I just wanted to know, what i would have to do to tighten my ebrake up.. i know on honda u just clamp it and move it with your hand.. but on my car 98' z24 it doesn't have that... what would i have to do to tighten it up?
i have the same problem with my 99 sunfire..no adjustment in the cables themselves, and to get my e-brake to hold the car, the handle is basically in the back seat...someone told me to go to an empty parking lot and drive in reverse about 15-20 mph and slam the brake on, then repeat in forward, reverse, and forward again and that would readjust the rear brakes...oh and by the way, i replaced drums and shoes and it didnt help at all..
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Dennis wrote:i have the same problem with my 99 sunfire..no adjustment in the cables themselves, and to get my e-brake to hold the car, the handle is basically in the back seat...someone told me to go to an empty parking lot and drive in reverse about 15-20 mph and slam the brake on, then repeat in forward, reverse, and forward again and that would readjust the rear brakes...oh and by the way, i replaced drums and shoes and it didnt help at all..
no no no no no no no no no no no
there is an adjuster under the rear drum. there is a procedure for adjusting it so that your brakes will work properly when you put on a new set of pads. the parking brake is self adjusting due to the fact that the cable will stretch over time. if you parking brake is not working that means that the shop that did your brakes the last time or last few times did not adjust it. get yourself a manual so that you can do it right the first time.
Chilton's #28322 ISBN:0-8019-9114-5
there is no adjuster on the back panel like where the wheel cylinder is..usually on other cars i have done rear brakes on, there is a rubber pop out and a gear to turn to adjust it..not on this junk..
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thats because its metal on our cars. you move the brake lever out of the way and turn the wheel.
is that to adjust the rear brakes themselves? or for the cable? so basically the only way to adjust the park brake cable is to replace it?
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Dennis: a mechanic told me that adjusting that clicky thing ONLY adjusts the brakes themselves, NOT the E-brake. Anyone else got any bright ideas?
so can you explain to me where the e-brake is in relation to the "regular" brakes?
not trying to be mean but, you really need to go pay the dealer to reset your brake for you if your unsure.
the only adjustment is the distance that the brake pads have to travel to reach the drum and stop you. by not adjusting this the front brakes have to work harder and therefore wear faster.
when you pull your e-brake handle all the way up and the pads barely touch the drum then thats when they need to be adjusted. so that they reach the drums. the cable, handle all the way to the brakes themselves is self adjusting, but only for the stretch of the cable over time which isn't all that much.
i just changed my brakes. the adjuster is a little wheel on the bottom....put your finger under it and spin it towards you until it satisfies ur likeing.
"Official Jewish J-Body"
yea i did that finally...went and got a new set of shoes, hardware kit, drums, and a chiltons manual.....read the book, pulled it all apart, installed new hardware kit and shoes, adjusted them how they said, only i had a ruler with cm and not the micrometer they were showing. (so what, a mm out isnt gonna hurt anything). put it all back together, and voila...the brakes work flawlessly now, and the e-brake now engages after about 4 clicks, instead of the handle being in the backseat..my only 2 questions now are: i set both the adjusters completely in, and when i put the brakes on the drivers side, i had to adjust it out some to get it to spec.. on the passenger side, all the way in was right on the money for spec.. is this normal? also, there was 2 different size springs that hold the shoes (the springs that the retainer clip goes on)..one looked more rugged than the other with about 6-7 coils, and the other had maybe 3-4 coils...which one goes where? i put them so the stiffer one was in the front on both sides and it seems fine but...? Other than that, it was easier than i thought it would be, and im glad i spent the $19.00 on the manual, and also thanks Cinny for the help...I also want to apologize to Scott Smith for taking over his post..
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YES!!!... somebody listened.
and it was all related so it made for a good post, I'm not sure on the springs there is a picture on the page explaining the process of changing out the pads it should be a good reference as i recall see if it can show you which is which.
