Well today I went ahead and put all new brakes on my 1500HD truck. I went ahead and bought the new parking brake shoes (this truck has the rear disk brakes with the drum style parking brake). My question is has anyone figured out an easy way to get the parking brake adjusted? It says in the manual that they are self adjusting but can be manually adjusted if needed. There is a window in each side to get to the star adjuster, but the one on the passenger side is definitely not easy to get to. I adjusted them to where the rotor/drum assembly would just slide on, but the parking brake still doesn't hold like it should. I noticed there is a cable adjustment and mine is as tight as it will go. Should I loosen it there and then reinstall the rotor/drum like I did before and then tighten the cable until the park brake pedal doesn't go to the floor? I ran out of daylight tonight so I am going to tackle it tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

 

I wouldnt mess with the cable at all.............use the star wheel to adjust them.....(I hate the new park brake setup)....how does it not "hold" like it should? how is the drum? is it still within specs?

 

The rotor/drum, pads, and shoes were all replaced today. With the park brake pedal to the floor it will only hold until the slightest bit of accelerator is pushed. I didn't notice at what RPM they start to slip, but this truck pulls our boat so I need this thing to work right. Thanks for the reply.

 

From what I hear shamrock this is one of GM's bad designs. I read some info where they are only rated to hold the vehicle in gear at 1200 RPM max. And once you drive off with it engaged, it ruins the shoes almost instantly. Here's some info for it though...http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Parking_br...lverado_2500hd

 

Yeah I was afraid of that...it is a pretty crappy design. Those stupid little shoes were more expensive than the pads too! I am going to try and get it a little more snug today and I will let you guys know. Thanks for the input and the link.

 

OK well problem solved. I first loosened the cable adjuster (I know it technically is not an adjuster but whatever that threaded thing is called where the cables Y together) I then jacked up the rear, chalked the front wheels, put the truck in neutral and adjusted the star wheel to where the tire could barely be moved by hand. I then back it off one click at a time until there wasn't any drag felt. I was surprised that one click made the differenct between drag and no drag. Also I found it easiest to take the passenger side wheel and tire off and slide the rotor out just enough to access the star wheel. The little adjusting window in the back is a JOKE to get to. The drivers side was very accessible so I left the wheel and tire on. So when I was confident that they were adjusted properly I pushed down the park brake and it went right to the floor. Don't get me wrong the tires wouldn't turn by hand, but once lowered to the ground it would break free with any acceleration at all. So I turned to the cable and this is what fixed it...I installed a spacer in front of the nut and tightened it down almost all the way (see pic). The wheels still free spin the same - as I was tightening I kept turning the tire with my foot to make sure I wasn't engaging the park brake. I also got up a few times to try the pedal and now it feels like it should! It goes down about 3/4 of the way with good resistance and I reved the truck up to about 1500 RPM and it didn't budge!!! I have attached a picture of my spacer which came out of my misc. motorcyle crap that I have collected through the years, but I would imagine a a similar one could be found at a harware store or even an old socket would work. The good thing is the bolt is long enough to take a variety of difference size spacers and as the cable gets stretched just get a longer spacer. So I guess the main issue with this system or at least in my particuar case was the cable was stretched a little. Hope this helps! Thanks again for the input!!!!

 

That works for me. I have never even replaced any of te brakes on my 04 GMC Sierra. Every time I have the tires rotated and balanced I always look at the pads and they always look good. The ceramic pads sure do seem to hold up well. I have almost a 100,000 miles on the original set. What kind of mileage has everyone gotten out of their brakes before they replaced tehm?

 

Same here 100k. Then with the proper install of the new set, should last almost as long.

 

My second day messing with parking brake on '02 avalanche: I took the ring'/ shoes off and wire feed welded about an 1/8" extension on both sides where the adjusters touch the ring/shoe. Then I ground the new extension surface on a bench grinder to make it nice and square. That did the trick. I don't know how many sizes/oversizes of ring/shoes there are. Perhaps the difference in sizes is just how much of the adjuster contact surface is ground away by the manufacturer. The actual friction surface barely had any wear, but my adjuster was all the way out, and the brake wouldn't hold. Somebody in the parts business might consider making the star adjustment threads about twice as long.

 

145,000 on stock front brake pads.