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HOW-TO: Parking E-Brake Adjustment

130K views 156 replies 112 participants last post by  eeeeee12  
#1 · (Edited)
Disclaimer: I have provided the following information and pictures out of the kindness of my heart. i assume no responsibility if you mess something up, break something, break your car, injure yourself, somehow die or otherwise f*** something up as a result of reading or attempting this.

What youll need:
- Jack
- Jack stands
- Medium sized standard screw driver
- Some good lighting (trebel light or powerful flashlight)
- Wheel chocks
- Creeper (makes life easier)

Step 1: Park on a level surface, leave the car in gear and leave the parking brake completley disengaged.

Step 2: Chock the front wheels

Step 3: Jack up the rear end of the car, supporting it on jackstands
-note, it was suggested you hand rotate the wheels with the parking brake off to get a feel for how the wheels should feel when freely spinning so you do not over tighten the brake.

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Step 4: Scoot under the car and locate the oval shaped rubber plug covering the hole accessing the disc brake caliper adapter. Remove them and put them somewhere you wont lose them. (They are located on the inside of the brake assembly at the bottom.)

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Step 5: Adjust the left (driver's side) wheel as follows:
A. Inside the access hole, there is a star wheel just above the spring. Use the screw driver, inserting it through the access hole, turn the star wheel downward until a slight drag is noticed when rotating the rear tire.
B. Rotate the star wheel upward no more than 1 or 2 clicks, backing the brake shoe off the drum just enough to allow for rotation of the wheel.
C. Reinstall the oval rubber plug.

Step 6: Adjust the right (passanger's side) wheel as follows (slightly different than the left)
A: Inside the access hole, there is a star wheel just above the spring. Use the screw driver, inserting it through the access hole, turn the star wheel upward until a slight drag is noticed when rotating the rear tire.
B. Rotate the star wheel downward no more than 1 or 2 clicks, backing the brake shoe off the drum just enough to allow for rotation of the wheel.
C. Reinstall the oval rubber plug.

Step 7: With the wheels slightly off the ground (if you were using a full vehicle lift, which i obvously was not, lower the car)

Step 8: Reach into the car and fully apply the parking brake and release it two times. Fully apply the parking brake once more and leave it engaged.

Step 9: With the parking brake fully engaged, attempt to rotate each rear wheel by hand to ensure the parking brakes on each side are engaging. There should be no movement.

Step 10: Fully release the parking brake.

Step 11: Hand rotate each wheel, ensuring there is no drag caused by the parking brake shoes. (you may need to readjust the brakes as necessary, repeating steps 4 thru 11.)

Step 12: Remove the jackstands and wheel chocks.
 
#157 ·
I have a problem... I fixed my parking brake: new shoes, hardware, cables and I had to drill holes through the bottom of the car and run bolts through to hold the steel down that the parking brake lever assembly sits on because the spot welds were broken and it would bend upward when I pulled on the lever so the lever would hit the console and the ebrake didn't work. So it's all there, and it works great now but I can't get the console back on because the parking brake lever won't go high enough to go through the hole in the console. Is there some trick to get the console back on over the parking brake lever without loosening up the adjustments a lot to allow the lever to go more vertical to get it through the hole?
 
#156 ·
I just did this today after installing new parking brake shoes and also new hubs, rotors, and pads.. I still have to pull my handle to where it almost touches the arm rest in order for it to be fully engaged. Is this normal? I mean it works and isn't lifting the arm rest up anymore lol but I thought it would be much lower engagement
 
#152 ·
Not necessarily, some peoples brakes might still be in good shape... if you keep having to adjust, thats when you should get into replacing. The way it sounds to me is you're thinking if you do this once you should replace the rotors/shoes.

Oh and I just got an 04 thats hitting the console, i will be trying this first thing in the morning. Hopefully it works for me.