How to Remove a Parking Brake

The parking brake -- or emergency brake as it was initially called -- was intended to be used as a back-up brake if the foot brakes in a vehicle malfunctioned. With the advanced braking systems used in cars today, a variety of safety measures are in place to reduce the need for an emergency brake. Thus, the emergency brake became the parking brake in name and is used to keep the car in a stationary position when parked. This is accomplished by a cable that runs from the hand brake lever to an equalizer bar underneath the vehicle, and then to the rear brake drums.

Instructions

1

Place safety blocks in front of the front tires of the vehicle, and jack up the back end of the vehicle so one of the rear tires can be removed. Place a jack stand under the car.

2

Loosen the lug nuts on a rear tire using a lug wrench. Once all the lug nuts are removed, remove the tire from the vehicle. This will expose the rear brake drum or caliper.

3

Remove the hub protector from the center of the drum. Pull the pin that holds the washer in place. Remove the nut from the center of the drum by using either the lug wrench or another wrench that fits around the nut. Another larger washer will be underneath the nut that must be removed. Remove the wheel bearing, which is underneath the larger washer that has just been removed.

4

Remove the drum from the rest of the braking components. To do this, place the wheel back on, and using a lug wrench, tighten two lug nuts directly across from each other on the wheel. If they are too loose, it could damage the threading on the drum or the threading in the lug nut. Shake the tire back and forth firmly to loosen the drum, and then pull the tire off. The drum will disconnect from the rest of the brake shoe. Using the tire to shake the drum and remove it ensures the drum itself is not damaged in the removal process.

5

Remove the two springs on either side of the brake shoe. This can be done by pressing down and twisting the springs with your fingers. Once the springs are removed, the shoe can be removed from the brake assembly. The parking brake cable is attached to this disconnected portion in the center of the brake assembly.

6

Remove the spring clips from the lever holding the parking brake cable to the brake shoe by using a screwdriver. The clip pops out of place easily.

7

Disconnect the lever from the parking brake cable by using pliers to pull the lever from the end of the brake cable.

8

Follow the brake cable underneath the vehicle to the equalizer bar, where the two cables from the rear wheels meet the one cable that runs to the brake lever inside the vehicle. Use a socket wrench to loosen the cable connection to the equalizer bar. Now that the cable is free at both ends, the cable can be pulled through from the end where it connected to the equalizer bar and removed from the vehicle.