How tight should the parking brake hold?

[Lurker1999]

I replaced the rotors and pads front/rear yesterday. I've never added brake fluid and the master cylinder looks appropriately filled. My brakes appear to be working fine after the replacement. When I did replaced the rear brakes I tested the parking brake according to the Chilton's manual where 2 clicks allowed the wheels to spin freely and 4 clicks prevented it from being turned by hand. I noticed that when I was putting the lug nuts back on, before setting the car down off the jack stands I was able to turn the rear wheels using the torque wrench at 4 clicks. But it did not require a lot of force (less than the 103 ft-lb torque spec) since I don't torque the lug nuts down until the car is sitting back on the ground.

How hard should the emergency brake hold? Four or five clicks? When I put the car in drive or reverse with the parking brake set it will hold the car but if I give it any throttle at all it will start moving. In theory this makes it fail the safety inspection in Massachusetts since the parking brake is supposed to hold to 1200-1300rpm (not happening right now).

[eRic 02sc2]

looking in the Saturn Owner's Handbook, the parking brake should be able to hold the vehicle in place on a downhill grade. If it's not holding you need to adjust the cables.

[eljefino]

I imagine the brake lever has more travel than four clicks; what happens if you really yank on it? I myself get probably six clicks and the handle is 30 degrees inclined from horizontal. I have drums in the rear but the degrees and clicks have been about the same for every car I've owned with a handbrake.

Edit: 6 clicks is 'normal' but I can make 10 clicks if I pull harder. Attached is a pic of the 6 click lever position.

You should be able to lock the wheels with the e-brake when moving on dry pavement.

It's good driving technique to keep your foot on the service brake when pulling on the handbrake... then release the service brake, make sure the car doesn't roll, then shut the motor off and put it in park or 1st with stick shifts. Since the shoes/pads are already in position the cable isn't stretched as much when the parking brake is applied.

Also give it a couple of days to break in the pads and things might get better. But I agree with Eric and think you should tighten the cable a little.

[JS593]

4 clicks is what i was told.

[Lurker1999]

I've now discovered the e-brake won't hold the car just placed in reverse. It will hold it if I have it in drive and at a stand-still at 5 clicks. I'm going to try to tighten the cables a bit. Can I do this without jacking the rear end back up?

[dave.sl]

As far as I know, most cars with drum brakes won't hold in reverse with the emergency brake applied. I have owned my 98SL for 4 years since 36k. Now 106k. The travel hasn't varied. 4 clicks will hold on mostly level ground. 5 will hold on a slight grade. 6 will hold it on a steep hill. On a really steep hill, I will give it one or 2 extra clicks, put in reverse and turn the wheel in toward the curb on a downgrade, and put in 1st gear and turn the wheels in on a steep upgrade. Most of the time though, its straight 5 or 6 clicks which feels right to me.

[peppermrj]

The online manual at autozone says 4 clicks should stop the rear wheels from being turned by hand.

[insomnicide]

This is what AllData has to say:

Disconnect battery ground cable.
Remove center console assembly
Raise and support vehicle.
Pull parking brake lever to third click from released position
Tighten adjuster nut until slight brake drag is felt at rear wheel.
Apply and release parking brake several times.
Pull lever up to second click. There should be no brake drag at rear wheels.
Pull brake lever to third click. There should be slight drag at rear wheels. Adjust if necessary.
Pull lever to fourth click. Rear wheels should not turn by hand.

Hope this helps.