What Am I Doing Wrong?

[RED7218]

Working on a 02 Suburban with typical E brake problem.. Replaced shoes TWICE, new rotors, new style clips, and adjuster hardware. Adjusted the shoes until they drag slightly, run the park brake pedal to the floor and they won't hold... added a spacer to the main cable at the equalizer and adjusted the cables up as tight as I can get them. They drag enough that I can not turn them by hand, but as soon as you put the truck into gear they slip like they're not engaged at all. The cables don't seem to be seized or anything. I don't get it.

 

I 've heard people talk about how bad these setups are, but I drive a 2000 silverado with the same set up and they work awesome. I can push the pedal about a quarter of the way down and it's like my truck is bolted to the ground, even on my dad's 30 degree driveway I know this setup works without a doubt. The whole bad design thing doesn't hold water.

 

The only thing I didn't do was lockout adjuster in the pedal itself.... could that cause this?? I even swapped one side of my brake parts to the suburban to no avail.

 

ANy Ideas???

[spock]

One of the cables may be too long. The pedal shouldn't go all the way to the floor before it starts to grab. Mine goes about a quarter of the travel and starts grabbing, about halfway it holds great. Love my rear discs.

[RED7218]

One of the cables may be too long. The pedal shouldn't go all the way to the floor before it starts to grab. Mine goes about a quarter of the travel and starts grabbing, about halfway it holds great. Love my rear discs.

 

I agree that it should start grabbing at about a quarter of the way down, and it starts to grab but not enough.. With the low effort pedal you can push the pedal to the floor even when the system is functioning properly. (I know, my wife does it to my silverado every time she drives it. ) The problem is that its apparently not applying enough pressure to the shoes?? I 've tighened cables to the point I bent one of the treaded adjuster ?buttons? but the brakes just don't hold. At idle, in drive, on jack stands, parking brake engaged, rotors bolted on, They just spin and spin,

 

I adjusted the shoes up till you can barely get the rotors on and I even put a spacer on the main cable at the equalizer so I can tigthen it past the point I run out of threads.. I just don't see the problem... ARGHHH!!

[RED7218]

ALSO.....

 

This is a southern truck, so its not a rusty POS. Everything is in pristine condition...

[PhilB]

Check this topic about the e-brakes. http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=552317

 

Hope this helps you.

[RED7218]

Check this topic about the e-brakes. http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=552317

 

Hope this helps you.

 

Thanks PJ for the reading material. It would appear that people are having success repairing them using straight forward techniques. I've tried everything they've mentioned to no avail. We've taken this thing apart and reassembled it so many times I can do it in my sleep and have..

 

I wish I had a detail veiw of the actuation lever and adjuster parts located at each wheel. It seems like the cables and everything is moving properly its just not applying the leverage..

[frupp]

Red: is the inside of the rotor assembly (the "hat") where the e-brake shoes contact worn or grooved from the shoes rubbing against the drum?

 

I had this same problem with my 2000 Suburban. I could adjust the shoes until they dragged but they wouldn't hold the car. Then when I took everything apart to check out why and replace the shoes, I found that a previous owner must have run the car for who know how long with the e-brake engaged. The shoes had worn a groove at least one-half an inch deep into the drum. I couldn't adjust the shoes tight enough to get them to adequately grab even thought they would drag. The only solution was new rear rotors which I never did install.

 

Good luck.

[RED7218]

Nope we've replaced the rotors, two different brands of shoes, adjusters, clips springs, push rods . The only parts that have not been replaced are the actuation levers, the cables ETC

[DanJS10]

I used to have a 2004 Silverado and I replaced the front and rear discs with slotted discs from SSBC. I did not replace the e-brake shoes though. The first time I set the E-brake it did not hold at all. I called my friend, who is a GM Tech, and he said to put the truck in drive, set the parking brake and wait for it to slow the truck down, basically de-glazing the surface that the parking brake shoes grab onto. After doing this a few times the parking brake was just like new. Hopefully this helps you out...

[birdman7389]

Known issue. We had a 2002 Avalanche that did the same thing. They just wear out instantly. We lived with no e-brake. The alternative was to try mo make some other brake setup work...

[RED7218]

rust preventative!!!!.....Genius..... that makes as more sense than anything I can come up with. I'll try that and let you know. Thanks DS

 

 

I also thought I might use a ratchet strap to pull forward on the rear cables at the equalizer to set the parking brake thus eliminating the low effort peddle assembly.

[RED7218]

Birdman, thanks for responding. Alot of people feel the same way, but I happen to have 2000 silverado that has the exact same setup that works awesome. Has for years manual truck so I use it all the time. Its just like the old Corvette set up..

[alvocado]

I bought a Dorman rebuild kit for around $20 and replaced the star wheel assembly on mine. It still didn't work well due to an issue where the brake wouldn't hold and the pedal would occasionally stop before going all the way to the floor. It's normal operation for the pedal to push completely to the floor since these are self adjusting. I found that the actuator lever on the back side of the brake was hitting the rear frame rail and not fully extending the assembly. I removed and reassembled the assembly and was able to adjust the actuator position to allow full range of motion and the brake now holds great.

[RED7218]

I was passing through and thought I would give you the the final recap on this deal... My freind's wife was in a big hurry to get this through inspection so she could start driving it. So....(defeated) he allowed his wife to take it to the dealership before we could try to seat the shoes like DSGMC08 recommended. They charged her $198.00 to fully activate the ebrake (peddle to the floor) and take a huge pry bar to cables it to take all the slack out of it. Two person fix apparently not listed in the service manual... They said that this is the only way they've found to get them to work. Although They held just barely good enough to get it through inspection..

 

I think that once it gets driven for a while it they will seat like DS said and they will work fine. This kind of makes since everyone I talked to kept saying that "You've got to use them all the time or they'll stop working" The axle seal is confined in the same cavity as the Ebrake shoes and I could see how a little normal sepage from the seal and road grim could build up on the shoes/ drum and prevent them from working..

 

Next time I talk to him, I'll post and report how they are working.

[RED7218]

I bought a Dorman rebuild kit for around $20 and replaced the star wheel assembly on mine. It still didn't work well due to an issue where the brake wouldn't hold and the pedal would occasionally stop before going all the way to the floor. It's normal operation for the pedal to push completely to the floor since these are self adjusting. I found that the actuator lever on the back side of the brake was hitting the rear frame rail and not fully extending the assembly. I removed and reassembled the assembly and was able to adjust the actuator position to allow full range of motion and the brake now holds great.

 

 

Yeah I figured that out .. I had to make sure the actuator levers were pushed all the way in while you adjust out the slack so they stay seated properly on the self adjuster. We replaced the star wheels too.

 

The driver's side was hitting the upper control arm bracket on the rear end right??? (Suburban)