Parking brake problems

edscoupe

edscoupe

Member
Can not keep car from rolling on incline when brake is ingaged, this is a 1948 ford coupe. Ihave replaced the cable from handle to equalizer, as it was frayed some were it had rubbed on frame, replaced brake shoes. I believe every thing is ajusted properly, as the car stops great, peddle is near the top when it is depressed. I'm at a loss,has any one any ideas as to what i'm missing.
 
you may have a streached rear cable i have found that the replacement rear cable they sell are to long ,check for loose cable going to the rear wheels ,mine had too much slack after i ran out of adjustment,i wound up shortning the cable and splicing it together
 
I still have ajustment in new cable, but if i pull the pin for the cleves andmake a tighter ajustment then i can't get the pin back in, i'm working on the garage floor and can't pull the cable from the wheels far enough to get the pin in
 
Does your handle stop tight well before you can pull it all the way to its limit? If not, have you adjusted the end of the cable that hooks to the handle? That's probably an easier adjustment than moving the bracket that the rear cable runs through.

That all said, my experience is that, with all new brake shoes, drums, cable and all adjusted so the handle stops tight before reaching its limit, my emergency brake will only hold the car on a very slight incline, not much more. I always leave it in 1st gear in addition to the brake.
 
Yes the handle will stop tight, maybe two or three clicks, then i can pull it as hard as i can to its full limit. I have ajusted both ends to the point to were i can just get them back togeather, and it will not hold on a slight incline, car will pass safty inspection but i get gegged on the parking brake because it will not stop car
 
When my handle stops tight it stops tight. There is no way I can pull it any further.

I know it's a hassel but have you had the rear wheels off and had someone pull the emergency brake while you watch what happens in the wheel with the brake levers etc? It sounds like something wrong in there.

P.S. For my emergency brake to work I have to keep the cables adjusted so tight that I have to back them off (I usually just disconnect the bracket mid-car) to be able to pull the drums off. If you have any difficulty getting those off you will probably have to do the same.
 
No i have not pulled the drums, i will do that this weekend and make sure every thing is working. When i pull the parking brake it doe's hold it some, just not enough to stop it completly, and when the handle is pulled the brake peddel is way at the top, no free play at all, so i think things are working, just can't get it tight enough, but i will take it apart check
 
Those Lockheed/Ford type brakes require a fairly frequent adjustment if you drive the car a lot. Maybe they just need a tune up.

Kerby
 
edscoupe said:
When i pull the parking brake it does hold it some, just not enough to stop it completly.
Click to expand...

I know Ford calls the hand brake an "emergency" brake rather than a "parking" brake because there is only one hydralic system instead of two independent ones like modern cars. It is the only back up brake system to stop the car if the hydralic system fails. But, I'm pretty sure that if I had to rely on the hand brake to stop me totally in an emergency it would not do so in time. It holds OK on a slight incline, like I said before, but it is very slow to stop the car. (EVENTUALLY it will stop the car, but, emphasis on EVENTUALLY.)
 
I think your problem might be the adjustment of the brake shoes to the drums...my '40 will slide the rear wheels when I apply the "e" brake... There is a complete breakdown of the adjustments in the service manual.
 
I had one other thought: When I reconnect the equalizer bracket that the rear cable goes through to the main cable, I have to actually pull forward on it with all my might to actually deflect the brake arms in the rear brake drums as far as possible as I hook up the bracket; not just to where they are not slack and loose, but actually pull as hard as I can to just barely be able to hook up the bracket. If I just pull on that rear cable just enough to take the slack out, it's not enough. If you haven't tried pulling the bracket with the rear cable on it that hard to just barely reach to reconnect to the main cable you might try that. That's how tight it's got to be.
 
I tried pulling it as hard as i could laying on the floor, may have to get the car higher or take to a service station and get it up on a rack. First i'm going to take things apart and make sure they are working properly.
Thanks for every bodys help
 
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