Parking Brake Adjustment

[crunchie_frog]

you can definitely reorient the adjuster without disassembly of the rest of the parking brake shoes. Just remove the springs in your first pictures, use a pry tool (large screwdriver) and pry the shoes apart and remove the adjuster.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, the pads will stay in place well enough with the bottom spring removed. The small pins/springs that hold them from the backing plate will allow the pads to move a little. Just gently pry the bottom ends apart enough to get the adjusters out(adjust them all the way in first(shortest length)). Then with them back in place, you can put the bottom spring back on, and work with the adjuster.

 

[GLOCKer]

So I messed with this some more today.

So in this photo, the adjust is installed wrong:

What's also a problem is the adjuster was all the way bottomed out and stuck.

Today I got back in the drums and flipped the adjusters around.

And now I have parking brakes!

 

[CDW6212R]

Great work, slow but sure, got it done. Now come do my transmission, I lost 4th gear and then 3rd going home two days ago. I'm gathering my parts to build one next week.

 

[GLOCKer]

Great work, slow but sure, got it done. Now come do my transmission, I lost 4th gear and then 3rd going home two days ago. I'm gathering my parts to build one next week.

Hahahahaha
Fixing a brake adjuster is nowhere near the same league as cracking a transmission!

 

[CDW6212R]

I drove it home at about 3500rpm, and later that evening back to work with a friend to drop it there. I'm driving it at work only now, it does fine with just 1st/2nd gears, so far. I have two spare transmission and extra aftermarket parts. I just wasn't ready to spend the time to build one. Now I have to put it on my do it now list, so first find all the parts.

Enjoy that truck a little more, having a solid parking brake is very nice when you know it works. Don't rely on it alone for any hills, but it helps a bunch to relieve stress on the parking pawl inside the trans.

 

[GLOCKer]

I drove it home at about 3500rpm, and later that evening back to work with a friend to drop it there. I'm driving it at work only now, it does fine with just 1st/2nd gears, so far. I have two spare transmission and extra aftermarket parts. I just wasn't ready to spend the time to build one. Now I have to put it on my do it now list, so first find all the parts.

Enjoy that truck a little more, having a solid parking brake is very nice when you know it works. Don't rely on it alone for any hills, but it helps a bunch to relieve stress on the parking pawl inside the trans.

My main concern was helping hold my Explorer on the boat ramp! LOL

Good luck with the transmission!

 

[GLOCKer]

Before I go try and tear into it, is the parking brake switch serviceable? Can it be cleaned/adjusted/fixed? The light on the dash seems to only come on intermittently.

 

[CDW6212R]

Before I go try and tear into it, is the parking brake switch serviceable? Can it be cleaned/adjusted/fixed? The light on the dash seems to only come on intermittently.

I think so, it's reachable but I'm not sure how it comes off. Try spraying it first with some PL Blaster etc, like a door latch it might be sticking some. Watch your fingers while getting close in there, it's tight to lay there and work on things, don't accidentally bump the lever etc, with a finger reaching into any of that.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Before I go try and tear into it, is the parking brake switch serviceable? Can it be cleaned/adjusted/fixed? The light on the dash seems to only come on intermittently.

My switch didn't work when I bought 'Mr Blue'. A shot of WD-40 fixed it.
Spray it with something similar; it may be sticking and just need some loosening up.

Don, I feel for you buddy, hate being forced to do repairs not on your own timetable...

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Don you beat me to the post, great minds work the same....lol

 

[sehaare]

I think the adjuster can go either way, but the wheel should be best aligned with the hole. It gets longer as it tightens on the rotor, that one looks a lot looser than mine have been. I've got more threads showing at mine, and my rotors and pads were new one to two years ago(pads two years, rotors one). The rotor should be relatively hard to install if the adjustment is fairly tight.

You want it to drag a little when it's first put on. Swshawaii is right about the pedal needing to begin to apply some force at about half way down. It should need a good long stroke to apply the brake well, so hopefully that one doesn't need lubricating or a new cable etc.

I came upon this old thread as I was trying to figure out which way to turn the star to back off the parking brake so that I could get my rotor off. It looks like CDW6212R is right that the adjusters can be installed either way, as I found that I had put mine in backwards when I replace the parking brake shoes 5 -6 years ago. I could still get to the star to turn with the adjuster in backwards. I just had to turn it in the opposite direction.