Dragging Parking Brake with new Rotors and Shoes

marklg

Well-known member
As part of my rear brake job, I am replacing rotors and parking brake shoes as well as the pads. After having a heck of a time getting the rotor off, see previous discussion of mine, I put the new brake shoes and rotor on.

The rotor just does go on, but it drags on the parking brake shoes. The adjuster is all the way closed and I even loosened the 4 bolts on the parking brake adjuster in the center of the van, but it is still dragging. I can just turn the wheel by hand with a 2 foot long bar. That seems too much dragging to me.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Mark
 

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
There are 3 (maybe 4? Does the parking brake handle have an adjustement? Can’t remember) ways of adjusting the parking brake, forward to aft they are, the big cable balancer rig (basically removes/increases slack from the forward cable) balancer rig slack adjuster (removes/increas3s slack in the 2 rear cables) the brake shoes adjuster (sets brake shoe clearance).
If your shoes are dragging and the shoes are adjusted as clear as possible your cables are perhaps pulling them a bit closer. Usually the problem is the inverse. For starters make sure you have the shoe adjusters set the proper way, it is easy to get backwards. If there is still no clearance you can try setting the handbrake on hard over night, the cables (new?) may need a little stretching.
 

marklg

Well-known member
There are 3 (maybe 4? Does the parking brake handle have an adjustement? Can’t remember) ways of adjusting the parking brake, forward to aft they are, the big cable balancer rig (basically removes/increases slack from the forward cable) balancer rig slack adjuster (removes/increas3s slack in the 2 rear cables) the brake shoes adjuster (sets brake shoe clearance).
If your shoes are dragging and the shoes are adjusted as clear as possible your cables are perhaps pulling them a bit closer. Usually the problem is the inverse. For starters make sure you have the shoe adjusters set the proper way, it is easy to get backwards. If there is still no clearance you can try setting the handbrake on hard over night, the cables (new?) may need a little stretching.
I found the other adjustments and the brake cable has no tension on it. The toothed wheel adjuster is all the way closed. I double checked that everything is the way it should go. The new shoes are obviously bigger, as they are not worn down, and the rotor is smaller inside, not worn down. The brake shoes are Myle and they do look slightly different than the originals but I can't really measure them.

I took the rotor back off, using my puller, and will try other stuff tomorrow. You can see clear wear on the inside of the rotor from the shoes where I was turning it.

Regards,

Mark
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Can you post a photo? Also you should measure your old rotors drum ID and compare it to the new rotor. The new rotor may be incorrectly sized.
 
As part of my rear brake job, I am replacing rotors and parking brake shoes as well as the pads. After having a heck of a time getting the rotor off, see previous discussion of mine, I put the new brake shoes and rotor on.

The rotor just does go on, but it drags on the parking brake shoes. The adjuster is all the way closed and I even loosened the 4 bolts on the parking brake adjuster in the center of the van, but it is still dragging. I can just turn the wheel by hand with a 2 foot long bar. That seems too much dragging to me.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Mark
Where did you get the brake rotors, parking brake shoes, and brake pads from? I have seen countless out-of-spec aftermarket brake parts over the years...
 

marklg

Well-known member
Where did you get the brake rotors, parking brake shoes, and brake pads from? I have seen countless out-of-spec aftermarket brake parts over the years...
Rotors are Zimmermann from IDParts. Shoes are Myle from Europarts SD.

The old rotor drags too, so it is the pads. I will get out the micrometer and measure stuff tomorrow.

Regards,

Mark
 

marklg

Well-known member
Can you post a photo? Also you should measure your old rotors drum ID and compare it to the new rotor. The new rotor may be incorrectly sized.
Here are some pictures of the old and new shoes. The new shoes have a gap between them and the plate where the cable comes in. The old shoes touched the plate. I am not sure though if the metal part of the shoes are shorter or the part that mates with the cable mechanism is longer. I will try to measure tomorrow.

Regards,

Mark
 

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Zundfolge

Always learning...
Was gonna say, use a caliper to measure old and new shoe thicknesses, and that would give you a place to start to see if it's the shoes being a little too thick (vs an installation error). Couldn't find what spec is for shoe thickness doing just a quick search though.

Perhaps some more experienced on here could offer an explanation of why this might be a bad idea, but off the top of my head I'd suggest getting your hands on a few new belt sander belts, like some 3" x 21" belts - 80 and 150 grit - and cut it once so you have a 42"ish belt, and give it the old Big Lebowski bowling ball treatment. It shouldn't take removing very much material to get them to play nicely, and as long as your careful you should be able to sand pretty uniformly along the shoe surface.

Note: I would do this on my van, but it doesn't mean you should do it on yours. You may rather opt to order other shoes.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
if the new shoes are too thick, you can "arc" them. Glue some 100 grit sandpaper to the inside of the old rotor, and work the shoes against it until they are an acceptable thickness.
 

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
Looking at your pics the new shoe is not sitting against the positioning block properly. If memory serves, the brake actuating /cam mechanism that the brake cable attaches to, is a little fussy/weird and it may be possible to put it in backwards/upside down/wrong. Maybe take a look at that? It has been a solid 16 months since I played with the rear brakes, but I do remember the actuating mechanism maybe me pause for a moment.
 

marklg

Well-known member
I compared the old and new shoes and the new shoes are about 0.75 mm taller and 3 mm narrower. The shape of the two is slightly different. The metal backing for the shoe extends less beyond the shoe and the tab behind it on the new shoes.

On the adjuster side, the angle is slightly different. On the cable side, the cable mechanism fits into the notch. The tab closer to the outside is what is hitting the plate. The adjusting mechanism is completely loose. It sure looks to me that the tab is larger and is keeping the shoes farther apart, hitting the plate rather than the mechanism first.

Regards,

Mark
 

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Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
Personally if you are not pressed for time consider getting a refund for the shoes and ordering elsewhere. I bought brake cables from a reputed online seller only to end up needing to get MB ones because the aftermarket ones were not accurate (too long, ends too large). Merchant refunded me my money (no return required) and I ordered from MB, only about 30% more and a perfect fit, I have learnt my lesson and often just get my parts from MB (free coffee, bagels and cream cheese is a + but it is hard to consume 50$ at one sitting!).
 

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
It appears the angle at the cable end is off?
The MB shoe's flats align perfectly, while the cable-side flat of the Meyle shoe projects down a bit.
I agree with MWD: there is lots of friction material on the MB shoe and I'd loose no sleep replacing the drum and hardware (springs, adjuster, etc.) and putting the shoes back into service.

-dave
 

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marklg

Well-known member
I think the biggest problem is the notch is not as deep on the new shoes.

The lower part of the cable mechanism is shown for comparison. The new shoes don't get as close to the mechanism because the notch is not as deep.

They seem to vary, not very precisely made, but always less than the MB shoes.

I could take a grinder to the notch, but I will see what the supplier will do first. They do have some anti-corrosion coating on them. I'm going to wait. I really only want to do this once.


Regards,

Mark
 

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Zundfolge

Always learning...
Do you have a reason to replace these? Or just peace of mind? To my eye the old ones don't look bad (unless they're delaminating, as MWD suggested). If you're confident in the installation not being the issue, then either just grind the notches or put the old ones back on (would be my approach).
 

marklg

Well-known member
Do you have a reason to replace these? Or just peace of mind? To my eye the old ones don't look bad (unless they're delaminating, as MWD suggested). If you're confident in the installation not being the issue, then either just grind the notches or put the old ones back on (would be my approach).

I basically want to mess with the brakes one time and then get another bunch of miles.

The vehicle spent 8 years on salted roads before it came here to AZ, so I want to change everything I can while I am in there. Then, hopefully, I won't have to mess with it for years.

I also am now retired. I used to do my own vehicle maintenance and repairs, then the family came along and it went to others. Now we want to save some money, and repairs are very expensive. So, if I have the time, which I do now, doing the work myself is very cost effective.

Many years ago, I had a Datsun and did a brake job and did not replace everything. It started to bind up and could only go a few miles before it heated up and wouldn't go any more. I had to stop and wait till it cooled down and smack the brakes through the wheels to go some more.

Before I could fix it, it was stolen. The thief got a couple miles and abandoned the car! So, binding brakes helped!

So, piece of mind is important too.

Regards,

Mark
 

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
Only when you drive the half hour home without first releasing the brake lever.
Complaining to yourself about the loss of pep ...and that odd new smell.

Wasn’t me (or the Sprinter) but I got to replace those brake shoes.
My kids are currently 12 & 14... lord save me!:popcorn:

-dave

Theory: anyone who wears out a parking brake is far more likely to find a shady tree to work under than face explaining what really happened to a service advisor :bash:
 
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