I was doing some preventive maintenance on the breaks and rotors of my wife’s Duramax the other day (see link below) when I came across what appears to be a problem with the park brakes.

http://dieselplace.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3661&KW=ag4gt

As you know, the park brakes are simply small mechanically (cable) actuated drum brakes inside the rear disk brake rotor assembly. When I pulled the rotor/drum I expected to see zero use, possibly even rust since the park brake is used only to park, not stop. What I found was drum and shoe wear. It looked like a normal set of drum brakes, the inside of the drum showed wear marks and was shinny and the shoes showed ware and had gray powder all over them.

I backed the stare wheel adjuster off a little, cleaned thing up and put it all back together. I checked the park brake and it still holds the truck but it goes down a little more then it did.

My questions are:


<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Do I have a problem or did Mr. Goodwrench just get overly excited about adjusting the shoes?
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Is the park brake self adjusting, like drum brakes? I could not see an actuator.
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">If they are self adjusting, what actuates the adjustment process?
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">If the shoes are self-adjusting until they drag on the drums, how can I prevent this from happening?</LI>

ThanksEdited by: ag4gt

Thought I would try this post again since I got zero replies the last time

I never saw mine, but: I just had mine inspected and some other things a couple of weeks ago. One item I asked for was for them to look at the parking brake. It would not hold the truck worth a darn facing down hill. Parking back down a hill it worked fine. They found both oil seals leaking. They replaced the seals and also installed new parking brake shoes. After I started home, I noticed the truck just didn't seem to roll like it did before. Stopped and checked tire pressure and it was OK. The next day going to work I noticed it again. Got to work and felt the drivers side wheel then disk. Hardly warm. Felt passenger side. Wheel hot, could barely touch disk, and could smell the brake with my head right over the wheel. Took it in and they loosened the brake on that side. Drove fine on the way home. Next morning when I got to work I felt the brakes again. Passenger side still hot. Not as bad as before though. Figure I'll just do it myself.


This got me thinking. I have seen posts before about wheel seals needing replaced. Now, I'm thinking they have been doing this wheel seal thing for about 100 years or so. I've never had one leak. Why now, and why have I seen a few others with the same thing?


Are these parking brakes dragging on some trucks and eventually cooking the wheel seals? Not that you would notice while driving, but just enough to heat it up pretty good. I remember when I called in to get the work done and got to the parking brake not holding well, he said "Well now you know they're different than they used to be."


Any comments? Anybody else feel both rear disks after driving?


Steve

I dunno but mine sucks ,always has ..... I will be bringing it back and will not take it back untill they prove to me every truck on their lot works as weak as mine does ....

Mine wont even sit on a slight elevation without rolling backwards .... I think my dealer does not know how to adjust them ....


Mac http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Angry.gif

Mackin, my '01 was the same way. And trust me, with a stick, you know it when your e brake sucks balls. This winter, when it was -20, I had to fire the truck up, literally drive it into the snow bank (so it wouldn't roll back onto the street) and run back into the house to keep from freezing to death. It is a lousy system, but then again, I would imagine that it would only take leaving the brake on once when you're driving to burn those shoes to nothing. Technology is a wonderful thing