A friend of mine that is a technician adjusted my parking brake, and it still would barely hold. I replaced the pads and rotors, and the grip is the same. In Drive, I cannot go over 700 rpm. The ****** at my inspection station make me go up to about 1,000 rpm.

To my surprise, I took it for a spin and put it in neutral at 35 and slowly pulled the brake. It didn't seem to grip any better after the 1/2 way point, though the handle was harder to pull. At the 1/2 way point in handle travel, the brake worked, and it took about the length of 2.5 yards/ home lots to stop.

I was curious if there are any tricks or hints I could try other than duplicating the service manual prodedure.

 

I struggled with this problem for years on the PBR rear brakes. I finally changed the calipers this year and all is perfect. My problem was due to the fact that the lower slider bolts on both sides had been seized which didn't provide the necessary travel for the caliper to work properly. This also cause the parking brake lever to wear out quickly every time I or the previous owner pulled up on the lever. I did manage to break the sliders free about 3 years ago but no matter what I tried, they would never hold the car even on the slightest grades.

My recommendation is to inspect them as best you can and get replacements if necessary. My car is a 5speed, and I was a stupid to wait as long as i did to change them. Car stops MUCH better now too..and they werent expensive.

 

Oh how true. I can't count the number of times I have taken both the front (LS1 calipers) and rear PBR calipers apart for rebuilds and the sliders are frozen stiff or just wont' move without a LOT of force on them. I recommend regreasing them every time you replace the pads. It does a world of good for them to be able to move freely.

Ed

 

Thanks. Now if it wasn't raining and I wasn't stuck at work, I'd go try to figure it out.

I can't even picture these sliders. I've only had these PBRs on there for three weeks, and have had new cables for one week. Is there any trick in removing the sliders? Can I do it with the calipers on the car?

When you guys had seized sliders did you have some effort at the wheels, jut not enough?

Is it possible to buy them without a complete rebuild kit? And, I assume the rebuild kit does include them.

 

No, rebuild kits won't include the new sliders, the real name for them is "guide pins". They shouldn't need to be replaced, just relubed up. The rebuild kit will include new dust boots for them. The easiest way to get to them would be to remove the two bolts that hold the carrier to the backing plate and take the whole caliper assembly off. Then just pull the carrier straight out from the caliper and if the pins aren't stuck, the carrier will come right off. Then just lube them up, clean up or install new dust boots, and install is reverse of removal. Should you need new guide pins, they are available at parts stores or at GM.

I personally have not had this issue as the PBRs I installed were fully rebuilt anyway.

Ed

 

Thanks Ed!