E-Brake Issues

[aspekt9]

So the other day I was jacking up the car to take a look at a power steering leak. I pulled up on the e-brake so it was fully engaged so the rear tires wouldn't roll away. I finished taking a look and lowered the car and then drove down to advance auto parts to pick up some stuff. On the way back I heard this God awful grinding noise coming from the rear. When I got home the heat coming from the caliper was so immense you couldn't move your hand within 4 inches of the wheel itself. I waited for it to cool down and jacked the car up the next morning and took the tire off.

So upon careful inspection it looked like the caliper was completely seized, it was locked down tight to the rotor and I needed to hammer it off. Now I had just replaced the brakes not even a year ago and the outside pad was worn about half off and looked like complete crap. I ordered a new rotor and got it the next day. The install went fine everything worked great. Now the problem is the e-brake cable doesn't do anything. It feels like theres no tension in the line at all. Now here's the weird thing, when the e-brake is pulled I can see it pulling the level attached to the spring on the caliper and it's fully engaging it. Now the caliper has a little play to it. Also, the e-brake lever in the center console is completely uneven. It seems that when the e-brake goes up, the other caliper level doesn't move nearly as much or as easily as the newly replaced one. So I'm not sure if maybe the spring on the new one isn't tight enough and it's not pushing the piston all the way into the pads to do anything or if it's my e-brake cable? Any ideas what I can try?

 

[someguyonline]

have you tried adjusting the cable?

 

[aspekt9]

I can't, it's as tight as it will go and still when I pull up it feels loose. Even though the lever on the new caliper gets pulled as far as it can, it still doesn't lock up the rotor. And the caliper on the other side the lever doesn't move nearly as much as the newer one. Therefore it creates and uneven tension on the cable that I can't tell if a cable is stretched too much or snapped or if it's just the caliper. I'm wondering if I should send the new caliper back and get another maybe the spring is too lose and it's not compressing the piston as much?