E-Brake Adjustment

[SheeB]

So I replaced both emergency brake cables on my '01 and I cannot seem to get them adjusted properly

While I did the cables I also cleaned up the guides, pads, and reset (rewound) the caliper. Started the car and pumped the brake pedal about 10 times to reset the caliper to the pads again. E-Brake was off during this time.

Issue: What is happening is the right rear side cable will tighten up about 1/2 before lever stop point and the tire will not rotate The left side cable bottoms out on the e-brake lever stop and the tire rotates with minimal new drag. With the e-brake off, if I try and push down on the right rear lever it will budge some but with resistance. The left rear lever is easily pushed to the lever stop bar without any resistance When looking at the compensator the left side cable skews way ahead to the left, where as the right side cable stay back and square.

Any tips as to what I am doing wrong here?

 

[[486]]

I've heard that you sometimes need to work the brake handle back and forth to ratchet the parking bits in the caliper up to where they'll work.

On mine I just wound the pistons in with the pin spanner wrench for my angle grinder and slapped new pads in and it seemed to work right away.

 

[SheeB]

I've ratcheted the left rear e-brake lever about 30 times and didn't seem to make a difference. Maybe I should go back at it some more?

I know the rear calipers are both remanufactured and I've had nothing but trouble with them so I am going to look at getting a set of TRW's brand new and be done with them.

 

[[486]]

Huh.

Myself, I'd grab some decent looking junkyard ones, you can test the function before you buy them. Find some with nearly new pads and grab those too.

 

[JB05]

With the cables removed from both sides do the levers retract the same amount? They should both be in a vertical position. Both my rear calipers are remans also and my right side lever did not retract as high as the left side. I did not think too much of it, but the adjustment yoke up front was cocked when I went to tighten the long nut. As a last resort, I removed the right rear lever from the splined shaft and moved it up so that it too was in a vertical position. This required bending the upper stop so that the lever could be relocated on the splined shaft. Now my yoke is even and the hand brake lever clicks about five or six times. I found out also that moving the caliper lever will actually tighten the brake. You will want to avoid doing so.

 

[SheeB]

Yes, the cables both return to the home position. I'm going to check the lever bolt and make sure they're both nice and tight and look again at the lever positioning.