Thread: Parking brake is now shot.......

So yesterday I was about to leave a store and had my parking brake on. It hasn't been working that good for the last couple months. If I'm on a decent hill it will continue to roll. So anyhow, when I went to disengage the parking brake, it wouldn't. I kept trying but to no avail. Something was bound up or whatever and it wouldn't release.

So I had to drive it home, thankfully only a couple miles away. Got home and took the right rear wheel off. That appears to be the only wheel that was even holding the first place. I'm guessing the other side is too far worn down.

I grabbed a pliers and played with the actuator and found that it was bound up. It released and now the parking brake is free. I sprayed some WD 40 over everything to make sure it moves nicely and it doesn't seem to be binding up anymore.

Now the problem is the parking brake won't hold my car at all. If the car is jacked up the right rear wheel will not turn by hand, but on the ground it won't stop the car.

I have the GM service manual and have read up completely on how to replace (if necessary, hopefully not) and also how to adjust.

My question is, without removing everything and getting a "J tool" can I just jack it up and tighten down the adjustment screw until just before it grabs? Where is the adjustment screw?

Also, I know you have to relieve tension via the equalizer nut on the cable, can this just be tightened down?

Any help or information is greatly appreciated !

there is a star wheel to adjust the e brakes, we got that drum brake set up for a e brake, so they adjust just like a old drum brakes.

there is a hole with a rubber plug in the brakes backing plate, remove that plug, and stick a large flat bladed screw driver in the hole and turn the star wheel. it will only turn one way, so turn it a like one or 2 full turns and then test it.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot and see if I can get away with just that !

if worst comes to worst, you need to replace the shoes in there. or the hardware. or your cable could be rusted and breaking inside the housing and holding things up as well.

Do you have to take the rotor off to get to the adjustment screw?

Originally Posted by thegipper

Do you have to take the rotor off to get to the adjustment screw?

if you take the rotor off it becomes a super easy adjustment, also lets you see then for a nice visual look see.


if your not into taking them all apart, on the backing plate like where the hub is on the back, you will see a hole, with or with out a rubber plug snapped into it, its about a inch wide and maybe 1/2 tall, enough room to stick a flat blade screw driver or a brake tool in there to work the star wheel tighter, like i said, it should only turn one way, and that is tighter.

if you can get your head up in there with a flash light you should be able to see the star wheel, that way you know what your going after.

i finally found a pic of a star wheel in case you not sure, this is not the right car at all but the thin star wheel is about the same looks wise. the hole should be directly behind the star wheel.

Your cables may have stretched over time as well. You might need to snug them up a touch...but I'd start with the adjuster as well.....or get rid of that craptastic setup and get it on the caliper...llike I did.

So i pulled what was left of the rubber boot but couldn't see the star shape wheel inside. The parking brake cable was in my view (working from the ground) so I decided I needed to take the cable off to get a better view of whats inside there. I found the equalizer nut and started cranking it off. I thought I was "loosening" it up to relieve the tension so I could take the cable off the actuator on the brake assembly. Turns out I was tightening it. I noticed it because the cable was originally fairly loose but now was pretty taunt.

Now that the slack in the cable was gone, I figured I should put the parking brake on and see if it now holds the wheel better. To my surprise, the wheel was locked up, it would not move ! I released the parking brake and the hub/rotor spun freely.

So I put the wheel back on and figured I should test it to see if it will actually hold the car. First thing I noticed was the pedal is now much harder to push down. I pushed it in a few clicks and put it in drive. I took my foot off the brake and sure enough, its holding perfectly. Put it in reverse and it also was holding fine.

I found a decent sized hill in the town I live in and tested it on a hill. It also held just fine. I did notice that it holds better going forward then if the car wants to go backwards but either way it holds now.

Just for reference, I used a vise grips to hold the square shaped end of the threaded bolt that connects to the cable. I used a 5/8" wrench to loosen (which ended up tightening) the nut. You want the nut on the equalizer to go towards the cable. I know, its sounds backwards but that completely tightened up my cable. There is no longer any play in the cable and its much firmer in the pedal. And most importantly, my E brake works again. How long it lasts or whatever is another story but I thought I would share my results in case anyone else has the same trouble.

PS. I never was able to adjust the star wheel on the parking brake. I'm sure that would of done it too, I just couldn't ever see it through the hole.