Miles968

I have recently developed a loud squeal. It was coming from the drivers side rear brake. I disassembled and reassembled the rear disc brake. I still had this VERY LOUD annoying squeal. I took the rear disc apart again and this time I pulled the rotor off. I found that the Emergency Brake shoes had a broken spring. I opened up my PET program and identified the part as a pressure spring. This spring actually hold the shoes to the mounting plate. Needless to say I need to rebuild the Emergency Brake assembly. It did not make any sense just to patch it back together as the parts have approx 87,000 miles on them. I ordered all new parts from Sunset with a nice little cost of about 300.00.

Has anyone else had to do this? I was thinking of reassembling the disc brakes without the E-Brake until the parts come in? Can anyone venture a guess at what a dealer or shop may charge for this job with parts?

TIA!

RajDatta

I would say no more than 1 hr per side. Its not that hard as long as you have one side still on. You might want to give it a try yourself.
Raj

Miles968

Thanks Raj!
I am going to do it myself. I was just trying to convince my wife that I am actually saving money by fixing it. I wanted to back it up with some figures. Do you think I will cause any harm by running without the ebrake until the parts arrive?
TIA

flash968

same thing happened to me when i first got the car - pain in the butt - actually got me stuck

word to the wise - do not engage parking brake while moving, nor move while engaged - bad noisy stuff happens

RajDatta

Miles, none what so ever. This will not effect your normal barking. The two systems are complete independent of each other, one uses cables and the other is hydraulic. Different circuits.
Good luck and let me know if you run into any issues.
Raj

Miles968

Thanks Raj
I put it all back together today and it drives great with no squealing thank goodness. That noise was just driving me crazy.

I was just pondering the "word to the wise" what if you had hydraulic failure and needed to stop? I would pull the Emergency brake while moving? Shouldn't the Emergency brake be able to handle this without failure?

flash968

sure, it's better than nothing, but you will be headed to the shop - such an emergency situation is the exception, but if you grab that thing normally, you are playing russian roulette

unfortunately it is actually a parking brake, and not an emergency brake - the percentage of grade it is capable of holding is not up to stopping the car effectively beyond low residential speeds - this is also one of the reasons it is subject ot failure - frequently people leave the brake engaged and then put the car in gear and move - this is well known for causing failure - happened to me

when auto manufacturers started changing from drum to disk brakes back in the 60s, they gave up the idea of an emergency brake - in the days of drums, the same shoe and drum did both jobs - one was hydraulic, and one was cable actuated - this meant that there was "equal" braking potential at the rear - hence the term "emergency brake" - when they went to disks, and started using the inner hub surfaces for the drum shoes, the shoe size determined that it was a parking brake and not an emergency brake - this is the case with our cars

if you have a hydraulic failure, i'd head for a soft spot, and pray you have good insurance - the brake won't be of much help

RajDatta

Miles, I would only use emergency brakes at low speeds. You never know what the brake bias would be and this could possibly spin if you tried it at higher speeds. Best thing would be to use the engine for braking by downshifting to lower gears and then using the emergency brakes.
Raj

Jason Judd

I removed my emergency brake from my car, since it's mainly a track toy.

Boy that has turned into a pain when off loading the car from the trailer because I have a 'Tilt Bed' style of trailer.

When the trailer is tilted I don't have a good method of holding the car while I run around to jump into the car...it's a real hoot watching me run around...must get a pit crew.

Jason

jksymz75

resurrecting an old post to see if this also applies to me.

I get a constant squeal/squeak from the rears, both when applying pressure and when rolling.

I've also had the parking brake 'stick' a couple of times. once I started rolling it let go with a thud.

I was thinking it was brake pads and maybe even the need for copper grease but reading this I'm thinking maybe it's the parking brake.

any thoughts? if I open it up what am I looking for?

thomasmryan

use a big flat head through the adjustment hole in the hub to get a straight perch on it. mine stay with the hooks pointing out.


Edit...the hold down springs. Sleeptyping today

jksymz75

found this guy on YouTube. pretty helpful and plus I just like watching him:

https://youtu.be/Bnb5iX9aunc