99% of the time my parking brake is sufficent to hold the car on a hill, but occassionally when I pull up on the handle there is lttle if any resistance on the handle and the parking brake will not hold the car on a hill. I've tried to isolate when this happens so I can try to pinpoint the problem without success. Anyone else have this issue?

 

This is a really old post and I can't give credit to the OP as I didnt note the name. The original has pics. It might answer your question:

These are easy to fix and probably one of the most misunderstood pieces of equipment in your car. There are TWO ratchet assemblys in the HANDLE. One for holding the handle in position and a seperate one for applying tension to the cable. The only "automatic adjuster" is in the handle and NOT the drum. The star adjuster in the drum is only for initial shoe adjustment when installing your rotor. If the pawl in the handle is lubricated properly, it will automatically adjust as the handle is normally operated, by the internal pawl grabbing the next tooth on the ratchet as the lining on the shoes wears over time.

I had my wife operate the Brake handle while I watched the cables where they hook up to the lever at the outside of the backing plate...there was NO movement at either wheel. So, the problem had to be in the handle. Thanks go to 'Fast one' who pointed out that the handle has a ratchet system FOR THE CABLE tension. It gets dirty and needs to be cleaned and lubed. First remove the console to be able to remove the E-brake boot. Go here to see how to do this: http://www.vetteessentials.com/inst...ezel_howto.html
You only have to go thru stepf 3F to do what is required. It takes about a half hour. After you have the E-brake boot loosened (2 10mm nuts) and pulled up, remove the passenger seat by unscrewing the four 15mm nuts that hold the seat and unplug the power to the seat. Then pull back the carpet from the handle assembly to reveal the 3 mounting screws. (#40 Torx screw) Disconnect the E-brake warning light connector and remove the three mounting screws...they are very tight:

Next, rotate the assembly to see the side where the internal ratchet assy is. You will see the pawl that is most likely frozen open, like mine was.

I used acetone to break the old grease free and clean the pawl and spring assembly. Then I lubed it with some very slick machine oil that I had and worked the pawl back and forth untill it was totally free. The pawl should rest on the ratchet teeth as shown in this picture:

Reassemble and enjoy the difference! Thanks to all who helped me diagnose this problem.
Note: I should add here, that although my original problem was the handle not putting any tension on the cables at all, the car now holds, but still does not hold like it should. It is because of the condition of the shoes, which is a seperate issue. On my car, the shoes have plenty of lining and are adjusted properly, but since the handle did not work, the parking brake had not been used for years and as a result, the linings (although thick) look very nasty. I ran the car up the driveway with the E-brake partially applied to try and seat the shoes properly, and it seemed to help a little. Hopefully over the weekend I will see some improvement with further use.

 

Thanks DeeGee! That makes total sense. The pawl on mine must be getting stuck open occassionaliy. Looks like an easy fix. I'll try to tackle it this weekend.