Parking brake on driver side rear

[97gsxIA]

I decided to post this in the newbie forums as I don't know squat about our parking brake system.

I recently heard that all-to-familiar sound of brake pad hitting metal, (driver side rear so I thought) So i ordered my brake upgrade (powerslot rotors/ss lines/hawk pads)
Got them installed on front AND back. In the process I noticed that my pads were only worn down about half way. Then I noticed my parking brake mechanism is loose, or at least free moving from left to right, I engaged the ebrake and the shoes (pointed in red and green) were not completely closing back to their orginal position when i disengaged the brake. And I also noticed the layer on the outside of the left shoe (pointed in red) was fragile and cracked right off WTF.

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So my question is could this have been causing the rubbing sound when i pressed the brake? It sounded EXACTLY like a worn pad. I have no idea how the parking brake truelly functions (just the bare minumum of knowledge). I had no choice but to slide all the brakes back on over it (with some serious messing around to get the shoes lined so that the rotor could actually fit on the wheel studs.) So obviously I don't know how to disassemble/reassemble this mechanism, should I just say screw my parking brake and take it all off, leave the parking to my 1st gear?"

I hadnt gotten a chance to go back out to the car and check the sound since i finished late, but I DO know that there shouldnt be broken crap on my wheel hub

 

[gofast63]

You have your Wheel cylinder between the two pads at the top. When the brakes are pressed they expand out wards. Now if you look at the bottom between the two shoe pads you have a adjustable star clutch or gear, I cant remember the correct name, its star something. Every once in a blue moon you have to drive in reverse about 5-10mpg and slam on the brakes a couple of times just so that the star clutch will automaticly adjust it self so that you dont have uneven wear. Drum brakes only do about 10% of the braking. So its not often that you have to replace them. But when the pads get to about an 1/8 of an inch thick, they need replacement. As for your pads returning to there postion. You may need to replace you wheel cylinder. Because your pistions or seals are going bad. Also i would get a whole new spring kit and replace all your springs, that plays a big part of returning them to there postion. Try youtubing how to repair drum brakes.

 

[97gsxIA]

I made a few adjustments with the toothed adjustment fitting i located at the bottom of the shoes (52301L/R in above picture) in order to create space between the old rusty shoe/sping mechanism and the inner cylinder of the brake rotor. So far it has resolved the problem until i replace the shoes.... now to move on to the next issue

hope this helps someone down the road

 

[scott91370]

You have your Wheel cylinder between the two pads at the top...

He isn't working on drum brakes, this is the parking/emergency brake.

 

[97gsxIA]

I wouldn't hate on the guy too much, after all, the parking brake mechanism is quite similar to a drum brake system.