seans
Member
Today I heard a brake squeak and felt the van dragging. I pulled and released the parking brake handle. I could sense slack in the parking brake cable not being fully taken up.
The parking brake adjuster is the device beneath the van where the single brake cable from the passenger compartment splits into a cable for each rear wheel. There is also a tensioning spring.
I pulled into a parking lot and looked under the van. The adjuster was rusted. Banging gently with a small sledge I watched it move and the cable tighten with each strike.
At home, I shot WD-40 into the mechanism and freed it up with several pulls of the parking brake.
The wise thing to do next will be to pull the wheels and inspect for brake and hub bearing damage, as this happened to one of the three posters below whose parking brake adjusters were also binding:
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26088
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14934
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25881
Note that all four instances of binding were reported by people from areas where the roads are salted during winter.
This will become a periodic maintenance item for me. Perhaps someone can recommend a more permanent lubricant than WD-40 for this item.
This occurred on a 2006 T1N with 108,000 miles.
The parking brake adjuster is the device beneath the van where the single brake cable from the passenger compartment splits into a cable for each rear wheel. There is also a tensioning spring.
I pulled into a parking lot and looked under the van. The adjuster was rusted. Banging gently with a small sledge I watched it move and the cable tighten with each strike.
At home, I shot WD-40 into the mechanism and freed it up with several pulls of the parking brake.
The wise thing to do next will be to pull the wheels and inspect for brake and hub bearing damage, as this happened to one of the three posters below whose parking brake adjusters were also binding:
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26088
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14934
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25881
Note that all four instances of binding were reported by people from areas where the roads are salted during winter.
This will become a periodic maintenance item for me. Perhaps someone can recommend a more permanent lubricant than WD-40 for this item.
This occurred on a 2006 T1N with 108,000 miles.