parking brake kick pedal fee travel.

Cecil_ · Nov 22, 2016

Hey,

Has anyone had to adjust their rear parking brake? Mine has a lot of free travel in the foot lever. I looked under the ram the other day and saw where the cable grabs, but on the dust shield I could not find where the cover for the star adjuster is. Is this system different than the standard old school drum brake emergency brake that is built into the rotor system?

Thanks,

cecil_

smoothee · Nov 23, 2016

I just started having the same issue with mine. When I release the lever it only comes up about halfway. Have to bring it up then by hand in order for the light to go off. Haven't got around to playing with it yet though.

Cecil_ · Nov 23, 2016

yea, I know. mine has alot of free travel too. I have no idea how to go about fixing it, Im sure thouge its simple and we are just overlooking something.

Cecil_ · Nov 25, 2016

Anyone know how to adjust the free travel out of the parking brake kick pedal? The parking brakes itself works fine, however I have to push the kick pedal down very far for it to engage.

thanks Cecil_

SitKneelBend · Nov 25, 2016

I think it is self adjusting from repeated use if I'm not mistaken (which I could be!)....

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Numnutz · Nov 25, 2016

I think it may be time for new rear brakes???

Rustycowl69 · Nov 25, 2016

Numnutz said:
I think it may be time for new rear brakes???

I've found that as long as the parking brake cable has not been maladjusted at some time, it can be a pretty good indicator of brake lining thickness for DRUMS. in other words, parking brake with too much travel can mean the linings are getting thin. That said, if the shoes are not "automatically " adjusted close enough to the drum, that will affect how the parking brake works, too. To adjust you are supposed to back up straight, at about 5mph or more, and apply (hydraulic)brake. This should actuate automatic adjusters to ratchet out shoes closer to drum. This can be done several times, until shoes reach their minimum distance from drum, and pedal travel shortens as well.
for rear disks, it's a different story.

pickupman66 · Nov 28, 2016

You more than likely need new Brake shoes in the back inside the drums. the brake systems on our trucks use 4 wheel disks for the regular brakes and a cable activated drum system on the E-brake. pull your rear wheels and rotors. that will likely tell you the story. mine were completely gone when I pulled them the other day. nothign left but a metal shoe.

Rustycowl69 · Nov 28, 2016

pickupman66 said:
You more than likely need new Brake shoes in the back inside the drums. the brake systems on our trucks use 4 wheel disks for the regular brakes and a cable activated drum system on the E-brake. pull your rear wheels and rotors. that will likely tell you the story. mine were completely gone when I pulled them the other day. nothign left but a metal shoe.

that surprises me. Not that it couldn't happen, but that one could wear out the parking brake shoes. Unless someone is doing parking brake turns or left the parking brake on while driving, it would take a really lot of miles to wear out the parking brake shoes on a rear disk setup, because it's just a static friction device. That said, I know the friction material on my wife's LHS parking brake shoes is very thin to start with.

pickupman66 · Nov 29, 2016

Rustycowl69 said:
that surprises me. Not that it couldn't happen, but that one could wear out the parking brake shoes. Unless someone is doing parking brake turns or left the parking brake on while driving, it would take a really lot of miles to wear out the parking brake shoes on a rear disk setup, because it's just a static friction device. That said, I know the friction material on my wife's LHS parking brake shoes is very thin to start with.

I suspect it was from the previous owner. Those parts should in theory never need replacing if used properly. My guess is they rusted up and deteriorated on their own and dissentrgrated the pad material when it fell off in the moving hub.

Dubstep Shep · Nov 29, 2016

I had this come up on my 2014 a while back. My parking brake engaged would show up on days it was really cold, then go away after a second, even though I released the parking brake several times.

The pedal doesn't come all the way up. There's about half an inch to an inch at the end of travel that it doesn't quite make.

I was planning on digging into it to see if there's an adjustment because the truck has been doing it since had about 30,000 miles and I'm the only owner. I've never done anything that would wear out the parking brake, so I'm betting it's just a loose adjustment.

EDIT: Just found this thread. Looks helpful.
http://www.ramforum.com/f38/how_do_i_tighten_parking_brake-63472/

Cecil_ · Nov 29, 2016

how would you adjust it ?

spuz · Nov 30, 2016

They self adjust. I've read that if you don't use the pb it goes out of adjustment and seizes up. Anecdotal. You can adjust the star wheel by rotating it with flat head screwdriver.

spuz · Dec 1, 2016

Dubstep Shep said:
I had this come up on my 2014 a while back. My parking brake engaged would show up on days it was really cold, then go away after a second, even though I released the parking brake several times.

The pedal doesn't come all the way up. There's about half an inch to an inch at the end of travel that it doesn't quite make.

I was planning on digging into it to see if there's an adjustment because the truck has been doing it since had about 30,000 miles and I'm the only owner. I've never done anything that would wear out the parking brake, so I'm betting it's just a loose adjustment.

EDIT: Just found this thread. Looks helpful.
http://www.ramforum.com/f38/how_do_i_tighten_parking_brake-63472/

A work around would be to tape piece of wood on pedal so the switch is actuated with pedal lower.

Dubstep Shep · Dec 1, 2016

spuz said:
A work around would be to tape piece of wood on pedal so the switch is actuated with pedal lower.

NOcasio7 · Dec 1, 2016

smoothee said:
I just started having the same issue with mine. When I release the lever it only comes up about halfway. Have to bring it up then by hand in order for the light to go off. Haven't got around to playing with it yet though.

I have the same issue, it just hasn't bothered me enough to look into it yet.

smoothee · Dec 1, 2016

NOcasio7 said:
I have the same issue, it just hasn't bothered me enough to look into it yet.

Hopefully I'll get around to it this weekend. It pretty much happened overnight, was fine one day and had to push the pedal to the floor the next. I use it everyday, so it isn't an issue with anything being seized. At least I wouldn't think so.

NOcasio7 · Jan 9, 2017

has anyone figures this out yet? I went in a 2014 1500 with a little more miles than I have and that PB felt tight right from the start.

cbsmith · Jan 9, 2017

I had to replace them on my 2014. I've never driven with them on but the pad material separated from the backing plate and came loose. Mine were caused by moisture from
Launching my boat.

TerraNewf · Jan 9, 2017

Mine does the same thing when it's cold, having said that my brake release lever in the cab broke yesterday and it's going into the dealer to get fixed. It looks pretty flimsy to me, bad design. Pictures are not that great.

parking brake kick pedal fee travel.

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