How do I tighten my lower console hand pull parking brake?

[Benski]

On my manual transmission 96 T4R, my parking hand brake pulls all the way up but barely applies any brake. I let the brake off, backed off the adjusting nut next to the handle, removed both rear drums, cleaned and readjusted (tightened) the pads to the drums, put it back together, drove around alternating between applying hand brake and foot brake, retightened the adjustment nut, and my handle still barely applies any brake. Hmmmm. What should I try next?

 

[rkntoy]

On my manual transmission 96 T4R, my parking hand brake pulls all the way up but barely applies any brake. I let the brake off, backed off the adjusting nut next to the handle, removed both rear drums, cleaned and readjusted (tightened) the pads to the drums, put it back together, drove around alternating between applying hand brake and foot brake, retightened the adjustment nut, and my handle still barely applies any brake. Hmmmm. What should I try next?

Sounds like a rear drum auto adjuster issue. When you had the drums apart did you put brake grease on all the moving adjuster parts? When you put the drums back on you should be able to pull on the parking brake cable and see/hear the adjusters clicking as they tighten the shoe tension.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Out back you need to remove the slack from each bellcrank. To do this simply remove the springs and pull back with your hand or plyers and adjust the bolt length for a 1/32" air gap (I think the FSM says .031). Then put your springs back on.

This procedure is in the FSM and it's been posted a few times. And in my opinion needs to be done every time the rear brakes are adjusted.


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[mtbtim]

If your self-adjusters are working properly, your brakes should be staying properly adjusted by using the parking brake. Pull the parking brake a bunch of times and see if it starts to get tighter. The FSM specifies 7-9 clicks in the parking brake is proper adjustment. if you can still pull the parking brake more than 7-9 clicks after pulling the parking brake a bunch of times, your auto adjuster aren't working correctly.

Like was said above, your bellcrank adjustment could be off too but I'm suspecting your auto adjusters are the culprit.

Check out this video [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION], [MENTION=148218]JZiggy[/MENTION], and I made for replacing the rear brake shoes on our rigs. I think it will help you figure out what's going on with your parking brake adjustment.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IJkVEBYSecs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Benski]

Thanks guys for the replies!

When I had the drums off I cleaned everything, and lightly lubed any moving joints. I checked the tightener next to the handle and it turns out it has 2 flaired nuts on the bolt. I took the top one off and saw there was another one under it. The flaired top nut prevented the deep well socket from catching the lower nut. I loosened the lower one and drove around applying both brakes. I adjusted the lower bolt to allow for 7-8 clicks until it was tight and I could not pull it up anymore and the truck held on an incline. I then replaced the upper nut and tightened it against the lower one. I think everything is good now.

 

[ATX3rdGen]

You can get in there with a screw driver and pull the dust seal. Using a flat blade you can click the adjustment wheel to tighten things up.