Parking brake won't hold so car won't pass inspection

[White75]

Well I got all the little things done to get the vette to get inspected: brakes, lights, horn (who uses a horn? I prefer the finger). Take it down to the shop and they fail it because the parking brake won't hold the car. I have 2 weeks to fix it so I followed the instructions I found to adjust it. First of all, whoever came up with that little adjustment wheel is a sadist. Second of all, I can't get it to turn for the life of me. What is a safe way of breaking it loose so I can adjust it and get the vette to pass inspection. Are there other ways of adjusting it? I already set the equalizing ajustment full forward to take up the slack but it still won't take all of it ( a very good portion though).
Anyone have ideas? I really want to get this car driving legally. Personally I would love to get rid of the system, especially here in houston since it is so flat anyway.
Please help!!

 

[Artsvette73]

If the park brake hardware is original it is most likely rusted solid. You might try to remove the rotors and see if you can free it up. You may find that the hardware should be replaced. You can get new hardware the is made of stainless steel. You should back off on the center cable. Adjust the wheels then take up on the center cable. After all that you still have a wimpy park brake system. It was common back in the day to tighten everything up just before inspection because you knew they would fail it. Then come home and loosen the adjustment after it passed. The ironic part is you have an auto trans. So where is it going to go? You really can't call it an emergency brake because the emergency would be over and you would still be rolling.

 

[kwplot34]

I went through my e-brake and totaly rebuilt it :bash that darn thing still won't hold on an incline. thnak god for high compression motor's :L



Kevin

 

[Wayne robson]

hand brake

Hi White75, try this , it usually works. Like artsvette said, adjust at the rear hubs ,then cable, then what you do is you take your vette out find a short hill or a quite road and at 30 to 40 mph, pull your hand brake on and of, fairly hard leave it on for 5 10 seconds every time, then do it a couple of times in reverse as well perhaps not at 40mph though this losens up the inside at the shoes and helps seat the shoes, do this just before the inspection, at it will probably pass, regards Wayne.

 

[White75]

I'm going to pull the rotor off tonight I think and try to free it all up. I tried bribing the inpector but that didn't work

 

[minifridge1138]

Maybe you need to find a less honest inspector.

My Parking Brake doesn't work either. Where can i find adjustment instructions?

Thanks!

 

[fine69]

I went through my e-brake and totaly rebuilt it :bash that darn thing still won't hold on an incline. thnak god for high compression motor's :L



Kevin

It's a parking brake and should not be confused with an e-brake.

 

[JohnZ]

Maybe you need to find a less honest inspector.

My Parking Brake doesn't work either. Where can i find adjustment instructions?

Thanks!

The procedure is in the Shop Manual.