twitchee2

Hi, my ebrake Barely works. i clicks all the way up to the top and it cant hold it on a hill. If i put it in park, pull the brake all the way and then let off the pedal it will roll down till the Park stops it a couple inches later. Now i just got done adjusting the rear brakes so they are nice and tight, no leaky seals or bearing. My question is, is there any way to adjust the cable itself. mine truck has 180k on it, theres gotta be some stretch in it. Hopefully someone has dont this and can point me in the right direction. thanks.

Nelsonmd

There are a couple adjustments. If your pedal isn't good and stiff, then you need to tighten up the adjuster inside the drums. Follow this for adjusting the bellcranks

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...sQJrXpDXbPSGhQ

Then there is an adjustment on the e-brake cable at the handle end under the console which is easy to adjust. Between these 3, you should be able to get them nice and tight.

Texas_Ace

Pretty sure our trucks have automatic adjusting hubs. All you do is drive slowly in reverse while pumping the emergency brake. The brakes will tighten up the more you do it.

I did this just a few months ago on my truck when the e-brake stoped wanting to hold the truck in my ~35 degree driveway. Worked great.

bicklebok

Adjust the emergency brake. It has an adjustment under the cab. Not hard to find. Once you get it tightened, and pull it a few times as mentioned, it should tighten up your rear brakes.
My rear brakes felt funny using the brake pedal when I bought my truck. Plus the emergency brake didnt work good. Once I tightened up the e brake and pulled on it a few times, my back brakes started working great.

TheDurk

Just make sure your bellcranks are working freely (the little levers on the backs of the drums that the e-brake cable attaches to). If they seize up, the adjusters won't work, and they seize up easily in the salt zone.

Nelsonmd

Hmmm, interesting strategy, I will have to try that myself. Mine could certainly be tighter.

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

I usually adjust my e-brake every 2nd or 3rd oil change.

I put the rear wheels on jack stands (just to get them an inch off the ground), crawl under the rear of the vehicle, pop the rubber stopper off of the back of each drum and using a brake spoon, tighten the adjusters tight enough so that the rear wheels barely spin when turing them with my hand. I can usually get the e-brake tight enough so it only clicks once to twice before it stops.

I prefer this method as I can get the e-brake tightened to my own liking. With the right tools, it only takes mins to do.

Now if it's the cable itself that needs tightened, see the link posted above.

JamesDINAN

I am guessing the adjustment is same on my '97 Runr but what I found was, that adjustment moreso is for adjusting the rear shoes. I tried tightening my E-brake a few weeks ago using that method, each side a few clicks and checking the E-brake, repeat, repeat. No change on the E-brake but my rear shoes became too tight and started to heat up pretty quickly. Had to loosen them and start over. What worked best was making the adjustment under the E-brake lever in the cab. I also did the "putting-in-reserve" trick that people mention but not sure how effective that was...

twitchee2

yeah, ive been to busy to take a look at the cable in the cab, but thats what i need. the cable cant get tight enough. it gets 2 clicks from the top before it even starts to hold at all. The rear bell cranks are good and adjusted. i posted this thread right after i did that.

Texas_Ace

Try the reverse, e-brake pumping trick^. I bet that it helps you out at least till you can get under there, takes all of a min rolling backwards.

JamesDINAN

Mine was doing the same thing, pulled hard for that last click in order to hold on just a slight incline. The cable in the cab is very easy to get to and will just take you a minute or so to adjust. As least in my case, that worked wonders and I'm stopping on any incline now