dustysix

i need to replace the parking brake shoes pads and rotors

3boystoys

WOW, how do you wear out Ebrake shoe (in this case, there only one).

85corvettec4

VERY carefully

dustysix

thanks for your help

85corvettec4

jack up the but end and look around behind the wheel and see if anythings leaking first of all

alxltd1

Are you looking for instructions to replace just the E brake shoes, or all brake pads and rotors?

This should cover the brake job fronts and rears:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...nd-rotors.html

Check also the E brake adjustment to see if you actually need new shoes. This may help with the E brake:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...djustment.html

dustysix

thanks for your help alxltd1.thanks too for the time and effort it took to prepare that.

alxltd1

Funbill2

Wearing out parking brake shoes, in my case the guy that owned the car before me must have rode around with the parking brake going. He didn't seem to Swifty when I bought the car so my handle goes up as far as it will and the car barely holds. When I take it apart I hope it just needs an adjustment, but in my case they'll probably have to be replaced.

averagejoesautos

its MUCH easier to do with the backing plate removed. It has this funky spring coat hanger thing that holds it in thats a PIA to get all three points secured. With the backing plate off...its a 30 second affair. Such as everything with these cars. If you pop the rotor and there is meat left...crank that som-a-bitch out. They adjusters have a mile of give in em

redzg

The odds are highly in your favor. Many threads over time indicating two primary Parking brake failure modes: first, shoes poorly adjusted from the factory, compounded by the second common issue, seized adjustment pawl in the lever assembly. Both are a bit tedious to work. Adjusting the shoes requires iterative removal of the drum/rotors, and freeing the pawl may require removing the passenger seat, console, and carpet.

HardcoreABN

I am relacing mine, simply because I have them AND I am putting a 15" conversion on so I might as well do it since it will be 100% torn apart anyway lol.

dainon

When I bought my C5 several years ago, my parking brake didn't hold it either. I took it to the dealer for an oil change, and asked the service manager to adjust the e-brake while they had it. He told me there was no adjustment and the shoes needed to be replaced. (This guy also told me the clutch on the C5 was on the back of the car with the transmission.. I have learned the Chev dealer may or probably doesn't know squat)

I took his word for it and ordered the shoes off Rock Auto. I found a YouTube video where a guy showed a spring install hack where he used a string to tie the spring to the inside of the shoe to hold it in place while you take a spring puller and screwdriver to manipulate the spring into the retainers. I tried to find it for you, but couldn't. He may have taken it down. The gist of it is, secure the spring inside the shoe with the string, zip tie, whatever, using the holes in the shoe to anchor to. This prevents the spring from falling while you maneuver it into place. Once the spring is in place, cut the string and pull it out. I got the job done in a couple of hours without too many swear words.

However, I soon realized the shoes CAN be adjusted, and the dealer was full of crap. The new shoe will need to be adjusted as well. It took me several attempts to get the expander dialed in just right so it would actually hold the car on an incline. This was the hardest part. Make those shoes so tight you can barely fit the rotor back over it.. If there is any slack or play, the brake won't hold.

Hope that helps,
D.

Fast one

If the shoes are adjusted too tight it will make removing the rotors in the future very difficult. The brake handle assembly is supposed to take up the slack of loose shoes, if it doesn't it needs to be cleaned and lubed.

redzg

Believe it or not, the FSM calls for 0.015 inch clearance for the diameter of the brake shoe from the brake drum. Even I can do the simple math that shows that to be 0.0075 theoretical clearance at given point. Pretty sure that would not be a lot of clicks on the lever to keep the car in one place.