I've kinda been thinking about this one for a while. The parking brake on my truck doesn't hold worth a damn. No resistance at all really. I've had the rear brakes apart a couple times, everything looked good and was hooked up. The cables are hooked up and they do get pulled when I depress the pedal. But still no braking force is generated. I have the rear brakes adjusted out pretty well.

So, can someone maybe explain the operation of the parking brake and if there's an adjustment that can be made?

I don't hardly ever need the brake, but it would be nice to have in certain situations.

 

There is and adjustment that can be made where the cable goes from single line from the parking brake pedal and then splits for left and right connection. just behind the cab under the bed is about where it is.

 

Ok, I'll check that out in the morning. Any other ideas in the meantime?

 

Just to make sure the rear shoes are properly adjusted. If they are not adjusted out properly the parking brake cable has to pull farther to get them to actuate. These cables have lots of years and stretching on them. I had to adjust mine quite a bit after adjusting the rear brakes to get it to hold properly.

 

Yeah, I crawled underneath and adjusted all 4 wheels last week. I could tell a difference.

 

Read the manual, there are some adjustments on the cable. Mine works good, but I have to REALLY put some muscle into it for those last 3 clicks or so.

Sent from my iPhone using IB AutoGroup

 

2x on the manual, when brake shoes are out of adjustment your E brake will also be.
So keep the B shoes correctly adjusted and everything alas works find right!
Orich

 

I had a similar experience with aftermarket parking brake cables (The ones that are covered in rubber and sold by the parts stores). It didn't matter how much I adjusted the brake shoes or parking brake cables they just wouldn't hold very well. I ended up finding some NOS cables and installing them instead--the parking brake worked much better. I suspected that the wire coil housing inside the rubber covering used on the after market ones would compress or maybe squirm around more and not keep the proper tension on the cables. What kind of cables are on your truck?

 

Original cables

 

Well I got it Adjusted. At least now it kinda works. I have to apply it, drive through it, back up and hit the brakes a few times for it to really hold anything.

 

Oh yes hard & fast until pedal comes up.

Guys who don't read books pull off the self adjusters
not knowing how they work! hello
This ***** the shoes just enough to trip the self adjuster for one click at a time.
So if pedal is pretty low it will take some repeated of backing and pump hard for each click for the adjust to build up the pedal.. Now that you got it the know how.
Orich

 

The adjusters are still there. All the brake parts are intact and operational.