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Thread: Parking brake adjustment?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Morrisville, VT, USA
    Posts
    2,399

    Default Parking brake adjustment?

    What's the secret to taking up the slack in that lousy, so-called, automatic adjuster mechanism? I've gone through the Helm manual method of pushing forward on the cable, while someone stomps the pedal. Thought for a while that I had it, but it didn't pan out. The pads are hardly worn at all. These things are supposed to hold your truck, plus a trailer, facing up a hill, but I'll bet mine wouldn't hold the empty truck, right now!
    2008 Jaco Seneca 35' motor home (Kodiak 5500 chassis). Pulling 18' Wells Cargo enclosed trailer, with 2016 Miata in it.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    1,248

    Default

    I believe that there are still adustments on the backing plates. The main rear brakes are disk, but the parking brakes are shoes that ride inside the drums that are incorperated in the rotors.
    They are hard to get to, I made an angled brake spoon from a heated and bent straight screw driver in orde to hit the star wheels. At least this was the case with my 02 3500. I haven't looked at our 07 yet, but I think they are still using the same axles and brakes. Maybe someone else can chime in and comfirm that. Hope that helps
    0000000

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    New Hampshire - Live Free or Die
    Posts
    6,057

    Default

    Didn't know you could get to them through the backing plate. the "approved" method is to measure the ID of the drum and the OD of the shoe. I forget what the difference is supposed to be. I just turn them up until it's a little tricky to get the disk on and that usually works.
    The Constitution needs to be re-read, not re-written!

    If you can't handle Dr. Seuss, how will you handle real life?

    Current oil burners: MB GLK250 BlueTEC, John Deere X758
    New ride: MB GLS450 - most stately
    Gone but not forgotten: '87 F350 7.3, '93 C2500 6.5, '95 K2500 6.5, '06 K2500HD 6.6, '90 MB 350SDL, Kubota 7510

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Morrisville, VT, USA
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    2,399

    Default

    I forgot to mention that I had taken them up through the backing plates, just before I left VT. You're right, that's not the approved method, for whatever reason. The Helm manual says to take off the drum/rotor, and do the adjusting as described above, but it's not easy either. It also talks about doing this before you do the self-adjusting thing with the pedal. I'm just going by memory, of course, so some of this could be wrong, too.
    Regardless, it's a PITA, for sure.
    Thanks guys.
    2008 Jaco Seneca 35' motor home (Kodiak 5500 chassis). Pulling 18' Wells Cargo enclosed trailer, with 2016 Miata in it.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Myrtlehead, TX
    Posts
    414

    Default Ahhh The ole "Parking Brake" problem

    I have an '02 3500 and until last week I never had a parking brake. Oh there was one there but it was as useless as chicken manure on a pump handle. A year or two after I bought it (new) there was a safety bulletin that mandated a cable replacement because there is no adjustment. After that, instead of the pedal going to the floor, it would stop an inch from the floor and still didn't work.

    Last week I had the rear brakes replaced and the parking brake works fine. I don't know what they did to fix them, the shoes were not replaced and the drum was not turned.

    $560 for a rear brake job but hea... I have 360,000 miles on the truck and these were the originals. 320,000 on the original front pads. I'm not complaining, but it's sure nice having parking brakes with a standard transmission.

    Mike
    2002 GMC, Pretty Dark Blue, 4x4 / 3500, ZF6, 115 gal spare tank and Rockets... (My Other One): Flying Fuel. I got three engines and a 52,000 gallon tank, how many you got?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Morrisville, VT, USA
    Posts
    2,399

    Default

    Max: Thanks, I think you might have answered for both of us. The secret, I think, is to take the adjustment up with the wheels and drum/disks off, and on, while checking fit, just as the Helm manual says. I'm a long ways from those manuals, but if I can muster up enough gumption, I'll jack up one side, and remove the disk and see what I can do with it. I'm not hard up for parking brakes, it works with the empy truck, but with a load, I'm sure they would work like the chicken manure thing you mentioned.
    2008 Jaco Seneca 35' motor home (Kodiak 5500 chassis). Pulling 18' Wells Cargo enclosed trailer, with 2016 Miata in it.

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