybe the cable is stretched, is there a way to adjust that out?
Do you do it at the handle side or at each wheel?
 
Hey fellow Bakersfieldian,

I just adjusted mine yesterday. It used to take like 13 clicks and it would barely hold my truck on my driveway.
I only adjusted from the rear wheels, nothing inside.

I pulled the handle 3 clicks, then adjusted the star nut on each side until i couldn’t turn it any more. I believe the passenger side I turned the wheel up to tighten and the driver side I turned the wheel down to tighten. I double checked to make sure it wasn’t binding when I released the hand brake. Everything is good to go now. Holds the truck great and I get 8 clicks and I have to really pull hard to get it.
 
Was following some posts in this thread. So is he saying to turn the start adjuster until it's tight, then back off a few.

-take off the wheels,
- line up the hole at the bottom (that hole sometimes has a rubber plug in it-one fell out in mine), there is a toothed cog there
- you take a flathead screwdriver and flip the teeth up (turning the starwheel)
- do it all the way tight and then back it off a few clicks
- you can pull the e brake handle to see how tight it is.

 
The procedure/adjustment also assumes the ebrake mechanism is functioning properly. I just did my brakes so I adjusted the ebrake, but little did I know that one of the bell cranks was seized up (didn't check it at the time). Maybe check to ensure your bell cranks are freely moving as you set and release the ebrake handle.
 
Was following some posts in this thread. So is he saying to turn the start adjuster until it's tight, then back off a few.

-take off the wheels,
- line up the hole at the bottom (that hole sometimes has a rubber plug in it-one fell out in mine), there is a toothed cog there
- you take a flathead screwdriver and flip the teeth up (turning the starwheel)
- do it all the way tight and then back it off a few clicks
- you can pull the e brake handle to see how tight it is.

It is all explained in agonizing detail in the factory service manual.
Factory service manuals are free to download from the resources section.
 
I went scorched earth and replaced everything with my parking brake. Every spring, clip, nut, and bracket, and the pads too of course. It was all still available last year, I'd recommend getting bits while you can if you really want to fix this for the long term. A really important part in my case was replacing the cable itself. Mine was stretched, and didn't give me enough adjusting at the handle to make it tight enough until I replaced it with a factory new one.
 
Just went out and tried adjusting again with tightening the cable up some at the handle.

Can get it to hold now but just barely with it pretty much maxed out. Might look into a new cable then
 
I went scorched earth and replaced everything with my parking brake. Every spring, clip, nut, and bracket, and the pads too of course. It was all still available last year, I'd recommend getting bits while you can if you really want to fix this for the long term. A really important part in my case was replacing the cable itself. Mine was stretched, and didn't give me enough adjusting at the handle to make it tight enough until I replaced it with a factory new one.

Just looked it up, mentions you have to drop the gas tank to replace the cable?
 
Just went out and tried adjusting again with tightening the cable up some at the handle.

Can get it to hold now but just barely with it pretty much maxed out. Might look into a new cable then
You might want to consider the pads too, just to be sure. Mine had plenty of meat left on them, but they were glazed and not grabbing as well as they should. There are things you can do to mitigate that somewhat, but if you can afford the new pads, it's worth doing while you can get them. That material isn't good forever, and a lot of these rigs are 30 years old now or close to. That's past the working life these pads were designed for.
 
Just looked it up, mentions you have to drop the gas tank to replace the cable?
I'm in Australia with a RHD model, so my 80 is a bit different to yours. I didn't have to remove anything else to change my cable, even with a sub-tank, but it's possible the situation is different different for the LHD versions.
 
Now that you mention it the shoes could be an issue.

They were covered in oil for who knows how long, cleaned them but it's probably not enough
 
My shoes were dry with plenty of meat on them, fully adjusted they still would not hold, so I threw on some aftermarket shoes (Igot in a hurry)still no go or should I say no stop,ordered some OEM shoes now the parking brake works as it should.
 
My shoes were dry with plenty of meat on them, fully adjusted they still would not hold, so I threw on some aftermarket shoes (Igot in a hurry)still no go or should I say no stop,ordered some OEM shoes now the parking brake works as it should.

weird I wonder what the issue was with the aftermarket because I bought some lol

we'll see
 
For one thing they were not as wide as OEM so less holding Area. My guess is the material was not as of high quality.
 
Just looked it up, mentions you have to drop the gas tank to replace the cable?
The cable is routed over the gas tank in US models. I replaced my gas tank recently and had to work around the cable and make sure it was not getting pinched. You *might* be able to push the cable through from the rear (after removing the old one from the rear) without dropping the tank (though you may have to loosen it a bit which is almost as much trouble) but I haven't taken a look to see what is on the end that connects to the handle. There might be a C-clip type thing on the thank that the cable housing clips into, but it is more of a guide than a retention device I believe.
 
X2 on the bell cranks. They're aluminum and steel and have serious corrosion issues if not well maintained. They need to be able to move smoothly and freely. Ditto the pivot on the axle housing where the parking brake cable is mounted. Clean and lube everything well.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom