So first of all, thanks to ThereIsNoSpoon for once again coming over to help me out with the long laundry list of things to do. I owe him big between this and the steeroids install.

Now on to the issue du jour...

So was planning on rebuilding the parking brake today (without removing the spindle/axle which, per the VB&P instructions is possible). Well we got everything out but then we had trouble getting out the rear hold down pin on each side (see item #1 in pic). The front pin pop right out of the back of the assembly, but behind the rear pin is the assembly the caliper bolts to. So removing the old ones was not a problem as we pretty much cut them off but how do we really get them out and then install the new ones? We thought about removing the 4 bolts around the assembly (one of which is marked #2 in the pic) but two things stood in our way. First, what is bolt #3? What is that for? Seems if we removed the four other regular looking bolts then we wouldalso need to remove that one....But without knowing what it is for, I am a but nervous about simply removing it. Second isse was that I tried to remove a few of the bolts (#2 in pic) and they seemed pretty much gunked/seized on bad and would not budge.

Is there something I am missing? I do not want to take the whole axle/spindle out but I would like to rebuild the p-brake. Luckily the car is auto so if worse comes to worse, I go without a p-brake for a few years until I replace/have rebuilt the entire trailing arm assmbly.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Shane

 

Try some PB Blaster on the bolts. It's one of the best penetrants that is commonly available. I happen to have a rebuilt trailing arm assembly in my living room at the moment, and while I can't say for sure what bolt #3 does (rotor is in the way), it might be attaching the disk brake caliper mount to the rest of the assembly. There is a similar large bolt head on the front spindle assembly. You'll hopefully hear from some experts, like Van Steel, to tell you exactly how to solve your problem. Good luck.

Rick B.

 

the PIN that is in there stays in unless you remove the backing plate.....this is a real PITA .....are you saying you cut the top of the pin off???? tell me you didn't do that.

 

Guessing by your tone that was a bad idea....So I should have just re-used those pins and put everything else in new? In hindsight, that prob would have been the better decision. Too late now.

So how difficult is it to remove the backing plate? Is it just those four bolts? Any clue what the fifth bolt is at the top?
Shane

 

dude you bought the whole farm......you need to read the section in corvette faq about disassembling the whole enchilada, i don't think you can remove the backing plate unless the whole thing is dissassembled, its been two years since i was there but i think thats what i recall.....let me see if i can find that paper...
yeah its as bad as i thought the spindle goes through the backing plate....

http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...bearingremoval
http://www.corvetterepair.org/TA-Reb...-rebuild1.html

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...326&forum_id=3

Here ya go...complete write up

Good luck

 

On the plus side, I did have a good time helping out Shane and I feel that I learned a lot about the parking brake system. Also, he has some damn tasty beer.

I can't remember which of us was the one to actually cut that. But in whoever did its defense, it wasn't just the top of the pin that was cut, it was pretty much the whole pin.

At any rate Shane, when your ready to take on the whole farm, I'm more than willing to help out again.

 

Just get a big hammer and one of those spindle knockers they sell for $11. Then, bite the bullet and remove the spindles. Servicing your e- brake will almost become a pleasure.You can inspect your bearings and grease them while you're at it.

 

I think you have a bigger issue now that the pin was cut off.

I'll give you my 2 cents on what I do when something like this comes up. If something is not coming out, the next logical step is 'how do I get the new part installed'. Sure you can cut the old one in half in this case, but you can't cut the new one in half to install it. A decesion has to be made as to wether the part trying to be removed is critical to the overall job. Sometimes the answer is yes and somtimes (as in this case) the answer is no.

When reassembling my trailing arms, I didn't put that pin in right away. I figured I would do it when installing the rest of the parking brake pieces. After a few minutes, I realised that there is no way to get in back without disassembling.

Maybe someone has a work around.

 

I made the call, you made the cut....my bad for sure.
Oh well. Maybe I willl look into the rebuilding the whole T arm assembly now...or go without pbrake forawhile.

 

check out the rebuilt units out there completely assembled...they are a really good deal...i didn't do that and it cost me alot $$$$ i also updgraded to 1/4 heavy duty channel trailing arms

 

Any other good places other than vansteel? At ths rate I was going to call them on Monday and talk through it with them. Maybesend them the old units alongwith the SS h/w I just bought an let them do it. Just need to wait a month orso since I justspent all of my allowance for now (rad, e-fans, interior pieces, etc etc). I wasgoing to havethe exhaust rebuilt next but I guess that may be going on the backburner for a while.

Thanks again everyone who chimed in....This was definitely a learning experience.
Shane
aka
Shane " Don't-take-it-out-unless-you-know-you-can-put-the-new-one-back-in" Madigan

 

Don't have to remove the whole thing....
Remome all the nuts (#2) Those hold the brake shield on.
Just loosten #3 till the bolt head hits the spindle flange. Carefull not to brake or bend those shoe stop tabs....
That should give you enough space to pull the brake shield forward enough to get that pin out and install a new one.
Torque everything back up to spec
That's the way I did it.........twice!!!!
Eddie

 

Great post and links..I am in process of doing this job as well! Im sure I read in some instructions somewhere that as long as the old pin #1 is good, then just re-use as it saves a hell of a lot of time and energy.

Hope my job goes to plan...if not I'll be posting for help!

Cant wait to be

 

Great, thanks. That is the answer I was *hopinh* to hear. Do you know what the #3 bolt is for?
Shane

 

thats good news then the fun really begins........

 

That is the stop/resting point for the top of the brake shoes. Also, that small plate with the tabs bent over keeps the top of the brake shoe in. Don't break it, cause then you WILL have to take the spindel out to replace it. Don't know if it's mentioned above...but I would replace EVERYTHING in the P-Brake system with stainless.
Have fun!!!!
Eddie

 

Since this is a pretty good thread and I am all up in the middle of the assembly of my e-brake system and this will certainly help out ShaneLU97, here goes my question.

Is there any tool or easy way to get those little springs back onto those little pins?

This is the biggest pain in the a$$ that I have run into. I have the whole rear back together except for this. I just havent been able to get it - were talkin hours of tryin too. I can get the spring on the pin that you can take out just not the permenant one.

 

Here is a tool sold for the parking brakes, http://www.madvet.com/shop?frame=1.66.1177 .
What it is for is beyond me.
Some members have tied the spring in the compressed state. Perhaps you could put some hot glue in the hole where the pin come through. Enough to hold it in place while the clip is attached. My TA were off the car when I installed the parking brake components and its been a year since I did them.

 

There's no way to get a standard brake tool on the top of the spring retainer (as this is task is usually performed with the spindle out). With the spindle in I've had success with putting a small nut driver through the spindle hole that lines up with the retainer/spring. The pin slips into the nut driver so you can push down. If the nut driver slips on the retainer simply apply some duct tape to the outside edge of the nut driver to give it some holding power against the retainer (it helps if the sticky side is facing the retainer as well). You'll probably have to hold the pin still with some small needle nose. While this has worked for me repeatedly in the past, if you seach the forum you'll find other ideas on this difficult task. I do recall one such idea that sounded much better than mine in a previous post but can't find it right now.


That's it: you can tie the springs into submission with a string which makes it easier to install the retainer. After the retainer is on you simply cut the strings.