Parking Brake Adjustment

[Degerb]

Hey guys... I have a problem adjusting the P. brake on my 1990, Nov 89 build, 12V, manual TC.  The P/brake has been unusable since I bought the car 3 years ago due to caliper problems. I finally replaced the calipers, bled the brakes and adjusted them. They now work fine, except for the P/brake. After adjusting them per Hemi's instructions, the left rear locks up and the R rear keeps rotating..... tried readjusting the pucks, then readjusting the  P/brake equalizer bolt... Nada! I finally found that the equalizer fitting shown in View V, page 5-49 in the Red Manual, was loose and can easily slide up and down the R /rear brake cable. I know this is probably a stupid question ... but where is the correct equalizer position on the  r/rear cable supposed to be?  Trial and error? Is this fitting supposed to be staked in the nominal position on the cable prior to adjusting the P/brake?

 

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[Hemi Dude]

2 hours ago, Degerb said:

Hey guys... I have a problem adjusting the P. brake on my 1990, Nov 89 build, 12V, manual TC.  The P/brake has been unusable since I bought the car 3 years ago due to caliper problems. I finally replaced the calipers, bled the brakes and adjusted them. They now work fine, except for the P/brake. After adjusting them per Hemi's instructions, the left rear locks up and the R rear keeps rotating..... tried readjusting the pucks, then readjusting the  P/brake equalizer bolt... Nada! I finally found that the equalizer fitting shown in View V, page 5-49 in the Red Manual, was loose and can easily slide up and down the R /rear brake cable. I know this is probably a stupid question ... but where is the correct equalizer position on the  r/rear cable supposed to be?  Trial and error? Is this fitting supposed to be staked in the nominal position on the cable prior to adjusting the P/brake?

My first question to you is; Does the parking brake cable move freely? Often the cable is rusted inside the cable sheath (outer covering) and not able to apply the proper tension to the parking brake lever on the caliper.

As you wrote, "After adjusting them per Hemi's instructions" this tells me that very little movement of the parking brake lever is needed to apply the pads against the rotor. CORRECT?

If so, you have either poor adhesion of the pads to the rotor, OR, the cable is not putting sufficient tension on the lever. 

I don't understand your question about the "equalizer FITTING". If you are referring to the 'equalizer' circled with a 'V', in the red book, there the cable is supposed to slide freely so that there can be equal tension on both cables at the same time to each rear caliper.

[Degerb]

Your're right Hemi, you've eased my mind about the equalizer. There is very little movement of the parking brake lever before the brake begins to apply to the r/rear wheel. I have a new p/brake cable which I intend to install next,  I was just concerned about a possible problem also with the equalizer before I started, as I've never seen one quite that movable after years of road grime etc. This is also my first experience with this particular type of p/brake adjustment,  the main reason behind my uninformed question. I'm sure I'll have more questions when I start to replace the p/brake cable tomorrow!