1ga parking brake issue

[crensinivon]

I adjusted the parking brake lever on my talon, it only moves 4-5 clicks now before becoming tight but still the parking brake doesn't engage. I pulled the rotor to look for parking brake pads but didn't see any. How does the parking brake work on the 1gas? I see that the cables are connected to a return spring on top of the caliper I but haven't dug any deeper than that. Does the lever engage a piston, or did i buy a car with the wrong rotors on the back?

 

[steve]

the parking pads should be the underside of the drum ont eh rears. Its just a cable that pulls a spring loaded mechanism. Check to see if your cable is binding anywhere and actually engaging the brake

The 2Gs are quite different than a 1G in many ways and parking brakes is one area.

How does the parking brake work on the 1gas? I see that the cables are connected to a return spring on top of the caliper I but haven't dug any deeper than that. Does the lever engage a piston, or did i buy a car with the wrong rotors on the back?

On a 1G the parking brake is internal to the caliper. The lever turns a cam that pushes a threaded rod connected to the piston and engages the pads on the rotor. This is why you have to thread the pistons in when change the rear pads on a 1G.

It's not uncommon for the seal on the lever to leak allowing water to rust the cam solid. I've also seen the pads rust to the brackets making the rear brakes not work at all.

You need to check and see if the lever is moving. If it isn't, you likely will want to replace the rear calipers. I've rebuilt them before and it's a major pain plus if the parking brake cam is rusted you wont be able to source the needle bearing race that goes between the cam and caliper body.

 

[crensinivon]

Thanks steve I thought that they didn't have pads the cable does actuate the return springs so I guess the cam is rusted. Would a little PB blaster do the trick to maybe unfreeze the cams? I didn't want to have to replace the rear calipers until I got ahold of some 3000gt brakes.

 

[steve]

I doubt a little PB Blaster is going to free it up if it's frozen.
I'm not sure what you mean by the cable does actuate the return springs. The cable and return spring are connected to the lever. It has to move for the spring to turn.

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I hope your not thinking you are going to put the 3kGT rears on. They are drum in disk like the 2G rears.

 

[crensinivon]

The car sat for a couple of months and the rotors got a little rusty like they always do when they aren't used. After a day of spirited driving the rotors are bright and shiny, which leads me to believe that the pads are scraping the rotors, and the hydraulic of the system is working properly.

Now on to the e-brake.

I adjusted the cable at the spreader with the brake lever down. Now I can pull 4-5 clicks b4 it stops. I had a buddy stand by the back wheel to see if the cables were actually pulling or not. They move quite efficiently, but do nothing to lock up the rear wheels. I did this with the car on a lift, I'm not trying to drift my AWD.

So I guess at this point its time to replace the rear calipers.
They were new about 8 mths ago.

 

[steve]

You can see the spring, lever and cam in the picture.
Above them is the piston and above it is the actuator/adjuster of the parking brake.
The little pin next to the threaded part is the link between the cam and the actuator. You can see than the cam is dished out. As it turns the pin rides up the wall of the dish and pushed against the bottom of the actuator which pushes the piston out. The threaded part of the actuator is to adjust for wear in the pads.

If the lever moves the cam is not frozen and there is something else wrong.

 

[crensinivon]

Ok well if that is the case I'm going to try another brake bleed pump the brakes up again, and see if that helps. There is plenty of pad left almost 3/4.

I see what your saying now about the cam, and yes it is spinning. I wonder if the rears are just too far out of adjustment at this point.

When I pulled the caliper off the back, I didn't really have time to fix it I just wanted to make sure there weren't pads behind the rotors that needed adjusting or replacing, everything seemed to be working fine, and the piston was up against the pads like they should have been.

Guess I'll pull the calipers on both wheels, check to make sure that the are screwing in and out properly, at that point the only thing left that it could be would be that the little pin.