Making the handbrake stronger, 2002 Tahoe

Hey Newsgroups,

I recently bought a used 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe. When standing in a hill, the handbrake is not strong enough to keep the car stopped. I looked through the Internet for any plans on the handbrake but couldn't find any. Further, it seems as if there is a mechanism to block the brake at a certain point, so it cant be pulled to strong. Has anybody got plans or ideas how to correct the handbrake in order to make it stronger?

thanks in advance Thorben Grosser

Reply to
Thorben Grosser
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most likely the "parking brake" has not been used very much and the rear brake shoes need to be adjusted. The parking brake only applies the rear brakes. I'm guessing that truck has drum brakes on the rear in place of discs. Either way the rear brakes need to be inspected and or adjusted.

----------- Elbert snipped-for-privacy@me.com

Reply to
Elbert

It is broken or out of adjustment then.

The emergency brake or 'hand or foot brake' is supposed to be strong enough to use in an emergency to stop the vehicle, let alone hold it on a hill. It should even stall the engine when in the forward direction.

None hold well in the reverse direction.

I lost my brakes in a Chevy pickup at the top of a 10 mile hill once, the pedal hit the floor. My emergency brake and transmission worked to get me to the garage at the bottom of the hill no problem.

I recently had a brake line blow out on my Jeep during an emergency stop and again my emergency brake worked well to stop me and get me the 2 blocks via back roads home.

It has adjustments in the wheel itself and cable adjustments. If it tops or bottoms out, the wheel adjustment needs to be done first, then the cable should be set for the handle to grab someplace around 4 or 5 clicks up.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain

Not with an automatic transmission.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

'My' Chevy pickup was an automatic and the emergency brake 'sure' was strong enough to stop the vehicle!!!!

It also 'sure' was strong enough to hold it on a hill!

It was also 'sure' strong enough to bog out my carb 350 engine so I knew it was on, never tried to overpower it though....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain

one exception, the vehicles with rear disk brakes, the parking brake works equally well forward or reverse.

Reply to
Steve Barker

"Stopping the vehicle" is far different from "stalling the engine".

Reply to
Steve Barker

Never suggested it wouldn't.

It should be.

That's a lot different than saying it will stall the engine.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

yes it is and if it has a lift and oversized tires it will provided increased leverage against the brakes and make it harder to hold too.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Reply to
SnoMan

True, but it will stall the engine on my standard shift Jeep.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain

If they hold at all. Early GM four wheel disc designs sucked, and often wouldnt hold well, unless they were functioning up to their maximum potential...That means that the adjusters on the rear wheel had to be working properly.

A handbrake should hold a car under reasonable circumstances. If the OPs is not, then something is wrong (other than that you bought a GM.)

Reply to
hls

"Thorben Grosser" wrote

On this particular vehicle, the "park brake" (contrary to popular opinion, this is not considered an emergency brake, and if you attempt to use it as such, good luck) is the drum in hat style...ie: it's a one piece shoe that sits inside the hat of the rear rotor.

Also contrary to popular opinion, there is "no" external adjustment on the cable. You will see a threaded end on the cable, but you will notice that the nut is threaded onto it as far as it will go. This is not where you make your adjustment.

In that year.....the park brake shoes had a design problem that allowed them to stay cocked over to one side and basically wore the shoe material out, even if you were not using the park brake. The new shoes will come with a re-designed retaining clip that allows the shoe to "float" and center itself properly after it is released.

Best bet....remove the rear rotors, check the lining of the park brake shoes. If worn....replace both park brake shoes, adjust them manually until you can just slip the rotor over them, and you will have a decent "park" brake.

Ian

Reply to
shiden

How do you mean work Properly? You do know that they are Manually Adjusted don't you? I have a 03 Silverado with 4 wheel Disc. The Park brake isn't hard, it was never hard when it was NEW. Same thing on any of the other Chevy and GMC 4 wheel Disc Brake systems, which would be my guess why they went back to rear drum brakes once again. At least the main reason. They work OK, but they aren't going to stop you very fast. Usually because they don't hold all that great, people drive around with them ON and not noticing and then they wear right out and now they don't work at all. I've seen so many of them wiped out. Normally they should last for YEARS as your not using them to STOP your Vehicle, but to just hold it in place. I've seem them ground down so badly grinding medal over and over again and the peddle going right to the floor like there's nothing there. Even after replaced, and adjusted up to where it need to be, it's still not HARD and goes about to the floor, but you can feel it working and will hold on a hill, but you can hit the gas and MOVE still.

I will say it has to be the worse Parking brake setup ever. I don't know if going back to drums was the thing to do instead of just fixing the problem. There are many cars out there with separate Parking brake shoes on 4 wheel disc setup's that work great. Then again, there's nothing wrong with drums for the rear. They last, they're easy enough to work on, they're enclosed when helps keep junk out, less likely to seize up, and better parking brake. There's really no need for rear disc's on a truck or SUV.

Reply to
JBDragon

11 posts before someone answered the OP's question, nice job Ian

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

Reply to
Shep

I guess that brings this conversation full circle. My only point initially was that it would not stall the engine if equipped with an automatic. Easy to do with a standard - you don't even need to apply the emergency brake to stall the engine in a standard.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

As always, Ian is a best source. Havent seen him on the group recently.

It was not clear if the OP had the ability or desire to do this work himself.

GM in particular has had some really troublesome parking brake designs. The drum in hat type of brake was used long ago in some Corvettes, and then reborn when the ratcheting pad design of the 80-90's didnt get the job done, IIRC.

Reply to
hls

Ahhh, you should have only left that part in the snippage because it looked like you said an automatic's park brake wouldn't stop it or hold it on a hill either...

Mike

Reply to
Mike Romain

The ratcheting design worked fine IF you could get customers to use the parking brake when they parked. Other wise the rear brakes got way out of adjustment and then the hydraulic pressure pushed the two piece caliper pistons apart and they leaked. Shame on GM for not realizing customers wouldn't read and head the manual. (lots of sarcasm in that last line)

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

The parking brake on my Impala never worked well from the factory, and eventually quit working altogether. I had it adjusted once and it's already going all the way to the floor again, so it will probably stop holding soon. I do use it every time I stop (having learned to drive on stickshifts and in a hilly area.)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

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