How strong is the parking brake?

[jbscheff]

Just how strong is the parking brake on the older 911's? I've tried twice now to adjust the parking brake on my '73, but still it won't hold the car on even a slight slope. I followed the instructions in Wayne's book, and can get it to where the discs won't turn. The handbrake engages right at 4 or 5 clicks. But when I put the wheels back on and the car on the ground, the brake doesn't hold. Is the parking brake historically weak on the old cars or am I missing something?

[rlh930]

Mine is strong enough so than with it engaged I can torque the hub nut to 245 ft-lb. Sounds like baby needs a new pair of shoes. You might also want to check that the two parking brake shoe extenders that the cable pulls on are not bent or broken, and that theire ends are both properly seated in the studs on the brake shoes.

[wastintime]

the brake shoes could be gone... it happens, too many times moving the car with the parking brake still on, and you wear the shoes down to a point where adjustments don't help.

[jbscheff]

In the back of my mind I thought it could be the shoes, but I really didn't want to tackle the caliper and disc removal.

[Bill Douglas]

Mines "good enough" now that I've fixed the cables. Have a good look at that first, ummm, I didn't like the look of the disk removal job either.

[DarrylD]

I just got done fixing the parking brakes on my 911 and after thrashing around playing with adjusters and such it finally turned out the be the cables were not equal length anymore... how this happened I have no idea... it kind of defies physics. However new cables and the brakes hold like rocks.

Funny thing, I mentioned the problem to John Walker when I first got the car and he said he starts with new cables... I ended with them, so there you go.

[svandamme]

parking brakes in good condition are rock solid

they will lock the rear wheels, no problem , even while driving at any speed, they lock instantly.

these things do rust, so maybe part of the mechanism is rusted , or bent , or misaligned inside the drum

[safe]

Its not that hard to tear down the breaks. You can do it on a weekend, easy.
There can be plenty of rust inside. Have you tried engaging the handbrake and driving back and forth slowly a few yards? That can help if the shoes is just "glaced" and hard. If they are shot you will propably hear it too.

[jbscheff]

Thanks, guess I've got a project for this weekend now...