photoguy

I have a 99 6 speed manual tranny and my parking/emergency brake does not engage when i pull the handle. It is just one smooth motion with no sound. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Keith

photoguy

Ttt

jim993

The most likely cause of this problem is that the park brake ratchet pawl has come loose from the park brake thumb button push rod. The thumb button push rod is a weak link, being a steel wire of about 3/32" in diameter leading from the thumb button to the pawl. The connection at the pawl is weak, simply the rod looped around a specially shaped end on the pawl. Hard thumb pressure on the thumb button without first pulling up slightly on the park brake handle to relieve pressure on the pawl will deform the wire loop, letting it slip off of the pawl.

Ask me how I know.

I dug my old park brake lever out of a box in the garage to look at it before answering, and I think it could be fixed but that would take a couple of hours and some mechanical and fabrication ability.

In my case, I bought a good used lever assembly and had it ready to install. I tried to order a new one (six years ago) but they were not available at the time.

Replacing the park brake lever requires a number of steps, car on jack stands, rear wheels off, roof off, passenger seat out as detailed in the Factory Service Manual.

Be SURE to pad the passenger side sill before removing the seat, it is heavy and can really scratch the sill.

corvette77

Mine does the same thing. Try pulling the lever and releasing it, about 8 times in a row. You should feel it tighten after that.

dadaroo

You indicate you have 2 issues.

One, the lever does not ratchet to hold the lever in position.

Two, when you actually pull the lever handle up it does not engage the parking brake. I am not sure you actually mean this???


Mr. Sam

photoguy

MR Sam.

This is correct. The lever does not ratchet and when I hold the handle all the way up it does not engage the brake. I do have two problems. Also the handle does not stay in the up position when I raise it.

photoguy

Corette 77. I tried that and it did not work.

dadaroo

For me just, make sure on an incline when you pull the lever up and hold it there the brake does not hold the car in position. Want to make sure you have one or two issues,


Mr. Sam

RXPX

If the emergency brakes do work but it doesn't ratchet into position, what would that indicate? New brake handle?

photoguy

yes that is the case. It's like its not connected to anything.

dadaroo

If you have no parking brake then you need to get it in the air and see if the cable is an issue to start with. There have been some issues with the connection at the lever. I am not sure if the lever needs tension for the ratchet to work, I would think not.

Here are some DIY links. If you need info on how to remove the lever I can post the FSM info, I don't have a link on that yet.

Picture of lever:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ch-switch.html

Cable info:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...placement.html

Brake drum info:

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...d.php?t=103159

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...djustment.html


Mr. Sam

photoguy

thanks!!!!