Parking Brake :(
 

My parking brake pedal was too tight, and wouldn't even go close to the floor. so, i loosened the cable to where it can go to the floor and tighten as it should... but the parking brake still wont engage. i could still drive perfectly with the parking brake down. it is really frustrating seeing as how my car is manual. the brake is fairly important. help!

Sounds like something is frozen in the system. Time to tear into it and find out what's not working.

Is this the procedure for adjusting the parking brake? I realize your truck is a lot newer than mine (94), but a properly adjusted brake probably won't make it to the floor. I just adjusted mine per the factory manual and it's perfect. I don't know about a 2004 though.

well it doesnt go ALL the way to the floor. it goes to where it should. and tightens where it should... but no matter where the brake is, how hard it is pushed, no contact is made.

Sounds like your cables at the back are froze up.

My mechanism inside the rotor was corroded and frozen on my '02. I finally got around to fixing it after 4 years of no parking/e-brake. Now the drum inside the rotors are rusty and don't hold very well. :( If it's not one thing it's another. You'll have to remove the wheel, caliper, and rotor to access the goodies inside. If you can get someone to push/release the parking brake you'll be able to see what moves and what doesn't.

Later, Doug

Later, Doug

I have this same exact issue but I don't have drum brakes. How can one fix a frozen cable problem?

You still have shielded cables at the back where the emergency brake cable goes into the internal drum brake assembly. You need to make sure that these are moving freely. If they are, then the problem is inside the drum (rotor hat).

but i do not have drum brakes. i think nj4x4Blaze said he didn either. i have the 2004 model, which come with disk brakes! does that mean i still pull the wheels off and have a look? we were going to do that this weekend...

Yes! The parking brakes are actually drum brakes inside the rear rotor. Pull off one of the rear rotors and you'll see what we're talking about.

Later, Doug