I noticed the other day that while parked forwards facing down hill the ebrake does not hold the car. It seems to do just fine if the car is facing up the hill though. I know this is a self adjusting parking brake but it isnt holding the car. How do you adjust the parking brake?

 

Mine is at the dealership right now getting a whole new ebrake assembly put in it. They originally thought it needed to be adjusted which they told me was going to be 1 1/2 hours and $91 in labor. Hopefully you know someone who can tell you how so you save some money. Sorry I can't help to much.

 

There are small drums on the rear rotors and an adjustment wheel inside.

This is a very common problem even on the newer C5s.

My Corvette Tech drills a hole in the rotor where a brake adj wrench or screwdriver can be used to turn the star wheel for future adjustments.

To adjust you have to remove the rotors and adjust until you can just get the rotors back on.

 

If it takes more than 20 minutes with a lift I'd choke. 1.5 hrs is a rip :mad Even if they said an hour, oh well but 1.5 I could do a brake job in 1.5 hours.

 

Mine works very well, but I know that many people's do not...I am talking about my ebrake, of course. ;)

 

:iagree: Just pull the rear wheels and rotors and expose the ebrake assembly then adjust the star gear until the rotor goes back on snugly and back it off a hair. In the pic below you can see the exposed ebrake. You'll want to get new caliper bracket bolts or at least use loctite on the old ones. They're on tight so be prepared to grunt some.

 

'Corvette Magazine" in the March issue which just came has an article about the e-brake. Gave a couple of ideas how to correct the problem. It is on page 20. Give it a look.

Bruce A. De Boe, D.C.

 

Eric,
This was posted a year or more ago and you may find it of help. I'm afraid I forgot who posted it but it may have been in the tech tips section. Once you've got the basic adjustment done you can keep it just right using the automatic adjustment.

Parking Brake Adjustment

OK.. when my car was new.. the Ebrake never worked right.. I had to set it all the way up and it barely held.. I took it back to the dealer..they said brakes arre a wear item and it would cost me to fix it.. thay said the shoes where probably worn.. I said to my self.. how can they be worn? the car is always stopped when the e brake is applied..
When i bought my ripper shifter... I let a friend of mine sit try it out.. he parked the car.. left it in neutral and applied the E brake..As it slowly rolled away I dove through the window.. he left open and threw it in gear.. that day I went home and pledged to fix the ebrake..
here it goes..

I took off the real wheels calipers and caliper brackets, pulled the rotors off, and looked at the shoes..they looked fine..the drum part of the rotors looked fine.. I slip fitted the rotor over the shoes.. there was no feel for the shoes..( meaning I could not feel the shoes on the drums.. ) So I saw the star adjuster and the auto adjust mechanism.. I pulled the adjusterblade away from the star adjuster.. ( This is the same system that is on most drum rear brake systems ) noting which way the adjuster blade would stroke to adjust the star... I then click the star adjuster ten clicks.. and refit the rotor... still no drag.... I took off the rotor again..clicked ten more still no grab..
10 more.. no drag ( the rotor slipped right on)
10 more ( thats 40 ) I felt a slight drag.
5 more ( I could not get the rotor over the shoes..)
I backed off two clicks and the rotor went on with drag..

I did the same thing to the other side.. then reinstalled the rotors calipers and wheels..
when I went to pull up on the lever.. it only went up about 6 inches.. as oppose to full stroke maybe 15 inches.... I was concerned about the shes being too tight.. so I took the car to the edge of my driveway.. a 20 degree incline.. I set the parking brake/// engine off.... I slowly released the the ebrake lever and at five inches the car rolled backwards without any drag.. I then tested the e brake by driving bakwards at about 5 mph.. and pulled on the e brake.. and at 6 inches it locked up the rear wheels..

Now when I use the auto adjust feature... it requires that you be moving backwards.. and pull up on the handle..and it will cause the shoes to flex backwards and the adjuster blade will make one click tighter of the adjuster.. you cannot over adjust with this meathod.. but the auto adjuster will not work unless you are less than half of the full lever stroke.. in other words if you can’t lock up the shoes in a very positive manner the adjuster will not work.. I feel I could be driving ten or fifteen miles an hour and have a major brake failure and still be able to stop my car in a very quick manner... there is nothing wrong with the Ebrake system.... it has worked for two years and 20,000 miles .. now that i fixed it that one time..
I can be more specific if anyone needs a hand.. but this is one area.. that I have a lock on.. and if you make this fix.. you will want to buy me a beer...



[Modified by te51cle, 9:46 AM 1/5/2003]

 

:iagree: My brother-inlaw and myself just changed all four rotors and new pads all around in just over an hour. So 1.5 hours to do the rear ebrake is a little high.

 

I have this same problem and will be adjusting them myself, let you know how it turns out.

 

Bigtoe can you provide more detail regarding drilling hole for ebrake adjustment... size of hole,location of hole,e.g., 6 oclock,8 oclock, or better still a picture.

 

I've seen many posts here & elsewhere regarding the "self-adjust" feature of the ebrake on the C5, yet when I had mine (98) apart to do the adjustment (per the factory service manual), I found that there are NO ADJUSTING BLADES, or any other self-adjusting features in the brake assembly. Just the usual star wheel, with a springy metal thing, riveted to the backing plate, that the star wheel rides against to "click" & hold it in position. If anyone has pictures of anything different on a C5, with self-adjusting blades, I'd sure like to see them. Maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe GM changed somethign along the way.

The only self adjusting feature I'm aware of is in the base of the apply lever assembly, and its job is to keep slack out of the cables.

I like the idea mentioned above of drilling a hole so the adjuster could be manipulated without removing the rotor/drum. I may do that when I change the pads in the Spring.

Steve.



[Modified by 30yrwait, 1:47 PM 1/5/2003]

 

That will get the rear rotor very hot I would think? The shoes should be close but not touching.

 

te51cle

I'm going to start on her in about 30mins. Seems simple enough !

Where do you want the beer sent and what kind :cheers: :cheers:

:smash: :smash: :smash: :smash:

 

speedyc5 - No problem, thank the guy who wrote it, I just kept a copy on my PC 'cos it looked useful.

Just wait till you're trying to remove a seized caliper bolt and then see what you really want to say to me ! :D

 

te51cle

OK I just finished her up! It was even easier than the writeup said. I also tend to agree with the comment about it self adjusting. I seen the star wheel and metal detent but nothing to move the wheel like on my '63s drum bakes.

Then I got to thinking- if you only apply while car is not moving there should be no wear on the shoes so it should never need adjusting again.

Anyway thanks for the motivation to get her done.

Think I'll grab one of YOUR beers and go out and pull the handle afew times

"She sure feels good now"

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

:seeya :seeya :seeya :seeya :seeya :seeya

 

Thanks for the above tip and the informative topic.

 

Help... first when I pulled the rotors off, they were like hung up on the shoes. They went in like sideways and got stuck. After some wrestling I pulled the rotor off but the shoe was stuck in it and the stiff wire thats on the rear of the shoe. I dont see how you guys put the rotor on and took it off without the shoe getting stuck on it. Seems like each time I did it, it got hung up. Now I have to figure out how to put that wire piece back in and adjust the brake.

 

Last year the quality control manager from the factory visited our club on Shop Night. One of the many issues he addressed was about the lousy parking brake. When he was asked about it, the questioner called it an Emergency Brake, He was quick to correct the questioner and emphasized that it is a Parking Brake. If you press, you can usually get this thing adjusted even after the warranty runs out.

Here is a picture of it.




[Modified by Steve Row, 10:47 PM 1/12/2003]

 

Yea I got the thing back on, after my hands are all raw from pushing the shoe retainer spring back in place. Ugggh that was such a PAIN. The parking brake works much better now, but I'm now afraid that I made the right one tighter then the left. But- I have to pull the rotors again tomorow cause my car failed inspection cause of pulsating rear brakes and alignment :rolleyes: The shop wanted to charge $65 + $15 per rotor to turn the rotors I told them to take a hike.