When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I recently bought a 99 Lesabre and when I went to use the parking brake the cable snapped on me. Long story short I am a broke college student and I can't afford to fix the e-brakes so I tore them out completely. I had to manually adjust the rear breaks because they locked up on me when the cable snapped. Now the brakes feel mushy and I have to push them down quite a bit before they engage but they sound as though they are still rubbing a little bit. I am not sure if I still need to adjust them more but I also know that the rear drums are auto adjusting. I've heard that when you brake in reverse they auto adjust and I've also heard that when you use the emergency brake they auto adjust. I honestly am just a little confused, if anyone has some help I would greatly appreciate it.
When the cable broke, that shouldn't have affected your rear brakes.......Which cable broke? the cable between the ebrake and the external adjuster, or one of the cables from the external ebrake line adjuster to the rear drums?
How did you manually adjust the drums? that external adjuster is there just to take up slack in the cable, it does not adjust the rear drums.....to adjust the rear drums, you would have to remove a drum, remove the rim from the edge of the drum(as best as possible with a half round file/sandpaper)......make your adjustment, put the drum back on, pull on the ebrake lever(outside of backing plate) manually with vice grips/suitable tool.....drum should not move....release lever and rotate drum.....if there is no slight drag at all, needs more adjustment.....
The way a tech would do it, is pop out the access hole for adjustment.....using a brake tool/small screw driver, turn the adjustment screw to expand the shoes.....then get a rubber plug from a parts store to cover hole......if you have never done it this way before, I recommend taking the drum off, so that you know the correct hole to punch out(there are two), and then insert the tool through the backing plate, and this way you can see which way the wheel has to be rotated to expand the shoe, to make it easy to do the other one..........
. . . and: I have a 1997 LeSabre so same exact car except for my iffy transition-year transaxle. ~230,000 miles (~150,000 of which are mine) and I've never had to adjust the rear brakes or replace shoes. Every once in a while I check them with an IR thermometer to make sure they're still doing something. Otherwise they adjust themselves.
With what you're saying above about removing the emergency brake parts, I'd suspect you took out too many parts. Even if the cable snaps, you can let it drag along the ground with no other change in vehicle performance (unless the cable gets under a tire). What parts did you take out? . . . and if it makes it easier, can you get us a picture of them?
. . . and: I have a 1997 LeSabre so same exact car except for my iffy transition-year transaxle. ~230,000 miles (~150,000 of which are mine) and I've never had to adjust the rear brakes or replace shoes. Every once in a while I check them with an IR thermometer to make sure they're still doing something. Otherwise they adjust themselves.
With what you're saying above about removing the emergency brake parts, I'd suspect you took out too many parts. Even if the cable snaps, you can let it drag along the ground with no other change in vehicle performance (unless the cable gets under a tire). What parts did you take out? . . . and if it makes it easier, can you get us a picture of them?
. . . and another thought: Are you sure both plungers are engaged with both shoes on both sides properly?
Unfortunately I do not have any pictures. I took out all of the e-brakes components, the only thing that is left to the e-brakes is the pedal for it inside the car. As far as I know the plungers are engaged properly. I haven't had time since my original post to get the car back up on jacks and look at it.
I recommend taking photos of your brake configuration in the rear so that we can verify everything that needs to be in there is in there. I had issues with adjusters for the longest time thanks to an adjuster spring that kept breaking on one side.
The reason I took all of the e-brake components out is because the first owner of the car used it as a farm vehicle and all the connectors and adjusters on the cable were rotting away from rust because of years of mud being caked to the underside of the car. If I want good e brakes I would have had to replace them entirely so for the time being I removed them entirely. The cable broke where it splits to the back rear wheels. I removed all the cable and the spring inside the drums that keeps the tension of the e-brake cable. Number 9 on the image below.
The reason I took all of the e-brake components out is because the first owner of the car used it as a farm vehicle and all the connectors and adjusters on the cable were rotting away from rust because of years of mud being caked to the underside of the car. If I want good e brakes I would have had to replace them entirely so for the time being I removed them entirely. The cable broke where it splits to the back rear wheels. I removed all the cable and the spring inside the drums that keeps the tension of the e-brake cable. Number 9 on the image below.
PLEASE IGNORE! I DID NOT REMOVE THE ACTUATOR SPRING! The spring that is keeps tension on the e brake cable is not shown in the diagram.
01-02-2019 | 01:47 AM
99 Lesabre rear brake adjuster
