Adjusting Parking Brake

I was searching for the same thing and did not find an answer on this forum. I now determined how to adjust the parking brake and will add it to this old post. The parking brake adjustment for my '07 Prius is under the center console.
It's somewhat easy to remove the console to expose the adjusting nut.
To remove the console, pull up on the front cup holders to expose 4 screws. 2 on top, and one on each side at the bottom. Then remove the carpet in the console to expose the 2 10mm bolts. The console lifts up and the parking brake adjustment is there.

 

Thanks johnav. My parking brake was going all the way to the floor. It is suppose to be between 6 - 9 clicks. I adjusted it to 7 clicks on my '07 Prius.

 

On a car with drum brakes the issue may be the rear shoes being out of adjustment. The cable should only be touched if adjusting the rear shoes does not solve the problem. Otherwise the parking brake will be overtightened if the shoes are ever adjusted in the future.

MB860 ?

 

The critic is correct the parking brake cable adjuster should be slackened right back, and then adjust the rear drums by taking off the rear wheels, and adjusting through the hole in the drum till the brakes just do not rub. Then adjust the cable.

 

In theory the drum brakes (but not their cable) are self-adjusting. As I understand it, if a few hard brake applications do not improve matters, then the cable may need adjusting. True?

 

By "Hard brake applications" do you mean with the car coming to a stop or at a full stop? I have to step way down on mine and simply want it tighter. I would love to some how convert it to a hand brake level.

 

There was another very recent thread on here about the rear drums and parking brake.

Toyota used an adjuster design that keeps the rear shoes adjusted through the regular use of the parking brake. Unlike some other cars, it does not depend on any tricks of using the service brake (braking hard, braking in reverse, anything like that).

Every time the parking brake is applied, if the rear shoe clearance is more than 0.03 mm too big, one click of the adjuster wheel will automatically happen and reduce the clearance by 0.03 mm. You only get one click for each application and release of the parking brake, so if somehow the clearance has grown way bigger than 0.03 mm back there, it doesn't matter how hard you step on the brake, but you may have to apply and release it numerous times to take up the clearance, one 0.03 mm click after another.

However, you also have to ask yourself how this condition came to be, as regular use of the parking brake should have kept the shoes adjusted and you would never be in this situation. So, if it had been driven for a long time by someone who never applied the parking brake, that would be one explanation. But if that's not the explanation, then for one reason or another the star wheels have not been clicking/turning when the parking brake has been applied ... apparently for some time now, if they are as far out of adjustment as you make it sound. They could be stuck, or the adjust lever slipped out of position ... popping the drums off is the only way to see, and then to see what's going on shouldn't be hard.

-Chap

 

Every other time I rotate tires, I check parking brake clearance (along with the service brake condition). I've needed to turn the star wheel a couple of notches in 160K miles.

I didn't know about the self adjuster working with the lever. I assumed it was like the old American cars that needed to brake in reverse. The primary driver of the car never brakes in reverse and I've know that for 35 years so it's just something I take care of.

 

If you have already adjusted brake shoes but parking brake leaver still travels too far it mean that cables have stretched. There is an adjustment under the center console to compensate for this. But first make sure that rear brakes are adjusted and working correctly (take the brake drums off).

 

Well tried tightening the nut under the center console and made no difference.

 

Regular use of the parking brakes is a good idea, for a lotta reasons. If you're on level ground, in your garage, no need to really tromp it. But consistent use, besides activating the adjuster, also keeps the cables from seizing up or whatever.

 

I have found the rear brakes do need to be adjusted occasionally.

 

Just for fun ... Ebrake in action

Strong believer in "THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES" so here are some references.


Wonder what happens if this YAW control box is unplugged.

 

I've found I can sort of just barely notice when my rears do adjust. For a day or two I'll be driving around thinking the pedal travel seems to be getting just a hair longer than I like, and sure enough, right around the time I start thinking that, in the next day or two I'll step on the pedal and notice it's right back up where I like it again. It's as good as hearing the star wheels click, which of course you don't really, without your ear up against the axle.

So as long as you occasionally notice that, you can be pretty confident the adjusters are doing what they're designed to. If you don't occasionally notice that, and the travel just gets longer and longer, then they're not working, and should be checked to find out why.

As others have suggested, keeping the rear brakes adjusted should keep the pedal travel correct, and the parking cable adjustment (assuming it was right from the factory) is most often not the place to go if the travel is off. The cable isn't intended for the normal tension from somebody stepping on the pedal to be anywhere near its elastic limit, so it isn't expected to stretch, unless maybe you have a big driver stomping it really hard.

My old Ford actually had a tension limiter built into the cable: a steel rod bent in a U around a bracket that pulled the downstream cables. If Mr. Universe got in the cab and really stomped the pedal, the rod would just unwrap, instead of stretching the whole cable assembly. Then if it came in for repair and you saw the rod that way, you would know that the real problem had been between the steering wheel and the seat.

-Chap

 

You would probably get U0124 communication code and VCS light. And non-working stability control system or more.

 

Think it will let the Prius do burnouts? lol

 

If you want to do burnouts or just disable the traction control for something (getting up slow steep ice/snow hill for example), it’s much easier just to put the Prius to inspection mode.

 

Is it bad to have too FEW clicks? After having brakes and bearings replaced last year, my click count is down to 4ish.

 

With the rear wheels off the ground, do they spin freely without dragging?

Are the drums cool to the touch if you drive about 15 minutes and then stop all without using the brakes? (Requires some advance planning of a traffic-free route ending in a big enough parking lot to coast into, then stop by shifting B then R then P ... using the brakes even a little to slow down at the end will make warmth you can feel and make the test inconclusive.)

If they spin freely and don't get warm, probably it's fine. Whoever replaced them may have been one click too eager on the star wheels. If so, after a bit of wear, you'll probably have a normal-ish click count again.

-Chap