I dont know what im doing wrong. My emergency brake will not work. I put the car in neutral press the E brake and the car rolls,so I went to the manual and it said go to the equalizer and adjust the nuts until the rear tires which are off the ground are hard to turn. Well it turned the nut 20 times in one direction and 20 the other and the wheel still has the same easy spin to it. What am I doind wrong ? Should I be tightening up the cable so it makes more tention on the cable that goes to both rear wheels. I have it now that the emergency brake will not stay engaged then I press my foot on it it comes right back up. Before at least it would make a clicking sound and stay in place until I pulled the leaver to release it. This is on a 71 Toronado. Can anyone help me. I would like to do this myself and not take it to a brake shop.

 

There should be a some tension on all of the ebrake cables. With the pedal all the way up (released) tighten the nut on the adjuster until you just begin to have a small amount of drag on the rear wheels, than back off about a turn. Lock the first nut in place with the second nut.

 

I tighten the cable so that when the e-brake pedal is depressed it goes down about 1/2 way and locks the brakes.

 

I think that this might be the problem.I did not seperate the 2 nuts when i was turning them behind the equalizer, they both turned. I need to break them apart and start over. Thanks for your help

 

Good so it doesnt necessarily have to go to the floor then.Makes sense. Thanks

 

that shouldn't happen. One of the nuts is there to lock the other from moving.

 

Start from the beginning, pull the drums and check the lever inside the drum is working properly. It should be resting against the shoe, if it is wound forward it will never work.

Have you checked the cables aren't seized in their sleeves?.

Get the lever in the correct position, you may need to SLACKEN the cable to achieve this, then be sure the foot brake is correctly adjusted. I do this by adjusting them (overriding the automatic adjuster if fitted) until the drum is hard to turn, then backing it off until it is free again.
Try the e-brake again and adjust it to take up the slack in the cable. There isn't much more to it than this, however it does sound like the ratchet on the pedal isn't working properly, it might be worn or need lubricating.

Roger.

 

Good News,I got it working . The problem was I didnt split the 2 nuts so when I was turning them with a wrench it was just spinning. I seperated them and tighted them just enough and then backed off a little and now the pedal stops and locks in the middle. It feels so good to fix something myself without taking it to a shop. Thank you all for your help.

 

Well done...