Jeep Wrangler JK/JKU parking brake tension fix
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- Опубліковано 29 лип 2024
- The parking brake cable auto tensioning design on the Jeep Wrangler JK/JKU (as well as many other Dodge / Jeep products of this era) has no way to add pretention to the parking brake cables.
In stock form, the only way to adjust the parking brake is at the rear axle. Even with the parking brake shoes properly adjusted, the parking brake does not fully engage, especially as the lever system ages and cables stretch. This becomes a very serious safety issue for those that park on slopes, and even more so when off-road.
This is my solution, inspired by other UA-cam videos. Hope it helps you.
Other JK/JKU brake upgrades:
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00:00 Intro
00:23 Transfer case shift knob removal
01:02 Center console removal
01:53 Centre console USB cable location
04:47 Parking brake lever overview
06:21 Parking brake tensioner
08:57 Center console installation - Авто та транспорт
Very cool design. I gotta say, for as many Jeeps that seem to have this issue, I'm surprised Jeep hasn't come up with an easier way to manage the adjustment. I have a manual, so parking brake is critical. The other day I thought I was in first (actually in neutral) and my Jeep was ever so slightly rolling (I'm paranoid, so I always give my rear tires a slight push to double check). Thankfully I caught it before heading into the store. Going to give this a try, thank you!
GREAT JOB, into the same here at my shop. Used your idea and works mint! My customer and I thank you. Straight ahead, simple answer to that huge question when you realize there is no real adjustment. Cheers Eric.
Brilliant solution! The best I’ve seen yet. I’m going to take a crack at this. BTW, mine is a 2013 JK that has had this problem ever since the day I bought it (brand new). The dealership mechanics couldn’t find a “problem” with it, so they never fixed it. It self corrected at one point and held that correction for about a year, before suddenly going back to the squishy lever. All that to say, it doesn’t appear that it’s an issue of the clock spring losing tension over time. It’s something else that’s causing it to hang loose.
Nice video ! Thank you for leaving the struggling with removing the console, ut helps to have a realistic feel of the challenge
Thanks for the feedback!
I try to show the struggles. It bugs me when everyone makes these projects look doable while holding your breath! 🙃
Thanks! Just did your mod on my JK-11! Works great! I dont like self tappers so i took nuts and bolts :-)
This is cool. I'll be building one. Thank you as I never would have thought the issue to be there.
Mine broke the little yoke that holds the two cables where it goes into one from pulling that handle so hard. Sadly needed whole new assembly. Great video by the way.
Thanks for the video. Helped alot!
Nice! I'm glad you included your struggles, too :-)
I also appreciate this. Anytime you watch a how to video, they always make it seem so easy. Then you get in there and do the exact same procedure and have nothing but problems. lol!
The struggle is real!! thanks a lot for the idea! am copying it... keep on wheeling...
Great video gotta see if that is my issue
I made a 1/4” thick steel L bracket about 4” high that bolts to the back left mounting bolt, at the top I drill a 1/16” hole, ans also a hole in the top of that little tab that you can manually use to adjust. I connected the two with stainless steel rod and that stops it from being able to reset itself and give too much travel. Works a treat.
How about a couple of pics?
Yo saque la pieza y le di una lavada con parafina, luego sopleteado con aire a presion, quedo limpia y funcionando como nueva
I was confused about the location of the cable connectors so I would like to clarify. In my case I had to remove the front passenger seat first so that I could get the carpet up which took removing a press on fastener on a stud and removing the push pin in the door sill cover. The connectors are located on the passenger side rib that the front seat bolts screw into and goes between the door sill and the tunnel. They are closer to the door sill than the tunnel. My second connector was gray, did not have a red tab and was much harder to get apart. When I got the console up the parking brake started to work properly. I'm going to jack up the back end and see if the brake releases as it was dragging before. I've put some Kroil on the springs to see if that helps. My big concern now is whether or not I can get the console reinstalled because the brake handle does not go very high when tight. I'll put an update out when I get done.
xxxxxxI managed to tighten the
clock spring one turn quite easily by getting a piece of soft flexible
reinforcing tie wire, running under the spring, from front and twisting a loop
around the hook on the spring. Pulled hook around to the rear & hold with a
4mm rod. Fed wire around front again & pulled around again to hook on lug
(with a bit of coaxing with needle-nose pliers & small screwdriver) The
wire slip down the side of the spring a few times but persevered. Some sort of
thin strip could be inserted down beside the spring & the housing reducing
the gap so the wire would not slip off the springvvvvvv
zxcClockspring can be tightened using 400mm piece of lacing wire fed under the spring & a loop hooked on to the spring and pulled around to the back(eld with a 4mm rod) Wire again fed under the spring from front & pulled again to hook on the original lug. wire slipped off spring a few times. A couple of steel rulers down side of spring & housing might stop wire slipping offbbb
You can do this without taking off the center console feel with your fingers inside the hole where the E-brake handle is. You will feel the metal tab with the corner notched. Use a tool to push that back or even just fingers if you are strong.
I've been dreading taking my console apart so I gave your method a try and it works, but I have to do it everytime I park and I'm over it. Time for the disassembly solution.
Mine just slides back forward about a half inch after I release it. Brand New handle and cables to the wheels. Fml
The thing about owning a jeep is a constant barage of fixing stupid shit. Go jeep.
JUST CLEAN IT then LUBE IT.
Worked for me. It worked ex-factory when it was clean and lubed, but got dirty with age, then stopped working. Return it to factory specs (clean and lubed) and she's all good again.
Have you tried that? What did you use to clean and what kind of lubricant did you use?
@@EricCantin Yeah, mine is still good as new. Cleaned with degreaser, then spayed in some spray lube (WD40)
@@seajeepstar7516 could you elaborate sort of on how & where you sprayed these degreasers & lubes please. For some1 running into this issue for the 1st time. I haven’t even gotten into mine to look @ what I’m dealing with & I’m only a minute into this video so I’m hoping to understand better by the end but if what you say works works, I’d obviously much rather do that
@@brucek8934 cleaning and lubing it does nothing. It has been tried in forums. It actually slips back to looser state faster if you clean and lube it, ie it makes it worse.
Would you make and sell me one? I have all brand new parts and the brand new one is doing the same thing where it won't stay "auto tensioned"
Did you snap the two wires that attach to the cupholder bulb on the bottom side when you pulled the console free?
Doh!! I have a Sport, so don’t have that.
The mechanism is same as my 2008 Jeep Liberty. Its not a brilliant system, but it can work to some degree. What ruins the parking brake performance is using the wrong parking brake shoes. Some after-market shoes messed up the shoe end detail, and all the (drum) actuator travel is used up correcting for the shoes' geometric mismatch instead of pushing the shoes against the drum. It took me years to figure this out.
BTW - the shoe linings do not wear very fast, so mostly you just need to adjust the star wheels and not replace the shoes. It takes a lot of cycles of adjusting and applying the parking brake and readjusting to make a periodic net adjustment (I did mine today) - and you have to remove the caliper adapter in order to have access to the starwheel adjusting slot.
FYI - replacing the weird handbrake drum thingy did not help. It just wasted my time.
Question for you. My parking brake light just started to come on. It's so annoying since the park brake isn't even engaged. I don't know where the switch is, it's just easier to cut the electric cable for the switch. I have the same wrangler as you, do you know which cable I should cut?
The brake light in the dash can be triggered by other sensors. Start by plugging in an OBD2 reader and scanning for codes.
Need a scanner that can read more than the P codes. I recently changed to JScan to read / diagnose issues.
I had one intermittent brake booster code that triggered the brake light, that hasn’t reappeared since I installed this part (to resolve other codes). ua-cam.com/video/Rl0AGoQbVdQ/v-deo.html
Do you know what the white/green wire on the drivers side of the e-brake does? Mine is disconnected and it looks like yours is also. Apparently it’s a parking brake sensor but I’m not sure what it would be for.
No idea. Since the parking brake light works, I didn’t look into it. My wife has a higher trim that has a lighted cup holder. Wondering if that would power the light.
@@EricCantin do you know if yours was not connected to anything as well? It’s a single white/green wire with a connector.
Nevermind - it gets connected to the bottom gold-colored tab on the driver's side of the e brake assembly. Fixed.
Wait a min...is the proper way to make this adjustment?
It seems making the adjust at the brake shoes would be more suffice.
You start by adjusting the brake shoes. However many even with the brake shoes dragging, the lever wasn’t engaging the brakes due to the cables being out of tension.
Mine is almost useless, (on a 2011 JK). Is there not a simple mod, to convert to use the disc brakes pads, instead of the drum shoes? Also is there not a mod to use an electric operated handbrake? Surely there should be an easy solution to this common problem on the JK!
Good questions. If you find the correct calipers to engage the discs, let me know. Annoying how the shoes need to be manually adjusted.
Can you make the same contraction for my 2009 jku? Will gladly pay
I'll think about it. I'm planning to make at least one more for my wife's JKU. If I do, it will be in the fall (too many other projects on the go right now).
@@EricCantin Same! I am happy to pay.
Sorry, still lacking the time to make these.
@@EricCantin no problem just let us know, this is the only thing stopping me from myself installed alarm with remote start 😁
Why didn't you just replace the handle? The whole assembly cost me $80 from Amazon. In my case, the clutch between the arm and the spring broke.
When I was looking for a fix, a few others had replaced the handle and the issue eventually reappeared. Will be interesting to know if they finally figured out how to make a reliable design. Which part number did you get?
so you have a near perfect design, my question is after installing , your e-brake handle would probably not pull all the way up, how did you put your console back together....reach your hands under and fasten the piece with the self tapping screws??
I forced it on and the brush like insert around the parking brake broke. If I had to do it again (should do the same for my wife’s JKU), I’d loosen the tension at the drums.
@@EricCantin ty for quick reply....i was thinking maybe you can put the console on without bolting and get your hands up in there and tighten down the self tapping bolts(pre-drill holes of course)...i wonder if jb weld would be strong enough, i don't think there would be very much stress on the bolts...also unless i am crazy your angle is about 130 degrees...not 60....:)....very good job and great vid i am going to try this.....you seem to have lots of order requests...lol
The console is bulky and awkward. Everything is doable if you’re persistent.
JB weld may work. That has saved me a few times in the past.
As for angle, I likely meant bent it up +/-60 degrees. But I tend to say weird things here and there. 😀
You can just hold the tab back with safety wire
Maybe. Would need to rig it in a way that it won’t move when parking brake engaged, since the tab will move once you pull on the lever, and want it to release to the correct spot.
You should sell those!
I should look into how to do simple fabrication of them.
I wish someone would make these, its such a simple, cheap fix to a shitty design.
After a lifetime of working on vehicles (not jeep), I have never come across a more complicated USELESS dangerous, and unreliable system very badly engineered. A simple adjusting screw on the short cable would suffice and quality cables that do not stretch as much. Another improvement would be to look at the mechanical advantage mechanism in the brake drum which would require less tension on the cables My Toyota surf is 32 years old and has never had an issue with the cables stretching
Got a standard. Absolutely dangerous not working holding.
Can u make me one? Will pay
Sorry. Got too much on the go to fabricate these.
Really aggravating but for 53 dollars will buy a new brake lever. If it won't do it then it's the rigged springs not this crazy home made part.