99 Silverado Parking Brake Problems

splat10 · June 3, 2008

I already posted this in the full size forum but i'm hoping I'll get some new eyes here.

My Parking brake hasn't been working for some time now and it's time for inspection which requires the brake to hold the truck with some gas applied here in NY. I first started off with just new shoes, tappet, and adjuster screws. No matter how tight i adjusted the shoes I couldn't get it to hold. Next i put on new rotors as well. Still can't get it to hold. There is some resistance but not enough to matter. I checked the cable operation and they seem to be moving ok. The tappet is extending about 1/8-3/16" when the pedal is applied (if i do it with the rotor off to see). I tried tightening the bracket where the main cable spits to two but it's frozen up pretty good and looks to be screwed all the way down anyway.

I'm completely baffled and quite a bit frustrated. Any help would be much appreciated. It's almost like there just isn't any friction in these new shoes (Advance Auto specials).

thanks

Jackson · June 3, 2008

mine does the same thing. I finally found an inspection guy that ignores it. I mean, the parking break holds but other places will put it in drive to see if it will surge then fail it.

who the heck puts their truck in drive when you apply the parking break? besides, my truck is an automatic. I just put the transmission in park. I've never used the parking break otherwise.

splat10 · June 9, 2008

any ideas?

markw8 · June 10, 2008

have you tried to adjust the cable under the truck? Otherwise there would have to be something wrong that your just not seeing. I put new pads & rotors on mine but only had to adjust the old shoes, and they hold fine. Mark.

jon99z71 · June 11, 2008

I had the same problem with my truck, 99 (new style).Someone had driven the truck with the parking brake on and completely wore out the shoes. I replaced them, adjusted them and the pedal went right to the floor, but wouldn't hold the truck.

What you have to do is with the drivers door open, kneel down on the ground with your head under the dash, reach under the truck with your left hand and grab the parking brake cable and pull it from the pedal, it should move a couple of inches. There is a mecanism inside the parking brake pedal that will move and alow you to put a small screwdriver through a slot to stop the mecanism from returning. You will see the slot, it is close to you while your under the dash looking at the parking brake, 1/2" long by about 1/8" wide, you may need a light. When you pull on the cable and look through the slot you'll see the mecanism move and allow you to put the screwdriver in to hold it. Once the screwdriver is in, relese the cable from your hand, the cable should be lose and sagging. Now remove the rear wheels, calipers, caliper braket and rotors. Adjust the shoes until they drag slightly on the inside of the rotor, you'll have to pull the rotors on and off a few times to get it right. The correct clearance is .026" you need a special tool to measure this but don't worry just adjust them till you can just slightly feel them drag. Once you have adjusted them, put the rotors, caliper brackets, calipers and wheels back on, kneel down and pull the parking brake cable from the pedal to release the presure from the screwdriver, remove the screwdriver and release the cable. Now you should have a good stiff pedal and it should hold the truck.

Hope this helps.

splat10 · September 23, 2008

Thought I'd post my solution as it's taken a long time to get it. Finally found that both cables were not functioning well enough in their sheaves. Replaced one cable that was siezed up. It moved enough that I thought it was working but not enough. It started working a little so i replaced the other one and bingo. Brake holds good again.

Thanks for all the help!

C6Racer · September 24, 2008

Is your Silverado the newer body style? The parking brakes on the NBS trucks use what's called a "Low Effort" system. That means even when they are properly adjusted, the pedal should still go all the way to the floor, but hold the truck no problem.

By the way, you should ALWAYS use your parking brake. When you realize what actually holds the truck when it's in park you will wonder why you ever trusted it. When I park my truck I always put the trans in neutral, apply the parking brake, take my foot off the service brake pedal so all the weight will be on the p-brakes, and THEN put it in park. I hate the idea of all 5,000lbs of truck bouncing on the little 1/8" thick rod, that holds the park pawl in place, when I let my foot off the service brake pedal.