Rear Brake Question

Zakman1945

Original poster
Member
Oct 7, 2012
10
I have just finished replacing my front brake pads and rotors on my Envoy XUV and am going to tackle the rears, as well. In looking through this and other forums, I have noticed that some say it is necessary to disconnect the e-brake cables before removing the rear rotors. Is this true? It would seem to me that just making sure that the e-brake lever was released, there would be no pressure on the inside e-brake drum and the rotors would pull off of the hubs. Would like some directions from the forum before I tackle this part of the project. By the way, I purchased the front and rear DS package from BrakeMotive and was very happy with the results on the fronts. Package for my XUV was $200.00 and change and, using the info from the forum, the job was a piece of cake. Thanks to all the posters that provide all the great information! :wootwoot:
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Almost everybody's rears come right off without fiddling with the cable, but sometimes there's a groove in the rear ebrake drum and the rear shoes catch on it and retain the rotor a bit. You may have to retract the star wheel to put the new rotors on and adjust the ebrakes in that iterative process you may have read about. There's no real hardship to disconnecting the ebrake cable end from the lever on the backing plate. Soon as you get down there it will be obvious.
 

Zakman1945

Original poster
Member
Oct 7, 2012
10
Thanks for the info, Roadie. Took the rears apart this morning and it was a piece of cake. Released the e-brake and the rotors just slid right off. Gave each of the star wheels four clicks and slid on the new rotors and installed the pads. Torqued everything down to spec and all works great! Really appreciate the help and input. :wootwoot:
 

CaptainXL

Member
Dec 4, 2011
2,445
Thought this question should be included here. Can someone provide a link on how to adjust the rear parking brake star wheel? I was working on mine the other day and unsure if the job was done properly. Currently having a hard time setting the parking brake. The handle needs to be pulled all the way back with some force for the parking brakes to work at all.

What I did was cleaned up all the hardware, put new Sil Glyde grease on the star wheel and such....but oddly enough the service manual just shows a picture of the big caliper looking tool to measure. It doesn't actually show you how to use it. Thanks,
 

CaptainXL

Member
Dec 4, 2011
2,445
the roadie said:
Forget the tool. Just rotate the wheel until the rotor won't go back on. Then back it off and put the rotor on. Free process that trades time for having the size-prediction tool.

Funny I did just as you said and I still have to pull all the way back on the parking brake handle. When I originally got the truck it only had to be pulled back 1/4 the way. :confused:
 

kawaholic

Member
Sep 9, 2013
106
CaptainXL said:
Funny I did just as you said and I still have to pull all the way back on the parking brake handle. When I originally got the truck it only had to be pulled back 1/4 the way. :confused:

Add a few more clicks to each adjuster until you feel a slight drag on the drum from the shoes when you rotate the wheel. Think "old school" and the way the rear brakes used to be adjusted.
 

CaptainXL

Member
Dec 4, 2011
2,445
kawaholic said:
Add a few more clicks to each adjuster until you feel a slight drag on the drum from the shoes when you rotate the wheel. Think "old school" and the way the rear brakes used to be adjusted.

Yeah did that. I actually chewed up one side of the shoes when I tried to force the rotor on. One click this way and it went on. Another click the other way and the rotor wear surface dug into the shoe.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
The shoes might be adjusted right but it could the the cable that needs adjusting. Somebody has a picture of it somewhere but I can describe it as a small lever in the parking brake lever itself. You access it by pulling the lever mechanism's cover back and at the lower front, there is a small lever. Push it and then crank the lever a couple of times. I had to do that as mine also had to be pulled all the way up instead of just about half way it used to take.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON

CaptainXL

Member
Dec 4, 2011
2,445
Ok, thanks guys and Bill. I never took the ebrake cable off when adjusting them. I can't believe that would make a difference. But hey. Will lube up the lever under the boot as well.

Aside from this, is there anyway to shorten the cable length? Or would I need to? Sort of like when you shorten the cable and tighten down a stop for brakes on a bicycle?
 

Iahawkeye

Member
Jan 24, 2012
52
Mooseman said:
The shoes might be adjusted right but it could the the cable that needs adjusting. Somebody has a picture of it somewhere but I can describe it as a small lever in the parking brake lever itself. You access it by pulling the lever mechanism's cover back and at the lower front, there is a small lever. Push it and then crank the lever a couple of times. I had to do that as mine also had to be pulled all the way up instead of just about half way it used to take.

I will be tackling this soon. I never had good brakes since i owned the envoy. The ebrakes will slow me down, but not enough to hold the vehicle tight on a steep hill. My question, what does the adjustment on the brake lever do? I feel comfortable adjusting the drums, but I kind of got lost with the handle lever. By adjusting it, does it take the slack out to the cable? Can a guy over tighten the cable? Thanks!
 

kickass audio

Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
I used to use a flat head screw driver to get the star wheel to expand. Iirc you spin it up on the drivers side and then spin it down on the passenger side to get it to expand outward. The flat head screw driver trick works but is a total pain in the butt. I just used pliers to grab on the star wheel and turned it a lot faster with that than the screw driver. The screw driver method would work from behind the brake drum if you can't get the rotor of from the parking brake catching. As to your issue where you still have to yank the parking brake handle up far I have that too. Before I adjusted mine I would pull the handle all the way up and it would stop the truck and hold decent on a hill. I then expanded them so they would have a slight rub on them when you spin the rotors around and now when I yank the handle up it will throw you forward in your seat as if you slammed on the normal brakes. Plus before I could rev the engine to 1000 rpm and the parking brake would be slipping and let the truck move but now I can rev it up to 2000 rpm before it even attempts to move, even in 4 low it holds a hell of a lot better. I have the original parking brake on my truck with new rotors as of a year ago.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
The parking lever adjustment takes up the slack in the cable. This assumes the shoes are adjusted properly via the star wheel and it should hold the truck in place.

BTW, it's not an ebrake but a parking brake. Those little shoes couldn't stop a scooter. And by using them while the truck is in motion just wears away at what little pad material you have on them and lose that perfect adjustment. I would only use it as an ebrake in an absolute "I have no brakes!" emergency to slow you down but it's nowhere near the performance of old style drum brakes.
 

Forum Statistics

Threads
23,273
Posts
637,499
Members
18,472
Latest member
MissCrutcher

Members Online

No members online now.