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I bought an 1985 C4 about 5 months ago as a project car. I have been working hard to get it road worthy and it's almost ready to get safetied. When I bought the car I was told by the previous owner that he had cut both of the parking brake cable in the back due to the fact that he kept on setting it by accident (fishy ik). I recently ordered the 2 rear brake cables that go to the wheels because thats where they were cut. I put them in and noticed that the two brackets that are meant to be there were taken off. I assume this is due to the fact that the previous owner swapped the OEM wheels for 18" C5 wheels with 275 tires. Even without this mount I still managed to get the cable in and they are attached using the second of the 2 frame mounts. I had to max out the tension adjuster under the car and when pulling the brake handle it still doesn't do anything and the cables pull the levers on the brake a fair amount. I thought that the drums may be seised but when I took off the assembly they moved freely and the pads looked almost new when inspecting the drums I also adjusted the screw inside until there was resistance to the inside of the rotor. I'm kind of out of ideas as to why they still don't work . Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read.
Congrats, on your recent purchase.
Sorry to hear this.
Orginal owner cut L& R rear cables eliminated brackets to allow clearance for new wheels.
You restored the brackets and L& R cables
The PB arm action in the drum is free. Not seized All is restored on the rear.
I'm sorry. Did i follow this correctly.
You pull the PB handle. NO action? Cable movement/ tension
(1) As in the front cable to the PB assembly is disconnected?
(2) or not enough travel/ tension to pull the rear cables to lock the shoes to the drum.
Congrats, on your recent purchase.
Sorry to hear this.
Orginal owner cut L& R rear cables eliminated brackets to allow clearance for new wheels.
You restored the brackets and L& R cables
The PB arm action in the drum is free. Not seized All is restored on the rear.
I'm sorry. Did i follow this correctly.
You pull the PB handle. NO action? Cable movement/ tension
(1) As in the front cable to the PB assembly is disconnected?
(2) or not enough travel/ tension to pull the rear cables to lock the shoes to the drum.
Thank you! The tensioner is maxed out so there is a lot of tension when pulling up and I can see that the parking brake arms are bring pulled on the brake yet the brakes still don't engage. I also didn't restore the the bracket located on the rear wheels but there are 2 points on the frame where the cable connects to the body so it it anchored.
Thank you for the clarification.
The brackets your talking about. That actually keep tension on the cable housing correct.
Sample of my 94 attached. 94 E-brake sample
Like my 94 E- brake pic.
The 85 is similar.
From your pic you are missing the equalizer tube.? That provides the proper cable distance/ tension. Between the L& R e-brake.
Like my 94 the inner cable ends. Connect/ disconnect in the center. To aid droping the C- beam & drive shaft.
No need to apologize. Life must continue.
I tried to follow both of your posts. 1 in general 1 in tech.
You posted the pic of a bracket.
This bracket is missing from your vette due to previous owner correct.?
If this is true.
That bracket is mandatory to stop the brake housing and provide the inner cable specific distance.
End results pulling the lever. Pulls the front cable. E- brake locks the drum.
Parking Brake Woes
