Concorde parking break problem

I have a 2000 Chrysler Concorde LXi that I bought recently (with 4
wheel discs & ABS). Having gotten it I discovered that the parking
brake did not work. Thus I took off rear discs and discovered that
somebody took out ALL the parking brake stuff (shoes, levers, hardware
-- only parking brake cables remained in place). Parking cables
appeared to move freely and were NOT frozen in place.

Thus I bought parking brake shoes and hardware from a local auto parts
store as well as levers from the dealer. Having put it all together, I
discovered that the disc did not want to go back on because the inside
was too rusted. Hence I bought new discs.

New discs went on easily, however, they slightly drag at one spot when
I turn the wheel by hand on both sides. I was wondering if the parking
shoes for the front and rear were different. As the box contained no
instructions as to how to differentiate the shoes (front and rear), I
visually inspected them and they looked the same to me.

I drove the car like this for a few miles at highway speeds and the
rear discs were pretty hot (hotter than they normally are, though not
extremely hot). I was wondering whether this is normal and the pads
will simply "break in", or there is a problem.

NOTE: the starwheel adjuster is backed up all the way (i.e. smallest
diameter of shoes possible). I used the shop manual for the
installation -- it says that I have to get 117mm diameter of the shoes
-- I got it in that vicinity, but it is hard to measure because of the
spindle getting in the way (and I really did not want to remove it). I
also scraped as much rust as possible from all the points where shoes
rub, and lubricated those points generously with caliper lube.

Just was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/suggestions.

 

The forward and rearward parking brake shoes are the same. The only
reason the forward and rearward shoes on traditional drum service brakes
are different (different materials, different thicknesses) is their
regenerative action (i.e., lever effect), and one of the shoes is doing
95+% of the real braking work when the service brakes are being used,
while the other shoe is only effective when the parking brake is applied
(and therefore sees essentially no wear at all).

The LH car parking brake is dedicated to the parking brake use only - so
no need to make the two shoes different.

Not unusual. If you are not feeling warped rotor-type pulsation in the
brakes, then fuggedaboudit. Since they are new discs, you might assume
that they are true (though people have been known to get bad new ones).
The only other thing to check if your brakes are in fact pulsating
(and you do not indicate that they are), is to insure that there is no
rust or dirt between hub and rotor causing rotor tilt.

One other thing: Did you clean the rotors off with soap and water and/or
brake parts cleaner? Many come with a corrosion-preventive coating that
must be removed - if not removed it can contaminate your pads and cause
problems.

Even casual driving will make the brakes hot enough that you don't want
to put your hands on them. The calipers and slides on these cars are
very reliable, so, as long as you installed them correctly, I suspect
the heat you're feeling is normal, but only you can determine that.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Thank you very much for your reply.

Yes, I cleaned them off with brake cleaner before putting them on.
There is no pulsation of any kind, brakes work nicely -- I was just
concerned a bit about the extra heat -- they "drum part" of the disc
gets hotter than on my other LH cars, but not that hot that I can't
keep my finger on it.

BTW, I really enjoy reading your other posts about LH cars. I was
especially interested in the one where you described freeplay in the
driver's side driveshaft coming out of the differential. The reason I
came across this post was because I was alarmed by the same freeplay
on one of my LH cars. After having spent a lot of time looking through
the shop manual and trying to understand the reason for this freeplay
I discovered that it was perfectly normal. It is not indicative of the
ring gear assembly being loose -- the shaft connects to the small
spider gears inside the ring gear assembly. Since the wheels don't
turn fast relative to each other, the ring gear to side gear
transmission does not have to be precise -- hence, given the small
length of the passenger side driveshaft, Chrysler allowed it to be
loose within the ring gear assembly supported only by the oil seal on
the side of the differential... The reason driver's side shaft does
not have this freeplay is because due to the length of the shaft,
Chrysler installed an additional bearing to support the shaft where it
comes out of the transmission housing (you cannot see the other side
of the differntial as the bell housing of the transmission covers it
-- the driveshaft goes through the bell housing).

Since then I bought 2 other LH vehicles and they also both have
"freeplay" in the passenger side driveshaft .

Once again, many thanks for your reply,

Alex

 

You're welcome - and thank *you*!

Thanks for confirming about the free play. This is one thing the
internet is good for. If you were to rely on just reading the shop
manual, you'd conclude that the bearing was either failing or needed
adjusting.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I say don't worry about it. They'll wear down until they're a little
cooler-running. You can't really hurt them, because you're not going to use
them in motion anyway. Wear, roundness, and all that aren't a
consideration.