I adjusted my emergency brake shoes over the weekend with the info from the forum here, thx. Was easy. But now the issue seems to be too much slack in the cable. Is there a way to tighten the slack in the cable?

 

yes, allow the car to roll backward... in a safe place .. while the car is slowly rolling backwards... jerk up on the ebrake lever 5 or 6 times to stop the car from rolling and this will remove the cable slack.

 

Search here for greasing the e-brake handle. The e-brake handle has the cable slack ajuster in it. Typically the grease gets old and gummy and doesn't allow it to adjust. If so, you have to pull it out and clean of the grease and re-grease it.

I don't understand the "roll-backwards" theory. There is absolutely nothing inside the drum brake assembly that will make the e-brake self-adjust if you apply the e-brake while rolling backwards.

Peter

 

You sure about that?

It's not a "theory". The mechanism may not work very well, or could have been designed a bit better, but it's designed to do just that.

When correctly adjusted, the PB lever will click 11 times when fully applied, placing the lever approx at a 45* angle and it will be in the mid-range of it's total range of travel.

 

Actually, Peter is absolutely correct. The parking brakes on these cars do NOT self adjust. The star wheel on the actuator is only there to manually adjust the shoes to the correct diameter. If you look closely at the mechanism, you'll find that there's no arm coming off the shoes to actually turn the star wheels like a regular service drum brake would have.

Unless you're driving around town with the brake applied, lining/drum wear is almost nill, so there is nothing to adjust for anyway. Slack in the cable has to be adjusted for at the cable adjuster, not at the shoes.

It is a nice theory though.

 

People have been yakking on here for years about backing up to adjust the parking brake. There is NOTHING in there that will move the star wheel by backing up, pulling the brake lever, or whatever. As you mention, the star wheel is for manual adjustment.

I believe all the yanking up on the handle does is loosen whatever dried grease is in the mechanism so that the auto slack adjuster in the base of the lever can do its job.

 

The OP asked about removing" Ebrake CABLE SLACK " not adjusting the shoes. So many are quick to render their opinion but its their lack of knowledge that puts their foot in their mouth. Cable slack can be adjusted by just pulling up sharply on the ebrake lever 5 or six times... the reason we tell people to roll backward is so they can actually feel the mechanism work in full engagement. you should also feel the cable lever react. The reason we teach this procedure ( rolling backwards) it to show that the system is indeed working. All the Yanking in the world will not correct shoes that are out of adjustment and the roll back method will show this. I hope this makes sence, and that we at GM technical engineering services, actually do know something about this car. So to the OP , Many people on this forum are very quick to help and show how smart they are.. unfortunately there are way too many people on this forum that should only look and not offer their assumptions. To the OP seek out the knowledgeable people on this forum but keep in mind their are too many legends in their own mind here, as in all forums... There are many good and knowledgeable techs and engineers and tuners and some real good back yard mechanics.. but for the most part the vast majority are clueless, which is fine.. its the clueless ones that think they know something that causes many people to go down the wrong path.. I can't tell you how many members have spent thousands of dollars going down the wrong path and then contact me to help them, but then thats why I am here. The people who butt heads with me are just that... Buttheads
Good Luck
Bill aka ET

 

Far be it from me to "butt heads" with an expert.

This is a cut & paste from your Parking Brake Adjustment Tech Tip on this site:

"...roll the car backwards on a hill.. or in reverse @ 5
mph..pull up on the e brake lever... this will slam your car to an abrupt
stop.. the engagement of the shoes to the drum while the car is moving
backwards will cause the shoe assembly to flex.. it is the flex that
causes the blade to click the adjusting star one click... Do this three or
four times and it will expand your shoes.. "

I don't seen any adjusting blades near my star wheels. But then I'm just a butthead!

 

The above is WRONG-pull the rear rotor and you'll see for yourself. There is NO SELF ADJUSTMENT for the rear E brake SHOES. There is only adjustment on the cable and that generally will not fix an E-brake that won't hold. Take the rotors off, remove, clean, lube the adjusters-put them back in, adjust them CORRECTLY and they work FANTASTIC.

 

If you check that post...you will see how old that is.... I have tried to have that post removed from the day it was put there.. no one was overseeing the tech site then... That post is wrong and I know that... but of course an 8 year old post that was misrepressented has come up before. Funny thing is you fsailed to see the 2700 other post I have made on that subject stating the same thing ( misrepresented information ).. and the correct procedure.. I guess the best thing for me to do now is to pack up and move away...

 

Why are you getting so defensive, Bill?

You answered the OPs question very succinctly. He knows his cable needs adjusting, and now he knows how...from at least four different people, including yourself. No one is questioning your GM technical engineering services knowledge.

This thread went on a tangent, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes that's when they get really interesting and informative. We're all here to learn new things and hash out ideas, Bill. Why don't we check the name-calling at the door and grow our Knowledge, not our Egos.

This constant talk that the adjustment procedure be done while moving in reverse is probably what causes many people, including myself, to quickly *assume* that the adjustment is being done inside the brake. The cable adjuster doesn’t care which way the car is going in order to operate properly. The car doesn't even have to be moving for it to operate. These e-brakes don’t have any servo action like regular drum brakes do, so they grab the same going fwd or backwards. I can feel perfectly well if mine is working while moving forward. Why the constant need to do it while rolling in reverse? I bet if we took that word out of it, us buttheads wouldn’t have anything to argue about anymore. Does anyone even remember how drum brakes used to self-adjust...

Explain again, please, WHY BACKWARDS?? What do you mean "feel the mechanism work in full engagement"?

Completely unrelated, but I really have a warm spot in my heart for crotchety old farts. The have so much wisdom and experience to offer, but for some reason the younger generations just don't give a damn. I have never understood why. On the decidedly remote chance that I ever find myself old and wise, it would probably **** me off too.

 

I think you may get me now....with this last paragraph.
Nice post thank you
Bill aka ET

 

Thanks Bill,

It may not seem like it, but there are a lot of us here that really appreciate your contribution to this forum.

 

what if the pads are making contact with the drum? is that bad? the last time i adjusted mine, i adjusted the diameter until the pad wasnt dragging after i pulled the brake up a few times. did i do this incorrectly? my parking brake has been loose for a while, and I never really took the time to look into it.

 

If the shoes are too tight,you won't be able to get the drum/rotor back on (tight,but by hand-you don't want to have to beat on it with a hammer)
If they seem to rub a little right at first,drive a few miles,no more rub.

 

The problem with these type of disk drum rotor is that the entrance diameter is smaller than the actual seating diameter meaning its going to be hard to get the drum over the shoes but once the drum starts the clearance actually gets a little wider as the drum is pushed completely on.. people always worry that their shoe adjustment will be too tight based on the entrance clearance.. in reality the clearance when the shoes actually engage is bigger .. thats why even after what you think is a tight adjustment the clearance leaves the shoe to far from the drum to actually make a positive engagement.. like i said, put the drum over the tightest adjustment possible.,,,you can use a hammer but only to help in the tight engagement..a 3 lb brass hammer works perfectly..when you do the roll back test you can see that once the lever is pulled up it will stop the call from rolling in a very positive manner.. with the car on a hill . disengage the lever and note at what point the car begins to move. you will See it doesn't take much to disengage the shoes.

 

This is absolutely correct. I usually adjust to the point where I have to pound the rotor on with the palm of my hand. Once you get the rotor all the way on you can feel the pressure is relieved and it's not dragging. The ebrake works fantastically (works on my Camaro too, same ebrake design).

Dope

 

thanks! ill be sure do to this next time i have the rear wheels off.

 

If the fix Evil Twin suggested doesn't work then check the archives on how to clean and regrease the handle assembly.

 

It's amazing how wound up people get about things like this. My statement about driving in reverse was aimed at both adjusting the slack in the cable via the handle mechanism and trying to adjust the shoes. The simple fact is that the C5 has no mechanism which requires the car to be moving in forward or reverse for the e-brake to adjust (the cable adjuster that is). I posted there is nothing inside the drum because the drum is where the e-brake resides and if there was some kind of adjustment mechanism it would be inside the drum. I guess I should have also posted there are no inertia weights on the handle that would activate the cable adjuster in reverse...

I can agree that testing the e-brake with a rolling car to check can be a good idea. However, the reversing is not required and just saying to back up and yank on the handle to adjust it without explaining why is doing an injustice to the community. Posting to do that is why that adjustment method for the e-brake shoes keeps popping up. My car was on jack stands when I adjusted my e-brake and it works fine.

And, after all that, the problem still goes back to what I first posted about the handle. If it's not adjusting the cable slack then the handle is either all gummed up with old grease or it's broken.

Peter