Adjusting Emergency Brake

[6shark9]

I'd drive with a little more ease if I knew I had a working emergency brake.

I've tightened the adjusting nuts up to the max position and now get just a slight braking when pulling the e-brake. My Haynes manual shows an access hole in the rotor to adjust the e-brake shoes. I don't have such a feature on my '69.

I have a spacer that I can place between the adj nuts and the bracket at the "Y" to give me more adjustment.

Is this OK to try or would it be too "Bubba"?
Anybody have a similar problem and a fix?

 

[KOPBET]

I had no access to the p-brake adjuster because the rotor was not put on correctly with the holes lined up.

solution was as simple as removing the rotor and rotating it until the holes lined up.

 

[6shark9]

Thank you! That's exactly what I found.

Covered holes.

Can I remove the calipers without disconnecting the short solid brake lines?

 

[KOPBET]

Thank you! That's exactly what I found.

Covered holes.

Can I remove the calipers without disconnecting the short solid brake lines?

Sure can, but if you remove the brake pads mark them or set them aside so you know you can put them back in on the same side which they came out.

Or better yet ...

what I did on one side (after I learned my lesson to not remove the pads on the first side) was to put something (I used a 3/4 in socket) between the pads to keep them spread apart while the caliper is off so that I wouldn't have the difficulty of spreading the pads when it came time to put the caliper back on. The pistons in the caliper keep pushing the pads together making it a PITA to keep spread apart sufficiently and long enough to get back over the rotor.

 

[6shark9]

After:

Adjusting the tension

Rotating the rotors to align the holes

Adjusting each wheel

Adjusting the tension

Taking a test drive

Adjusting each wheel

Fixing the clips on the outer sleeves

Adjusting the tension

Taking a test drive

and over and over and over

I now have enough brake to keep the car in place while in drive and reverse.
It takes about 200 feet to stop @ 25-30 MPH

Is that as good as it gets?

Also in reverse the drivers side raises with e-brake on (and lowers in drive) I think I might only be getting brake on the drivers side

 

[KOPBET]

Don't know about how good it gets, because I just don't know. But that does sound like fair results. I don't really consider the brake to be an emergency brake, per se, but rather just a parking brake. So if it holds the car well at rest and on an incline then I'm satisfied.

When I adjusted mine I had the back end up on stands, loosened the cable so there was no tension, adjusted each side until the wheel locked tight and then backed off the adjuster about 7-8 clicks. I then set the p-brake handle on the third notch and adjusted the cable to remove any slack. Released the p-brake handle and checked for drag.

I have a manual tranny so I couldn't say about the reverse and drive thing.

 

[JohnZ]

I now have enough brake to keep the car in place while in drive and reverse.
It takes about 200 feet to stop @ 25-30 MPH

Is that as good as it gets?

Yes, it is. It's a "parking brake", which is why it's not referred to as an "emergency brake" in any documentation - it was never intended to stop the car while in motion. When properly adjusted, it's marginally effective as a parking brake.

 

[6shark9]

OK then.
Job done.

Yes with the small diameter drum and shoe I can't see the brake having enough torque to do a whole lot.

 

[Artsvette73]

The park brake leaves a lot to be desired. I remember guys tightening the hell out of everything just to pass inspection. Then come back and release some tension out once they passed

 

[kiwi vet]

DITTO Here!

The park brake leaves a lot to be desired. I remember guys tightening the hell out of everything just to pass inspection. Then come back and release some tension out once they passed

We have the sames issues here.
The car is tested 6 monthly on a rollingbrake machine to measure resistance on both foot and hand brakes as part of a road worthy certificate - Warrant of Fitness.
The first time it was tested the mechanic pulled on the hand brake (parking brake) and the gauge measuring resistance never even moved.
It was a little embarrasing, when the guy asked me was the cable even hooked up.
With lots and lots of fiddling around, we finally got it to pass this test, and that was with new shoes, whats it like when they are worn?
Something to look forward to next time I suppose.
Grant

 

[Shaggyvette]

The park brake leaves a lot to be desired. I remember guys tightening the hell out of everything just to pass inspection. Then come back and release some tension out once they passed

That's what I do every year. I wonder how hard it would be to switch over to the newer (c-4/c-5) system, where it works off the caliper....????? Anybody ever tried this option..????

Dave