i have rear drums, and as of recent my parking brake isn't locking up both rear wheels. i noticed that it was only locking up the right side when parked, so i took the rear wheels off and it appears that they are both working. then i pulled off that little console by brake handle, and one is longer than the other one. just curious if one stretched or if i put something together wrong. if they were both stretched i could adjust it out with the little bracket. this began to occur after i replaced my trailing arm bushings, and had to take the cable off. i can't seem to find any adjustments along the line, nor anything that appears assembled wrong. should i just get 2 more e-brake cables or does anybody have any other suggestions? thanks in advance!!

 

Sounds like you need to adjust your rear brakes... you can try backing up quickly and pushing on the brakes... this will sometimes get the "automatic" (ya right automatic) adjusters to work... be carefull though. Might just be best to adjust them by hand. I'm sure if you search, there's gotta be a thread on how to properly adjust drums. If not, PM me.

 

actually i did search and found nothing about stretched cables....i know what you're talking about with the automatic adjuster thing...i never did try to back up quickly and pull it, but i did spend about 15 minutes driving up and down the driveway while trying to set it. there's really nowhere for me to go with the adjuster that's by the handle, cuz....when you're looking down at it with the handle set, one is longer than the other, so one is always going to lock before the other.

 

I'm not talking about the adjuster thats near the handle, I'm talking about the adjusters that are inside the drums.

 

cool, thanks for the feedback...i'm gonna get on it tomorrow morning, see if there's something outta adjustment inside the drum..and post my findings.

 

Been there, done that, doing it again tomorrow myself. It sounds as if one of your two E-brake cables is broken iside the sleeve. This is not adjustable and requires replacement. It is difficult only in the aspect of access. The actual process is simple and easy as long as you can reach under the vehicle and diassemble the components.

 

Well the reason why only one side locks up is because you dont have both ebrake cables. If it is a dx there is only one. The way to stop that is to upgrade to rear disc. You can get them out of an Si. Get both the ebrake cables and both of your tires will lock up.

 

no DX has 2 cables too

 

The EF (or ED, or EE, whatever you want to call your USDM 88-91 Civic) DX does have two cables, just like the other EF variants (even my Std Hatch has two cables, one per wheel)regardless of disc or drum setup. Check a Chiltons, Haynes or whatever manual you have, all variants have two cables for E-brake engagement unless you have modified it yourself.

You may have a different generation in mind as far as the single-cable e-brake linkage.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ef-hatchcrap &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well the reason why only one side locks up is because you dont have both ebrake cables. If it is a dx there is only one. The way to stop that is to upgrade to rear disc. You can get them out of an Si. Get both the ebrake cables and both of your tires will lock up. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Interesting....

 

well i was all up in my rear drums this weekend, and haven't really accomplished anything. first thing i did was pull the wheels, and the drum, and got a little more adjustment outta the brake; i was able to back out the adjuster a bit. put it back together, and it seems like the e-brake is better than b4 but not great. up by the handle, the 2 lines are still not the same length, but you can tell that they're now engaging at the same time. however....i'm still not getting much tension on the brakes; when rolling slowly i would expect them to nearly lock, but when i pull the handle it just slowly engages and eventually stops. i dunno if the drums could be the culprit...when i rebuilt my rear brakes a few months ago, i remachined the drums, and i know they were still in spec cuz it's cast right on the thing. maybe removing that material makes it just that much harder for the shoes to touch. any other suggestions or observations?

 

I think for some reason you have mis-adjusted the linkage at the wheel rather than the handle. Try readjusting it again, you might have to shorten it a little, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. The thing to keep in mind is that if one is broken it might be caught on frays, kinks or other damage in the lining itself and that is why it has limited holding power. As far as having machined the drums that shouldn't have any bearing on how the mechanical e-brake system engages, as the brake setup will work if you hit the pedal or handle with the drum off.

Try replacing the lines altogether. That might not be what you want to do, but it will help in the prolonging the lifespan of the vehicle and braking system.