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2005 parking brake cable adjustment

trouttrooper

trouttrooper

Big Blocks ROCK!!!
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So I know I've been pretty much absent here for a long time. Life went to shit about 4 years ago, but I'm back on my feet again after finally clearing out the last debt my ex left me. May even have to give ol Dave Ramsey a call one of these days. LOL

So the Beast, 2005 Silverado 3500 CCLB, has a parking brake issue I'm struggling in finding the correct help. It doesn't work....obviously or I wouldn't be here. It is NOT an issue at the rear tires. Both sides are adjusted correctly and I can move the cable at both tires. The cable running back is extremely loose, in that I can grab it and almost do a half hitch around my arm. The pedal itself has absolutely no tension on it, if I hit a pothole it will actually depress itself enough to turn on the brake warning light in the dash. I have to literally lift the pedal up while holding the release lever to get it to go all the way up. It only starts moving the cable when it's already halfway to the floor.

I've read where there is suppose to be an auto adjustment in the pedal assembly itself, but I can not find a good diagram of how it works or how to fix it. I'm guessing mine has seized up from lack of use. I doubt the cables have stretched that much because I've hardly ever used the parking brake. Anyone have a good schematic of the pedal assembly or advice on this?

Thanks.
 
I'm original owner and it's the original cables. No one has ever worked on the parking brake system. I do know it worked the first year of it's life because I tried it before signing the papers. LOL
 
I wonder if the cable end is disconnected from the pedal mechanism. And yeah, great to see you around!
 
All ends are connected, the cables will tighten up when the pedal is depressed, but basically all it does is take up the slack. One thought I had was maybe in my firewood gathering era I might have had a branch or something get caught, stretch the cable, and/or broke the adjustment part at the pedal in the process. At this point I just wish I could get a good schematic pic of the pedal assembly. It looks like a real pain in the butt to R&R. I just got done replacing the intermediate steering shaft and bearing a week ago. That wasn't the most enjoyable stand-on-my-head contorted position job, and this looks very similar....ugh.
 
1st thing 1st, are both the cables going out fully and allowing ALL tension to release from the little arm that moves the parking brake shoes?, with your cables fully released, you then adjust your parking brake shoes. Next up is to set your cable. You want it so your arms are fully released that engage that actual shoes, but your cables are set so with the parking brake pedal all the way up, your cables are just about tight enough to start pulling the activation arms. What I have seen happen on a Dodge was the bracket that anchored the rear most cable broke from the frame. This allowed the cables to get loose like you state. Check the anchor points that anchor the cables to the frame, and I bet you'll find 1 bent or torn loose so instead of pulling the cable, your just moving the anchor bracket.
 
Both cables to the parking brake shoes move in and out without any issues, nothing is rusted in place or broken. There is absolutely no tension on the little arms. Both shoes are adjusted properly to barely let the rotor/drum assembly slide over them. In looking at all the cables underneath nothing appears broken. I'll try to take some pics tonight when I get off work. There's just way too much slack in the cables running along the frame. If I push the parking brake pedal to the floor it will tighten up all the slack in the cables and put a tiny amount of pressure on the parking brake shoes. Enough I can feel a slight resistance when I rotate the tire by hand.
 
First pic is looking where the first cable connects to the intermediate cable.
Second pic is looking towards the back
Third pic is the connection that splits to the left and right tire
Fourth pic is the beginning where the cable comes out of the cab

parking cable 1.jpg
parking cable 2.jpg parking cable 5.jpg parking cable 7.jpg
 
Brake cables are true cables not wire rope- they will stretch.
I see a kink in the 2nd picture as if something like a broken tree limb or like my starter killer- a piece of rebar- caught it while driving and stretched out the cable there possibly. Maybe a more straight on picture of it could help.
 
If this system is anything like the garbage used on the 4 wheel disc 1/2 tons until GM went back to obsolete disk/drum technology on most 2005 1/2 ton pickups... You will replace the shoe, drum, cables, and pedal before it's all done and it will still be iffy. No longer an E brake... It's a PIA to adjust the star wheel requiring measuring. Other failures are the retainer allowing the shoe to move and grind itself up. MT's had/have a recall.

Diagram and procedure:
http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/97978-parking-brake-adjustment/
 
Looking at your pics I don't see any adjuster what so ever for the cables, so I would suspect a problem with the pedal assembly as GM probably put the adjuster there. I found this video, it's worth a shot to try.

 
Tried it.... no luck.

The more I've been digging into this I've found that what has probably happened is my auto adjuster has stopped working properly. Still trying to figure out how to fix it without having to take the pedal out and/or replacing the pedal. The pedal assembly is only $50 on rockauto, but I'd like to know for sure that's the problem before buying it. Have something else I want to try that I read. Just gotta find the time.
 
I doubt that's your full problem. Likely it's out of adjustment for a reason. Shoe assemblies are likely toast from horrible hold down design and the pedal can't adjust that far, won't adjust anymore, and the cables may be stretched out just to fk with you. Even more fun is the actuators in the rear wheels binding up for a wildcard problem that burns the new shoes up. New shoe's come with revised retainer clips and that's not much of an improvement...

One of the very few repairs that you literally throw parts at it till it works. (Yes GM's 1 shoe design with miserable hold down is that bad.) Yes, order the cables along with the pedal if you find out the adjustment of the shoe(s) doesn't fix it along with the adjuster reset procedure.

The measurement of the star wheel adjusted shoe diameter is critical esp. because of how much fun a FF is over the 1/2 tons to adjust. Last time I tried and failed to adjust them by "drag". I do not have a caliper large enough to measure the shoe diameter that is required to even hope to do the job properly. It took a well equipped shop 2 tries to get it to hold on my driveway. So the odds are pretty bad on a good day. o_O

After all this just one emergency stop or some driving with the brake on at all will likely destroy the shoes.
 
So I had a little time this evening to play around with the system. I'm leaning towards the pedal spring/auto adjust mechanism has broken. I can find nothing wrong with any components at the rear tires. However I can grab the cable underneath where it comes out from the cab and actually pull it back a few inches more even with the pedal fully up. When I do this, I can watch the whole spring mechanism on the pedal rotate around. I found some instructions on how to reset the spring system, but it doesn't work. Something doesn't feel right when I move the pedal back and forth.

Looks like getting the pedal out is going to be a major pain. Yuk.
 
ok, long time since I posted this. Wanted to give an update so there's an answer in this thread. Cables were all stretched. I actually paid a shop to replace the cables because I was super busy this summer with some major projects around the place, including getting my NEW SHOP built!!!!!! 20x30 with a door big enough to fit the beast through! Contracted out the actual building of it, but I spent most of my time off the past month-ish doing all the electrical. Have to say bending conduit in 15 degree temps is not very fun. Of course now that I'm done the temps warmed back up again. It will be insulated sometime in January. waiting list is that long, ugh. it will be closed cell spray on.20181128_153101.jpg20181202_163818.jpg
 
Great to see you back here Mike. You won't regret spending the money on spray foam. Absolutely worth it. Congrats on the new shop!
 
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