tx65coupe

My 65 has a Versailles rear end. Last year I completely rebuilt the rear end and the brakes etc. I am having an issue with the parking brake not working for the last few months. The emergency brake barely does anything and won't keep the car from rolling. It appears that the passenger side rear sort of works, but the driver side rear does not engage at all. Does anyone have on input?

Cruzzar

Have you adjusted the pads so there is a small clearance between them and the disk? You should have just enough of a gap to barely slide the rotor on and off the calipers with the pads installed. To adjust the distance you must pull the caliper away from the rotor, remove the pads and look at the end of the piston. It will have two small holes about 1 inch on center. You can make an adjusting tool using a piece of flat stock metal and two bolts the correct dia that fit into the holes. Some pads have a small pin that must align with the piston hole and therefore you can only turn the piston a half turn at a time. If you don't have them don't worry about it. Make sure the piston is fully retracted by putting some pressure on it with a large c-clamp and a socket to straddle the nut on the emergency brake. Don't get crazy, just enough pressure to push the piston to the bottom. Now you can start adjusting the piston out (by unscrewing it, it has internal threads inside the emergency brake) until you get about a thickness of a piece of paper clearance between the rotor and pads (installed back on the caliper). If done correctly you should be able to rotate the emergency brake lever no more than 15 to 20 degrees. If more then the 20 degrees then go back and adjust the piston out a little more.
Usually this adjustment process is done before you mount the calipers onto the housing or bleed the brakes. I hope you have enough flex hose lenght so you don't have to break the hydraulic lines loose and have to rebleed. If the pistons are really out of adjustment it is possible that the rear brakes will not work at all.
In order for the emergency brakes to work properly you must install what I will call a force multiplier. You can not generate enough pulling force with the hand brake (or foot brake). This is nothing more than a 6" long piece of flat stock metal with holes at the ends and in the middle. Attach a bolt to the frame and thru one of the holes in the end so that it pivots, attach the hand brake/foot brake cable to the hole in the other end, and attach the emegency brakes to the hole in the middle. This should about double the pressure applied to the emergence brakes.
One additional item, you must hook up the emergency brake and use it regularly. Operation of the emergency brake is essential for maintaining proper adjustment. Every time you use the emergency brake an internal thread inside will make a slight adjustment if necessary, to maintain proper pad to rotor distance. If the emergency brake is never used the pad to rotor gap is continue to increase. These brakes are not like typical disk brakes where the seal will set the proper pad to rotor gap as the pads wear.

tx65coupe

Thanks for the detailed info. I think we have the parking brake working pretty well now.

Is there any chance you have a picture of what your referring to as a force multiplier?

I also have a question about the use of the parking brake and the self adjustment of the caliper. For this to work properly, do I need to put my foot on the regular brake when releasing the parking brake? I read somewhere that that is the only way it works right.