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Re: Parking Brake?? Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Parking Brake??, 94'9000, Wed, 31 Mar 2004 06:31:05 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
There are two adjustments.
At the rear brake- there is an allen (7mm?) on the BACK of each rear caliper. This is hidden behind a hex bolt head. Remove the hex bolt on the back of the caliper, and the allen is recessed below it. This allen is used to retract the piston. If you try to just push the piston back in (like you'd do with a front brake), you'll destroy it. One of the great "Read The Manual" issues.
When your replace the brake pads, you pop the parking brake cable off the arm on the rear caliper. You turn the allen to retract the caliper piston, so you can get the new ones in. Once the caliper with the new pads is on, you screw the allen in until the piston moves and the brake pads just contact the rotor, then back it out a 1/4 turn.
If your parking brake isn't working, there are a few possibilities. If it never worked, perhaps the allen wasn't adjusted when the pads were last replaced. That should have self-adjusted by now. Of course, if your rear calipers have no pads left, or are frozen/siezed, the rear brakes won't be working, via brake pedal or handbrake. Since you probably wouldn't notice that the rears aren't working using the pedal (the fronts do most of the work), you wouldn't know.
First, inspect the rears - make sure there is pad left, and that the brakes work. If the rotors are all rusted up, chances are the brakes aren't working, as the pads would scour them clean. At a minimum, jack up (and support) the rear, and have someone step on the brake pedal to make sure the rears don't turn.
Next, make sure the handbrake cable is attached to the lever on the back of each caliper. When the handbrake is pulled up, the cable should move and pull the .
Next, you should be able to turn the rear wheel freely (it is still jacked up). Now, reach behind and push the handbrake lever on the back of the caliper. The wheel should be hard to turn. If it doesn't affect the wheel, then the internal handbrake mechanism in the caliper is broken. Probably due to someone trying to push the caliper piston in with a c-clamp, not using the allen screw.
Let's assume you haven't found anything wrong up to now. If you have, fix it. Pull up the handbrake lever - the surround for the handle (the bit with bristles) is held in place with a torx screw at the front. Check the back, too. Remove the surround - it's just a long, narrow bit with a bristled slot where the lever goes. At the back of the lever you'll see two fat (long) nuts each with a slotted threaded bolt coming through. That bolt attaches to the end of each handbrake cable (one for each wheel). You tighten the cable by holding the slotted bolt stationary while turning the nut clockwise. Don't hold the nut stationary while turning the slotted bolt - you'll twist and kink the cable. A quarter turn of the cable is OK, just don't spin it around.
The proper adjustment for the handbrake is that the wheel should turn freely with the handbrake off (down), and the wheel should be hard to turn with the handbrake up 3 clicks. That's ideal - do what you can, as long as it's easy to turn the wheel with the handbrake off. Each wheel adjust individually.
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