E-brake adjustment??

martyb

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My 01 GTS has Dave's big brake kit, along with his e-brake kit. The e-brake has really not worked in the few months that I have owned the car. I looked at it today, and adjusted the outside pad to the proper clearance(.010), but noticed that the pad on the inside of the rotor is way off, like .050. The instructions on the kit say to adjust the cable to set the clearance on the inside pad, but the cable adjustment is out as far as it can go. Is there an adjustment that can be done at the parking brake assembly inside the car??

TIA

martyb
 

Red Snake

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Marty, I have the same set up as you. My brake works but I have to pull the handle WAY up to get it to secure. I don't think there is an adjustment under the center console. I have been wondering how to adjust it too. :dunno:
 
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martyb

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I will figure something out if there is no other adjustment, I am good like that :). It bugs me that its not working, but I will figure out a way and let you know Redsnake!!

martyb
 

KNG SNKE

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If you have unthreaded the nut on top of the E brake almost as far as it can go then it is time to replace the E brake pads. Contact colo08 about the new pads.
 
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martyb

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How can the pads on an ebrake wear out????? They are only functioning when the rotor is stationary.
 

Red Snake

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How can the pads on an ebrake wear out????? They are only functioning when the rotor is stationary.

Power slides, lol? :rolaugh:

I put the e-brake kit on my car less than 1,000 miles ago (brand new pads) so I KNOW that mine are not worn.:2tu:
 

SNKEBIT

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My 01 GTS has Dave's big brake kit, along with his e-brake kit. The e-brake has really not worked in the few months that I have owned the car. I looked at it today, and adjusted the outside pad to the proper clearance(.010), but noticed that the pad on the inside of the rotor is way off, like .050. The instructions on the kit say to adjust the cable to set the clearance on the inside pad, but the cable adjustment is out as far as it can go. Is there an adjustment that can be done at the parking brake assembly inside the car??

TIA

martyb

Marty, can you put a shim behind the pad? Never had a set of those apart to see if that's possible. I was always able to adjust those accordingly.
No adjustment inside.
 

dave6666

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I also have that kit, and that e-brake kit is really a parking brake. Meant to hold the car stationary after it has been stopped by some other means. It will never do much under emergency braking if your primary system has failed. Yes, better than the Fred Flintsone method, but nothing like an OE e-brake system.

That said, on my '01 I did all of the adjustments per spec and the handle will pull all the way up with just medium resistance at the top. I do still have adjustment left at the calipers.

If I needed additional adjustment I would pursue new adjusters. You may be able to make your own using a threaded screw and a drill press or lathe.
 

EllowViper

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Same here...all the way up to get minimal effect. I am pulling the wheels tomororw and will screw-out the remaining adjustment in the E-brake cable adjuster screw. After that...plan "B" of some sort.
 

dave6666

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Part of the problem with the caliper not seeming to pull up tight, commensurate with the fact it is a parking or spot caliper and not a true e-brake caliper, is the lack of rigidity in the mechanism. Dave did a great job in designing the bracket to be stiff, but the lever arm and actuating mechanism on the caliper itself is just not that beefy and stiff.

If at correct adjustment it will keep your car from rolling at a slight incline, you have reached the capability of that system.
 

SNKEBIT

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Part of the problem with the caliper not seeming to pull up tight, commensurate with the fact it is a parking or spot caliper and not a true e-brake caliper, is the lack of rigidity in the mechanism. Dave did a great job in designing the bracket to be stiff, but the lever arm and actuating mechanism on the caliper itself is just not that beefy and stiff.

If at correct adjustment it will keep your car from rolling at a slight incline, you have reached the capability of that system.


I disagree. With the proper clearances, (paper thickness between pads and rotor,) they work just fine. Some of them I had to shim the pad. Some calipers were adjusted inboard or outboard too far and can't clamp effectively.
Keep adjusting to minimal clearances on both sides and the system works right.:2tu:
 

dave6666

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I disagree. With the proper clearances, (paper thickness between pads and rotor,) they work just fine. Some of them I had to shim the pad. Some calipers were adjusted inboard or outboard too far and can't clamp effectively.
Keep adjusting to minimal clearances on both sides and the system works right.:2tu:

So you're saying the braking capability (clamping force, clamping area) of the factory rear caliper w/ e-brake feature and the braking capability (clamping force, clamping area) of Dave's Big Brake caliper are the same?

We're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.
 

SNKEBIT

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So you're saying the braking capability (clamping force, clamping area) of the factory rear caliper w/ e-brake feature and the braking capability (clamping force, clamping area) of Dave's Big Brake caliper are the same?

We're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.


No, it's more than adequate tho when properly adjusted.:2tu:
 

colo08

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The problem is the factory cable is about 1" to long, and depending on how the cable was routed during the installation you are running out of cable pull before the caliper grips the rotor. One thing that can be done is the switch the cable mount from one side to the other, the offset in the mount in effect will shorten up some of the cable length. Another way is to shorten the cable and put on new cable ends. Routing of the cable can and does make a big different.
 

EllowViper

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SNKEBIT has it dead on!!!. I looked at both sides today when I had the wheels off. Here's the situation with mine. The Ebrake is not perfectly centered on the rotor and has been favoring the innermost pad. Probaby 1/2 the pad is worn as compared to the outermost pad. During the install, I had taken-up about 1/2 the adjustment available on the cable end just to get the handle in the cab to grab at about 3/4 of available movement. I guess it was biased against the innermost pad. Now that I have a few miles on this set-up, the issue is not having too much cable but not having the pads centered on the rotor so that when the innermost pad pushes against the rotor (when the handle is raised), the rotor can flex enough to press against the outer pad. Right now, the rotor is just being pushed by the innermost pad and not using the outper pad (propbably a good 1/4 inch gap). Didn't have time to take the outermost pad assembly off and shim it to take out the gap...but in my opinion, that is the issue regarding my set-up.
 

colo08

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SNKEBIT has it dead on!!!. I looked at both sides today when I had the wheels off. Here's the situation with mine. The Ebrake is not perfectly centered on the rotor and has been favoring the innermost pad. Probaby 1/2 the pad is worn as compared to the outermost pad. During the install, I had taken-up about 1/2 the adjustment available on the cable end just to get the handle in the cab to grab at about 3/4 of available movement. I guess it was biased against the innermost pad. Now that I have a few miles on this set-up, the issue is not having too much cable but not having the pads centered on the rotor so that when the innermost pad pushes against the rotor (when the handle is raised), the rotor can flex enough to press against the outer pad. Right now, the rotor is just being pushed by the innermost pad and not using the outper pad (propbably a good 1/4 inch gap). Didn't have time to take the outermost pad assembly off and shim it to take out the gap...but in my opinion, that is the issue regarding my set-up.

Thats not how the caliper works, they are a floating calipers so when the inside pad is press into the rotor, this causes the caliper housing and out side pad to move toward the inside pad squeezing the rotor. The harder the inside pad is pressed, the harder the out side pad is driven back into the rotor. This is why the calipers should be adjusted so that the out side pad has about .01 clearance to the rotor. There is an adjustment nut centered in the caliper between the two guide dowels that can be used to move the caliper in and out. After making any cable adjustments this clearance should be checked.
 

EllowViper

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On these the outside pad is fixed. Only the inside pad moves with the actuator. The way Dave designed these, it is imperative to get the spacing correct on the rotor (per his instructions too). In fact, he states in his instructions that once installed, the clearances may have to be adjusted by adding/removing clearance from the bracket.
 

colo08

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That is correct the outside pad is fixed to the caliper housing. The whole caliper floats on the two guide dowels that the caliper is attached to the upright plate. You can push in on the caliper (toward the rotor) and the whole caliper should slide in until the outside pad hits the rotor. If it does not contact me and I can help you out. I know these caliper very well as they are my product that Dave sold.
 

GTS Bruce

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Same type of problem with stop tech big brake kit. Not enough adjustment. Will pull out leather trim piece and have it redone by an upholstery shop so when the handle is straight up it doesn't pull itself out of the center console. GTS BRuce
 

Andrew2KRT10

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I had the same problem, but worse is that with Dave's kit the bracket that holds the cable is short and the cable rests on the upper control arm as it did on my car and I saw this on many other cars. You can only slightly adjust the position to minimize that problem. I spoke to Dave about this way back when I did the install and requested that he send me blank brackets and I dirlled my own holes to raise the cable up off that control arm and good thing I did cause the cable started to wear through slightly.

But this has nothing to do with the travel of the handle in the car. The ony way I thought of solving this problem, and I know it would work, would be to rig up a pully system such that the existing cables from each side get reconfigured. The end result would be less excursion of the cable, less travel of the handle which we all want, but more force to pull the handle up. the force wouldn't be that great.
But when I took off my center console to see about starting to rig this up, WOW, what a job. I forgot about it until maybe this winter I might check it out again.

I strongly suggest that you guys check where that cable is resting and make sure it is not wearing through on that upper control arm
 

EllowViper

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Humm. I looked at some of my install pics and it does look like the bracket should float on the pins. If they do, they don't float too smoothly since when I was cleaning my brakes the other day they didn't seem to move then I was wiping them down (not that I noticed anyways). It just seems really suspicious that there is so much more clearance to the outside of the pads and the rotor "appears" to be riding on the inside pad. Nonetheless, before I do any more adjusting, I'm going to remove the pad assembly and see if I can shim it-adjust it closer to the rotor in its static position.
 

colo08

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I had the same problem, but worse is that with Dave's kit the bracket that holds the cable is short and the cable rests on the upper control arm as it did on my car and I saw this on many other cars. You can only slightly adjust the position to minimize that problem. I spoke to Dave about this way back when I did the install and requested that he send me blank brackets and I dirlled my own holes to raise the cable up off that control arm and good thing I did cause the cable started to wear through slightly.

When we make new brackets for you to gain clearance, we have made all bracket with the new design (more clearance)sense then. So this should not be an issue.
 
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