Parking brake problems anyone? Mine dont grab the disc like they should

Eberdt123

Eberdt123

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Jul 23, 2020
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Mount airy NC
I have a 1997 jeep wrangler with aftermarket disc brakes on it. The guy that I bought it from seemed to have very limited knowledge about the jeep and I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction of what's is wrong and why the parking brake is not holding. I thought the cable attachment area seemed a little off with all the bolts but I understood where the guy was coming from because those bolts tend to slip after the first adjustment or two. The pads are in good condition and everything is in order for the regular brakes, why would the parking brake not be functioning?

ebrake.jpg


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I'll assume that's not brake fluid in the picture, that wouldn't be great. When you set the brake do the actuators on the caliper rotate? You could rotate them by hand or with a wrench and see if they stop the disc. With that cable setup maybe they simply aren't pulled far enough to do the job.
 
No the fluid in the pictures is the transmission fluid. that has been leaking for a while and I am getting that replaced. (Soon to post :) I am unsure if that is the problem. I have tried to adjust the spring and cable tension that is delivered when I pull the leveler as well as adjust the pads themselves. The only thing I can think of outside of replacing the cable itself which seems to be pulling would be to adjust the pads themselves and the distance they are from the disc. I would have thought however that if the normal brakes work this would mean the parking brake would work similarly?
 
I don't recognize the brakes from the pictures, I'm sure somebody else can. Normally the mechanical part is separate from the hydraulic when the brakes aren't set so they'd work fine even if the parking brake wasn't working but I've seen a few different types and this could be different.
 
Ok. The guy I bought it from said they were Cadillac but I asked another guy and he had been working on gm vehicles all his life and said they weren't so I'm lost. Thank you though!
 
Those brakes are from a Cadillac Seville, Eldorado or Oldsmobile Toronado.
The kit was probably sold by TSM “The Street Machine Mfg Company”.
The lever that the E brake cable is attached to needs to be clocked to decrease engaging time for the brake pads.
Not sure if the pads are soaked with fluid , but the fluid that is on the brake pads and rotors need to be cleaned with Brake Klean to ensure proper grabbing by the pads.

TSM

I installed that kit on my ‘98 XJ 4.0L AX15 C8.25 back in ‘00; the disc brakes and E brake worked quite well.
 
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CharlesHS said:
Those brakes are from a Cadillac Seville, Eldorado or Oldsmobile Toronado.
The kit was probably sold by TSM “The Street Machine Mfg Company”.
The lever that the E brake cable is attached to needs to be clocked to decrease engaging time for the brake pads.
Not sure if the pads are soaked with fluid , but the fluid that is on the brake pads and rotors need to be cleaned with Brake Klean to ensure proper grabbing by the pads.

TSM

I installed that kit on my ‘98 XJ 4.0L AX15 C8.25 back in ‘00; the disc brakes and E brake worked quite well.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I will look that up and see if I can do that today!
 
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