Emergency / Parking Brake

[nopaybob]

I just put rotors and pads all the way around, When I pulled the rear rotor there was nothing inside. Now I gotta come up with more repair funds.
Both side are completely empty with only brake cable that goes to the backing plate.
Can anyone point me in the direction of detailed pics of what all is missing and where everything is supposed to go.

 

[gmcman]

Can you post a pic of what you have?

Taken from the OS, here's the hand brake shoe (1 piece & pricey) and star adjuster.

 

[The_Roadie]

Did you just buy the truck and miss this on your pre-purchase inspection?

View attachment 28262

 

[meerschm]

So are you sure you need this?

My brother had an 03, and he relayed to me that a local repair shop told him that they get so rusted that the usual service is to do a delete. this was in the detroit area, which is pretty flat. park on the trans holds pretty well on the flat.

of course you loose the emergency capability, but, who have you ever heard of who needed this?

of course if you have to have it to pass inspection, that is another thing.

My point is to consider if you want to go to the effort.


mine works ok, but in past vehicles, the parking brake was usually just broke and fixed to pass inspection. it may be that your cable is rusted shut from lack of use and winter corrosion.

 

[The_Roadie]

...who have you ever heard of who needed this?...

I don't think I've ever heard of an ebrake saving ones bacon, but I can think of 3-4 scenarios towing in the mountains or offroading where a working ebrake would slow me down enough if I lost a brake line or master cylinder or engine vacuum boost, to reduce the severity of the inevitable crash. I test my ebrake before every offroad run.

I consider the ebrake as something not too expensive to fix if it needs it.

 

[meerschm]

I don't think I've ever heard of an ebrake saving ones bacon, but I can think of 3-4 scenarios towing in the mountains or offroading where a working ebrake would slow me down enough if I lost a brake line or master cylinder or engine vacuum boost, to reduce the severity of the inevitable crash. I test my ebrake before every offroad run.

I consider the ebrake as something not too expensive to fix if it needs it.

I agree, but a guy with an 11 year old SUV in Indiana could consider the cost/benefit. all depends on what the expected use is. for me, it would also depend on what else has been done or needs to be done, and how the family budget priorities stack up.

he could end up having to pull the rear end apart to get the brakes in operating condition. ( if the backing plates are in sad shape) there may be a reason the shoes are missing.

 

[meerschm]

Photos would help us help with assessment. here are a few more detailed diagrams with part numbers.

2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4WD - TS0404801 Parking Brake System

2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4WD - TS0457201 Parking Brake ASM LL8M30T15506

probably have to pull the axle out if the backing plate or shield need to be replaced.

Hope all the cables work, they are on top of the gas tank, aren't they?

Good going to change the pads and disks. have you flushed the brake fluid?

 

[nopaybob]

Did you just buy the truck and miss this on your pre-purchase inspection?

View attachment 14696

I'm missing 2 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 on both sides just about everything.
Yeah if you want to see what was missed in my pre-purchase inspection check my garage out. I have 1500 or more just in parts in the last 2 months.

I want to fix it because not too long ago I had a 98 safari van that blew a line with family riding in, The pedal went straight to the floor and luckily got my leg up high enough to hit the e-brake on the kick panel to come to a stop before a busy state road intersection.

 

[nopaybob]

Photos would help us help with assessment. here are a few more detailed diagrams with part numbers.

2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4WD - TS0457201 Parking Brake ASM LL8M30T15506

probably have to pull the axle out if the backing plate or shield need to be replaced.

Hope all the cables work, they are on top of the gas tank, aren't they?

Good going to change the pads and disks. have you flushed the brake fluid?

Its all back together at the moment. But by that parts list, The only things I have behind the rotor is 3,4,13. I have not checked to see if the cables are froze and I did not flush it.

 

[Menthol]

Mine does not function period. Just bought new rotors and brakes then found out ebrake has like 1 mm of pads on it. Not bothered.

 

[meerschm]

I would start with checking the cable for movement. brake lever should move and return ok, and I would think you can look at the end of the cable and see it move. should be some end part on the cable.

both the shield (2) and backing plate (13) have parts to play in holding the brake shoe and other parts. you will want to look closely at them and compare to the figure to see if all parts and features are intact. (there are little tabs on the shield which look like they could cause trouble if the plate is very rusty.)

I recommend flushing the brake fluid after almost a dozen years.

 

[Mooseman]

It is just a parking brake. The size of those shoes couldn't stop a scooter. They are required to pass safety checks. Why didn't GM incorporate the parking brake in these trucks within the disk caliper like my Montana? That would work as an emergency brake and less troublesome.

Don't forget that there is the little brake cable adjuster inside the lever. Just pull the bottom of the cover off and you should see it. It's a small lever. This is the adjustment method (copied from the OS):

Lower the park brake lever.

Raise the park brake lever.

Lift the park brake lever boot to gain access to the multiplier lever at the front of the park brake lever assembly.

Pivot the multiplier lever up and down 3 times.

Cycle the park brake lever up and down three times for auto adjustment.

Lower the park brake lever boot.

That's it, the lever should have adjusted automatically to the correct amount of slack and handle position.

 

[gmcman]

It is just a parking brake, but when adjusted properly and tested every so often, I'm impressed on how well that tiny pair of shoes at least brings mine down from speed. Probably won't keep me from plowing into someone in a panic but it's going to bring it to a stop.

 

[04xuv]

It is just a parking brake. The size of those shoes couldn't stop a scooter. They are required to pass safety checks. Why didn't GM incorporate the parking brake in these trucks within the disk caliper like my Montana? That would work as an emergency brake and less troublesome.

Don't forget that there is the little brake cable adjuster inside the lever. Just pull the bottom of the cover off and you should see it. It's a small lever. This is the adjustment method (copied from the OS):

Lower the park brake lever.

Raise the park brake lever.

Lift the park brake lever boot to gain access to the multiplier lever at the front of the park brake lever assembly.

Pivot the multiplier lever up and down 3 times.

Cycle the park brake lever up and down three times for auto adjustment.

Lower the park brake lever boot.

That's it, the lever should have adjusted automatically to the correct amount of slack and handle position.

.....

 

[Chickenhawk]

This doesn't solve all parking brake problems, but I would always suggest trying this first.

Interestingly enough, I found out recently when I seemed to suddenly have a lot more slack in the cables then normal, running your truck through a full-service car wash has its downsides: the lot guys can knock the adjuster out of adjustment by aggressive vacuuming.

If you take a close look at the mechanism, you can see how this would happen ... especially if you once did like I did, and figure, "If 3 pivots is good, then 4 just HAS to be better!" I had to trip the pivot in such a way to get it back to full slack, then start over again. 3 means 3. D'oh.

 

[DenaliHD66]

I just noticed today that my E-brake doesn't work. Probably salt corrosion?

 

[Mooseman]

Pretty thin on details there. Could be anything from just needing an adjustment to the shoes are worn. Time to take it apart.

 

[stvrob]

I think the emergency brake needs to be functional, I don't like the weight of the vehicle resting on the transmission parking pin, even on a slight hill. I think I saw replacement shoes for less than $20 at Rock Auto.

 

[Sparky]

I used to use mine when I parked just as a precaution, but once my cables all seized and rusted up I just removed all the hardware. I wasn't going to sink the money, time, and effort into all the stuff necessary to get it working again...

Before you buy all the stuff at the wheels, check your cables and be sure they at least move properly. WHen i got my truck it has no parking brake hardware, but the cables still worked OK. When I replaced my axle with an 8.6 it came with good parking hardware and so I used it until last fall when it locked my passenger wheel up and I had to fight it to release enough for me to be able to drive it again.