01 ws6

My parking brake slips off when trying to engage. Need new hardware.

noticed parking brake kit with arms, cylinder screw things and halo pads is discontinued for our cars. I only need the arms and screw things. Will any of the other kits work? There’s a $50 kit for a Yukon on amazon that I’m thinking might?

 

Rockauto has the kit as well. When you say slipping off is it a part in the drum or is the little arm on the gear of your handle popping out? If it's that arm you just need a spring to hold that arm tighter.

 

This is nearly impossible (unless you are missing a part) because everything is contained inside the drum. Are you testing the brake without the drum on? (If so, you will definitely have problems!!!) What is the thing that started to get you looking at the parking brake? It's a very simple mechanism and is all serviceable. With the exception of the dust boots, everything should last the life of the car. (There are no wearing parts.)


No. The brake design was patented by PBR brakes out of Australia. GM licensed the design for many of its cars. They may all look the same, but they are sized differently for each particular model.

 

Thank you for the quick response. The parking brake handle isn’t the problem. It seemed like the arm behind the drum keeps slipping off the cylinder.

Just ordered the Wagner h7260 from rock auto $28 delivered. Seems like it includes some parts I don’t recognize though (clip looking things, v shape wires and two small metal/plastic pieces). Any ideas what they are for?

 

Wagner H7260 parking brake hardware kit

Thanks also for the reply. I bought the car with a non working p brake. It catches a little then releases (handle is loose once it slips then resets when all the way back down). As I said in prior reply im hoping the kit solves the problem. Still not sure what the extra parts are for since I didn’t pull them out of my car. Yeah, both runner boots are shot too.

 

The symptoms you're referring too relate to what I mentioned with the handle in the gear mechanism arm. Do you hear a pop in the arm, then it freely moves until you move it down and it kind of reconnects? I had that same symptom and it turned out to be the arm that connects to the gear in the handle. Also let us know what you find when you pull it apart.

 

Moving this to the Suspension and Brakes section.


I would keep this set aside for a return. These parts definitely aren't your problem. I don't think they will fit, either. They don't even show up on Wagner's part cross reference.


This is a common issue. Your parking brake is just out of adjustment. Throwing parts at this won't help. (It will probably make things worse because you can't get the right parts!) All you need is some time, a lot of patience, a good bit of brake grease, and the procedure.

The parking brake handle should only come up 3-5 clicks. It sounds like yours is coming up way more than that and that you are at the edge of adjustment. As KissMy points out, the popping you are feeling is in the parking brake handle mechanism. (Because you are at the far end of it's travel.)

Many people have this problem after changing rotors. The parking brake needs to be adjusted for the bore of the rotor and many people and "professional" mechanics skip this step because they don't know about it and/or are unfamiliar with this particular mechanism.

 

You can get the boots from eBay. We believe there are some people who have them imported from Australia and sell them here. I am partial to my own rubber nipple mod, which is working out quite well for this part! (My nipples are way better and tougher than the stock boots.)

https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...xperiment.html

 

Check out this thread for an exploded diagram of the brake parts and tips on disassembling everything for a re-build. https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...placement.html

Since you are unaware of the history of all this, I highly recommend taking everything apart, lubing all the parts, making sure the adjuster screw moves freely (if it's sized, you'll just have way more problems when you go to do the adjustment!), and get it all perfect for the next 100K miles.

Just for kicks and completeness, this thread has all the original part numbers, but I believe just about all are discontinued... (you don't need parts anyway) https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...-work-wtf.html

 

BTW - Bosch now holds the patent for this mechanism. (It looks like they bought PBR.)


Here's the adjusting procedure:

You will need to turn the star wheel to the left to extend the shoes out to the rotor. There is a locking plate behind the star wheel, which keeps it set in place - so it may take a good amount of force to turn. It should "click" as it turns. (Re-lubing the assembly will get you to a point where this works nicely. If not, you may not hear the click if there is dirt in there. No worries - there is no safety issues if the mechanism is not re-built. The rebuild just makes adjustment and operation of the handle smoother.)

The adjust:
- make sure you release the parking break first!
- take off the rotor, then turn and extend the star wheel to spread the pad, then put the rotor back on and test
- with the rotor back on, check the play in the brake with the actuation lever behind the backing plate. Just pull the lever until the pads make contact with the rotor. Spec is 3mm of play at the end of the lever where the cable attaches. (So, when its tight, there will be very little movement.)
- put the rotor back on and secure with two lug nuts (so the rotor doesn't pop off and allow the mechanism to explode during the next step
- Test the parking brake handle. It should come up 3-5-ish clicks to a tight condition
- take off the rotor and repeat, as necessary, until you have the right play

 

Thanks kmtZ and wssix. I was able to spend time on it tonight and got it to work. The exploded diagram provided was helpful; whomever put it together last before I purchased the car reversed the star wheel with the other end and left out the little metal pin on the drivers side. Although all I really needed was the pin, I replaced it all with the kit I bought. Followed the above adjustment instructions and was able to set the parking brake with 4-5 clicks...pulled even harder (3-4 clicks) and it never slipped.

The release, however, isn't ideal. Once I release the parking brake handle, both levers behind the backing plates don't fully seat in the off position. I can forcefully turn the rotors by hand, but it's obvious there is significant friction. I tried searching online for the long spring between the backing plate lever and parking brake cable bracket, but no luck. The rubber bushings on the backing plate are very warn, but I don't think that's the problem. I took the rotors off and screwed in the star wheels on both sides for now. The hand lever goes up a little more than half way before engaging (still doesn't slip off) and fully releases the p brake when the handle is all the way down. I can live with this, but willing to try something else for a perfect hand lever.

Can't say enough good things about this forum. In the process of installing a Thompson LS3 416 in this car and all the info in this forum has been extremely helpful from making a decision, purchasing motor/parts, disassembly and reassembly. Thanks for all everyone does.