bacardiboi

95 civic dx coupe (ej2)
wheel cylinder seal blew on my way home from work....

i replaced the blown wheel cylinder on the passenger side, the drum on the passenger side only, and the shoes on both drums. i put everything back together (went by my chiltons and some random civic forum threads)

the foot brake works fantastic but the parking brake does not grab hard enuff to keep the car still on even a small incline. im having to leave it in gear to park it. i can feel/hear that it does contact the shoes to the drum (smooth rubbing noise as my car rolls out of my parking spot lol)

i HAVE adjusted the "self adjuster" ratcheting (star) mechanism just below the wheel cylinder on both sides.

i HAVE adjusted the nut behind the parking brake inside the car. the handle comes up about 9 clicks (about one third of the way) to tight.

i reinstalled the parking brake lever (inside the hub) the only way it would go (i think). i only did one side at a time so i know they r not switched (driver to passenger)

i pulled off the drum and watched the shoes' behavior when the ebrake is pulled. its not even at all. when the handbrake is applied, only the upper end of the front shoe moves out. everything else stays relatively in place. is that normal?? does it behave that way due to the absence of the drum?

i have driven it to try to allow the pads to seat and the self adjuster to adjust properly but to no avail. still no parking brake!!

HELP!

other things i tried::
50-60 times .. 40mph-5mph exercises to self adjust
10-12 times .. apply handbrake then drive in reverse (sounded dumb but i was desperate)
30-40 times .. reverse to 25mph then apply brakes to full stop (some gentle some abrupt)

bacardiboi

bump! nobody??

AnonymousSquid

did you pull the ebrake before you put the hub cover over the brake shoes to see if they worked?

bacardiboi

verycleanhatch

i have done this recently.

What i did on my car was put the parking brake about 1 click and check to see if the wheel drags a bit and i adjusted all the things that u mentioned until it did drag and it worked for me. also i made sure when the parking brake was not up the drum could spin freely.

I think if you adjust the nut behind the parking brake some more, you should be set.

bacardiboi

I may have to Try that approach as well. I just went and got some replacement springs, full set just in case any of them are deformed. I'm also applying some more hi temp grease under the shoes. The shoes I got were greased but they seem awfully tight... I greased the friction spot where the clevis, shoe and self adjust lever meet, and it seemed to help as well but still not 100%.

Thanks for your suggestion very clean hatch

hopefully my next post will be the "I fixed it" post

bacardiboi

i fixed it LOLOL

turns out there was something wrong with the self adjusters.

i replaced all the springs and clips this morning and nothing changed

the only thing left to do was change the self adjusters (which i noticed were ever so slightly stiff to turn) or the brake cables.

tried the self adjusters and presto within a few minutes of drive/stop/reverse/stop parking brake is working.

got the kits from VatoZone for 14 bucks per side and they included the self adjust lever and corresponding spring, both halves of the clevis, the self adjuster wheel, and a replacement rubber grommet for the access point for adjustments (on the back of the hub)

i did NOT grease the self adjuster wheel where it contacts the clevis. i previously had and i am wondering if that was why it stopped adjusting...