[Zekesson]

Calling from Sweden
Having a Nitro -07 with massive e-brake trouble.
Lack of effective e-brake is nothing strange with a Nitro but I have dug deep into my e-brakes for a few days.
The problem is not the lever inside car nor the wires.
New rotors , new shoes and new lever/expander inside drum. The thing that expands the shoes.
Standing still in a slope or on flat surface the brake is very good. Hold the car as expected. 3-4 clicks.
Problem is when driving and using the handbrake , absolute nothing happens.
Standing still with e-brake activated and forcing car slowly in drive and at the same moment gripping the handle lever , it is like all grip disappears.
Any good explanation for this behavior.

Why is the lever/expander in drum upside down in right side drum.
Can't find any locic about that. Same rotation as left side.

Please help

//Tommy

 

[teahead]

"Problem is when driving and using the handbrake ..."

Huh? Who does that?

 

[Nitrogen]

what i did an handbrake turn last week, the wife was not impressed, but the kids where laughing there heads off, mainly at my wife telling me off,

 

[2ndgen]

"Problem is when driving and using the handbrake ..."

Huh? Who does that?

Actually, part of the safety test used to be to make sure the e-brake can stop the car from at least 25 MPH.

 

[Zekesson]

"Problem is when driving and using the handbrake ..."

Huh? Who does that?

I is a part of the yearly inspection here in Sweden. Think it is the same as your MOT

 

[Nitrogen]

Calling from Sweden
Having a Nitro -07 with massive e-brake trouble.
Lack of effective e-brake is nothing strange with a Nitro but I have dug deep into my e-brakes for a few days.
The problem is not the lever inside car nor the wires.
New rotors , new shoes and new lever/expander inside drum. The thing that expands the shoes.
Standing still in a slope or on flat surface the brake is very good. Hold the car as expected. 3-4 clicks.
Problem is when driving and using the handbrake , absolute nothing happens.
Standing still with e-brake activated and forcing car slowly in drive and at the same moment gripping the handle lever , it is like all grip disappears.
Any good explanation for this behavior.

Why is the lever/expander in drum upside down in right side drum.
Can't find any locic about that. Same rotation as left side.

Please help

//Tommy

i have looked in the workshop manual but the images are only of one side, and not very clear, so not sure which way up the expanders are supposed to be, But here is a thread that may help,

How To: Park/emergency Brake Drum Adjust/inspect. Part...

Parking/Emergency brake how it works and how to adjust it. - reversing and applying the brakes does not adjust it correctly, read on. The following refers to the rear axle disc/drum assembly, and its based on a UK spec 4x4, however I don’t think there is any difference but the photos should...

www.nitroforumz.com

 

[Nitrogen]

i now see there are arrows marked on the brake housing that should match with the arrows on the expander, left goes one way up and right goes opposite way up

 

[Zekesson]

i now see there are arrows marked on the brake housing that should match with the arrows on the expander, left goes one way up and right goes opposite way up

HI
That doesn't make any sense that the expander should be in different directions depending on which side it is located on. It is still the same rotation and it should affect top brakesho first . Am I wrong ? , probably , Dodge think so.

 

[Zekesson]

i have looked in the workshop manual but the images are only of one side, and not very clear, so not sure which way up the expanders are supposed to be, But here is a thread that may help,

How To: Park/emergency Brake Drum Adjust/inspect. Part...

Parking/Emergency brake how it works and how to adjust it. - reversing and applying the brakes does not adjust it correctly, read on. The following refers to the rear axle disc/drum assembly, and its based on a UK spec 4x4, however I don’t think there is any difference but the photos should...

www.nitroforumz.com

Thanx a lot for all information.
There is something fishy with these brakes. Floating brake shoes seems to be a NOT SO GOOD INVENTION. It is like everything move around and adjust itself to being bad.

 

[2ndgen]

Have you reopened them since they stopped working? Did something come loose?

 

[Zekesson]

Have you reopened them since they stopped working? Did something come loose?

Opened up about 15 times.
Every time the same, all looks fine.

It's been poor for a long time so I thought new brakeshoes (Brembo) should solve the problem.
So I replaced the brake shoes and adjusted as supposed. Still poor.
Ordered new rotors and replaced , still poor. I did even replace the expander, so most of it Is new. I can't se any problem with the adjuster , clips and springs so these are not new.

Learned when ordered rotors and brakeshoes that there is 3 different sizes on the market.
The inner diameter could be 210 mm 207 mm and 205mm , so I thought that this was the problem but NO. Rotors and shoes is 207mm . I think this is the original size.

Noticed today after being reinstalled everything again that the handbrake actually works in reverse but not when driving forward.
Turned the expander in opposite (wrong) direction just for verifiing if there should be any differens but NO.

Still struggling.

 

[07Nitro R/T Fire Guy]

My 2007 has had the same problem since I bought it new in 2007. I still have the lifetime warranty and every time I take it in for warranty work they look at it and say it’s just not a strong parking break design.

 

[Zekesson]

My 2007 has had the same problem since I bought it new in 2007. I still have the lifetime warranty and every time I take it in for warranty work they look at it and say it’s just not a strong parking break design.

what happens when you take it to inspection. Do they let it pass ?

 

[Nitrogen]

not a strong parking brake is spot on,

at my vehicle inspection (every 2 years in France ) as long as the parking brake lever pulls up about 3 clicks and there is some force at the wheels then it passes the inspection,
if i pull up the parking lever when driving i can feel abit of resistance but certainly not enough to stop the car quickly.

there was a recall by dodge for the parking brake lever to be replaced But only on the manual transmission models, dodge said it doesn't apply to auto transmission models because of the park system on a automatic transmission,

 

[Zekesson]

not a strong parking brake is spot on,

at my vehicle inspection (every 2 years in France ) as long as the parking brake lever pulls up about 3 clicks and there is some force at the wheels then it passes the inspection,
if i pull up the parking lever when driving i can feel abit of resistance but certainly not enough to stop the car quickly.

there was a recall by dodge for the parking brake lever to be replaced But only on the manual transmission models, dodge said it doesn't apply to auto transmission models because of the park system on a automatic transmission,

It seems to be a common issue on Nitro.
I am sorry say that it is very hard to find a solution. Tried to replace all parts but still
very poor friction. Tried two types of brake shoes with no good result. Even tried new brake shoes with the old rotors. The old rotors is not bad but decided to replace anyway.

 

[2ndgen]

There are several threads discussing some mitigations. Many have to take up slack in the cable under the center console to achieve an acceptable result.

 

[Zekesson]

There are several threads discussing some mitigations. Many have to take up slack in the cable under the center console to achieve an acceptable result.

Thanx for reply
I think I've read most of the threads about this. Most problems seems to be slack in cables but that's not the issues in this case.
Fully works all the way to the drum.
I guess my problem is lack of friction between rotor and brakeshoes.
It's just not enough.
There is pressure on the brakeshoes. Verified as slight damage to the surface where expander touches brakeshoe. Must indicate that there is pressure. So why is all this pressure not enough.

 

[2ndgen]

any chance grease got in there?
maybe you need to clean the rotors and pads, and maybe even sand the surface of the pads a bit in case they got glazed somehow.

 

[Zekesson]

absolutely no grease.
Cleaned up everything with brakeclean.
Sanded the brakeshoes and the rotor as well

 

[Nitrogen]

did you check for the arrows lining up on the brake housing and the expander ?
how many clicks does the lever go up if you pull normaly and how many if you pull it realy hard ?,