Parking Brake No Resistance

[Hawkins]

Hi All,

first time post and Chevy owner. So far one of the best driving trucks i have owned. 2004 Z71 Tahoe 188k miles. outside of the water in my passenger floorboard, that i seemed to have fixed with silicone on the weather stripping all has been great. i went to get behind the dash, which calls to put in 1st, apply parking brake if needed to remove. that's when i discovered no pressure/resistance while pushing the pedal down to the floor. And once i release the actual brake it rolls as normal. It could be that the shoe components need to be replaced but i noticed a few things that it could be instead, but not familiar enough to be certain.

the pictures show my E brake pedal and it appears as if a pin is missing from the circled spot? also i should let you know i bought the truck with a RV tow hitch connection and brake assist system. it has a breakaway system i also show pictured which stops the car in the event it break off the hitch.

My question is am i missing a pin from my actual pedal to engage the brakes? if so, is that due to the RV braking system that's in the truck?

 

[OR VietVet]

I looked at mine and there is nothing in that hole on my mechanism so I believe that has nothing to do with your problem. The cable right behind that is the release cable for the handle and the other larger cable to the outboard of the mechanism, in the pic I can see it behind the plastic cover at the bottom of the pic, is the park brake cable. Problem is likely under th vehicle and needs inspected or adjusted or parts replaced and adjust as needed. There are other threads here about all that.

Welcome to the forum from Oregon. We all need to see more pics of your rig.



We recommend that you put all your rig(s) info in your signature so we all don’t have to guess at year, make, model, engine size, trans, rear axle locker…….etc. Makes it way easier on all members that attempt to help, to have that info right up front. It is also recommended that you take a pic of your RPO codes, on the inside cover of the glove box, and post that image in your signature. All this info will greatly help those that will try to help with a problem.


If there is any other info, like upgrades, mods or recent mechanical/maintenance work done, that would be helpful in any post as well. Too many times a question is asked by the poster and after about 10 responses we find out that the poster has done recent work to attempt to fix the problem or work that was done that SEEMS not related to the problem.

 

[Scottydoggs]

The e brake shoes likely need to be adjusted, if you replaced the rear rotors a lot of the time the drum diameter is larger then the old one. so you need to turn that star wheel and test fit a few times till its really close to the new drum.

 

[wildcatgoal]

The parking brake design on these is a joke, let's be honest. You can adjust on the braking mechanism and trial and error and also under the car on the driver side before the rear wheel. Often the easy adjustment is already maxed out and you have to go into the drum to adjust and even then it's not great. I FINALLY got mine working well enough to hold the truck... barely.

 

[Scottydoggs]

my e brake works like a boss. set mine like i described above.

getting that brake adjuster tool inside the backing plate and actually hitting the star wheel is almost impossible on these trucks.

try a 3500, the leaf springs literally block the hole. now your pulling the brakes off and then the axle and crap cause full floating rear.

 

[OR VietVet]

Ahhhhh, the beauty of a full float axle and all that comes with it.

 

[new2yukon]

The parking brake design on these is a joke, let's be honest. You can adjust on the braking mechanism and trial and error and also under the car on the driver side before the rear wheel. Often the easy adjustment is already maxed out and you have to go into the drum to adjust and even then it's not great. I FINALLY got mine working well enough to hold the truck... barely.

I cannot admit how LONG it took me to get mine to spin freely and hold, etc and like you said....barely hold.

Pedal has to be all the way down for it to hold.

"Glad" others had issues. Thought I was the problem.

 

[OR VietVet]

I had the same problem till I had the park brake shoes replaced and they adjusted the adjuster wheel and then made adjustments as they headed to the pedal in the cab. My pedal goes about 2/3 down and holds great.

This was all before I got my tools and the guy that did the work said it was a PITA!

 

[Scottydoggs]

Ahhhhh, the beauty of a full float axle and all that comes with it.

great rear end, had these things apart so many times now i can do it with my eyes closed. just sucks to dig so deep for a e brake adjustment. being a dually dont help much either.

 

[OR VietVet]

Scott, I understand completely. I have been in them many many many times myself. I had a 1973 Blazer that I used for off roading out here in the PNW and I had a full float 14 bolt at the rear with a Dana 60 up front. Could not break them before I broke anything attached to them.