Parking brake cable tension adjustment

[Jeff K]

I know how to adjust the screw in the caliper, but the cables have an excessive amount of slack before engaging.

I remember there was a DIY somewhere...

Thanks
Jeff

[Rich]

Not sure about a DIY on this.

According to the manual your p. brake adjusts itself. Or it used to...

17643

Is the screw you are adjusting in the caliper the self-adjustment pawl?

Also, be sure that the driver end of the cable is properly engaged in the handbrake lever.

[Jonathan]

Chris made this one and may be the DIY one you are thinking of?

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[Jeff K]

Thanks Johnathon for the link.., but I did that.

My cables are very loose, nothing engages until around 6 clicks up.

Thanks for the link though!

[DMC5180]

Jeff,

Did you adjust the Cable Jacket slack at the caliper mounting bracket. It's also possible for one of the cables to have become disconnected at the P'brake lever. It happened to me once. If one becomes disconnected the the other becomes useless due to the combined method in which they attach to the P-brake lever. Pull the cover off the P-brake and take a look.

[David T]

Whatever you do you must make sure both e-brakes on both sides work evenly and release evenly. The self-adjusters never ever worked.
David Teitelbaum

[Jeff K]

Ok, I took the parking brake out and looked in the area with a penlight. Yes, the drivers side cable came off.

Now.. how do you fix that? The area looks inaccessible.

Thanks in advance.
Jeff

[DMC5180]

Remove the seat if you have not already. (4 nuts under the floor).

I did mine by disconnecting the cable at the caliper Arm. Its a little bit of a PITA because you have the Spring that is working against you. After that I think I just grabbed the cable (needlenose vise-grips) just below the swaged head and pulled it out just enough to re-hook it. Again it's PITA but with persistence you will get. You may also need to disconnect the the other cable at the caliper too. If you could figure out how to remove the spring on the Caliper end, re-attatching the P-brake end would be easy. I've never removed the spring, so I can't really say what would be involved in doing it or if it's even possible. The assembly may not allow it's removal.

Do you have someone that could help you push (collapse) the spring towards the cable jacket? This should give you the extra inner cable length on the other end to get it re-hooked at the handle too.

[Jeff K]

Remove the seat if you have not already. (4 nuts under the floor).

I did mine by disconnecting the cable at the caliper Arm. Its a little bit of a PITA because you have the Spring that is working against you. After that I think I just grabbed the cable (needlenose vise-grips) just below the swaged head and pulled it out just enough to re-hook it. Again it's PITA but with persistence you will get. You may also need to disconnect the the other cable at the caliper too. If you could figure out how to remove the spring on the Caliper end, re-attatching the P-brake end would be easy. I've never removed the spring, so I can't really say what would be involved in doing it or if it's even possible. The assembly may not allow it's removal.

Do you have someone that could help you push (collapse) the spring towards the cable jacket? This should give you the extra inner cable length on the other end to get it re-hooked at the handle too.

Thanks for the info! Funny, I thought of something similar, disconnecting and having two people compressing the cable because of the spring to give extra tension. I'm going to try that tonight.

Otherwise, I have to take the seat out, then the parking brake mount. What a pain!

[DMC5180]

thanks for the info! Funny, i thought of something similar, disconnecting and having two people compressing the cable because of the spring to give extra tension. I'm going to try that tonight.

Otherwise, i have to take the seat out, then the parking brake mount. What a pain!

yup!

[Jeff K]

Ok, I took out the seat, but I didn't have to take out the bracket.

I adjusted the cables, way too lose to stay in the bracket. I also added a zip tie to keep them tight and together.

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[DMC5180]

:thumbup:

[SS Spoiler]

That zip tie idea is a good one>http://dmctalk.org/images/smilies/thumbup.gif

[Jeff K]

That zip tie idea is a good one>http://dmctalk.org/images/smilies/thumbup.gif

Thanks!