T1N Parking Brake Shoes not fitting

alexk243

KulAdventure
So redoing my rear brakes (Meyle from Suroparts-SD) as they were really bad and decided to tackle the parking brakes which have never been functioning on my van. Ordered the parking brake shoes (Bosch) and hardware and everything worked find on the driver side but had an issue I could not figure out on the passenger side.

Once installed there was a large gap on the non-adjustable side of the parking brake shoe causing them to be spread too far apart for the rotor to go over them, even then the adjuster was completely collapsed. For the time being I removed all hardware and reinstalled the rotor with no parking break hardware until I can figure out what is going on.

Here are some pictures of what the issue is:


This side cannot get any closer together, but on the other side it could... besides modifying the slit in the brake shoe itself, not sure how to get them closer.


My concern was that this piece was upside down... my only thought, can anyone confirm the correct positioning of this piece?

 

220629

Well-known member
Could the parking brake mechanicals be out of place? I believe I recall that the lever position can flip. Another possibility would be a rusted or otherwise seized brake cable to that lever assembly. That said, it's been a while since I messed with the parking brakes.

:cheers: vic
 

alexk243

KulAdventure
Could the parking brake mechanicals be out of place? I believe I recall that the lever position can flip. Another possibility would be a rusted or otherwise seized brake cable to that lever assembly. That said, it's been a while since I messed with the parking brakes.



:cheers: vic
That's what I was thinking... That's why I was hoping someone knew the way it is suppose to be.

Does anyone have a picture of how it's suppose to be lined up or could confirm my was on correctly from the pictures above?
 
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alexk243

KulAdventure
Take a look at my thread from last year about this issue:

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73500

Maybe it will help you.

They eventually were replaced with real Mercedes rotors and shoes to fit correctly, at great expense. The pads also separated. I have no idea why but the replacements are OK.

Regards,

Mark
Just read through it. That is exactly what I'm dealing with lol

I was thinking about grinding that notch down also, but was just confused that I did something wrong on this side since they fit fine on the driver side.
 

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
Fwiw drum brakes can be confusing if you only doing them once every few years. The best plan it's to take apart one side, reassemble it using the untouched side for reference. As to aftermarket parts not fitting Karma I've been there, in the end all my parking brake stuff came from Mercedes.
 

marklg

Well-known member
Fwiw drum brakes can be confusing if you only doing them once every few years. The best plan it's to take apart one side, reassemble it using the untouched side for reference. As to aftermarket parts not fitting Karma I've been there, in the end all my parking brake stuff came from Mercedes.
Unfortunately that included the rotors, pads and the adjusters and springs, all from Mercedes, at a high cost, replacing almost new supposedly good quality aftermarket parts, but the ones from Mercedes fit.

Regards,

Mark
 

220629

Well-known member
That's what I was thinking... That's why I was hoping someone knew the way it is suppose to be.

Does anyone have a picture of how it's suppose to be lined up or could confirm my was on correctly from the pictures above?
If the opposite side fit properly it seems unlikely that you have the wrong parts.

Here's a couple YouTube vids. that may show something. I'm sure that there are others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdmsi_xtkc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMMTQIr9nQs

:cheers: vic
 

alexk243

KulAdventure
If the opposite side fit properly it seems unlikely that you have the wrong parts.

Here's a couple YouTube vids. that may show something. I'm sure that there are others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdmsi_xtkc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMMTQIr9nQs

:cheers: vic
Unfortunately neither of those videos show the pivot piece to tell if mine is correct... A picture in the post that was mentioned above shows the piece in question has the pivot part on top and spreads on the bottom, I am going to pull mine apart and see what I can do, I may end up grinding out that notch to make it fit.
 

220629

Well-known member
... I am going to pull mine apart and see what I can do, I may end up grinding out that notch to make it fit.
Before grinding or modifying parts, if you aren't referring to pulling apart the opposite side, I would suggest removing the other side drum and doing a close inspection as to how those shoes and parts are installed. That should be an accurate comparison.

:cheers: vic
 

alexk243

KulAdventure
Before grinding or modifying parts, if you aren't referring to pulling apart the opposite side, I would suggest removing the other side drum and doing a close inspection as to how those shoes and parts are installed. That should be an accurate comparison.



:cheers: vic
I wasn't planning on taking the other side apart because I took a bunch of pictures of how it came apart and went back together. It's the same as I tried on the passenger side...

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 

220629

Well-known member
I wasn't planning on taking the other side apart because I took a bunch of pictures of how it came apart and went back together. It's the same as I tried on the passenger side...

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
:idunno:

I got nothin' more then. Maybe study your pictures closely?

:cheers: vic
 

cian128

Well-known member
put all new and old parts next to each other and play spot the difference? or was the old rusted and had to be cut/destroyed to remove?
 
B

billintomahawk

Guest
put all new and old parts next to each other and play spot the difference? or was the old rusted and had to be cut/destroyed to remove?
Put all the old parts back together.

See if they work?

bill
 

alexk243

KulAdventure
Put all the old parts back together.

See if they work?

bill
I am confident the old parts will fit because I was able to fairly easily get the rotor over the parking brake. I am pretty confident that it is the slit in the new shoes, as pointed out in the other thread. I will study the differences between the new and old shoes and see if I can tell. The old shoes are pretty degraded though and do need to be replaced.

Ill try and post some pictures of any differences I can find.
 

alexk243

KulAdventure
After looking at all my pictures and inspection on the other brakes everything looked fine... So I decided to cut those tabs on a bit more to get the new brake shoes to fit. After a bit of trial and error I got it to where I wanted it and put the brake back together and it worked. Everything lined up, rotor went on easy, adjusted into place and the wheel spins freely. Must have just been a bad shoe. IMG_20200511_120106.jpgIMG_20200511_150727.jpgIMG_20200511_150735.jpgIMG_20200511_150720.jpg
 

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
ANd that’s why buying aftermarket for Mercedes is a gamble. You got lucky in finding a solution. My too long parking brake cables there was no way of taking the slop out o.f those. It’s weird to me that Mercedes aftermarket is worse than any other make of jobber stuff.
 

alexk243

KulAdventure
So while I was down there I figured I may as well fix my entire parking brake system. My parking brake was rusted solid in the middle linkage (where it splits from 1 to 2 cables) so I removed it, ground down all the rust and worked it free. repainted it with primer and cheap spray paint (making sure I lock it up with paint) loaded it up with grease and reinstalled it. Working great now, that seemed to be the only point in my system that was locked up.

IMG_20200511_141212.jpg

IMG_20200516_130128.jpg
 

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
Depending on where you live you'll be back in there in a couple years. I use my handbrake all the time because parking at my shop, and that damn thing still seized up, even after being disassembled wire brush down etc etc but it really depends on where you live. I'm in Montreal Canada salt capital of quebec at least.
 

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