2000 gr Caravan , awful parking brake design!

From : wayne smith

Q: i just replaced the rear rotors and pads on my 2000 awd le caravan and the parking brakes are hosed they froze up and made the rotor replacement extremely difficult they are drum type on the inside rotor hub blah i had the pound the rotors with a maul and then gear j type pullers just to get em off and the p brake is not usable same on both sidesmonro wants $200 to replace em i havent checked with the dealer yet . any comments on this type of p break.............wayne .

Replies:

From : wayne smith

both true statements but dont forget to blame the damn winters we have here in western ny we use a lot salt.i bought the car last year and the parking brakes were hanging up then. the van has 80k miles on it. i try to use p brakes most of the time i dont remember if p brakes are a ny inspection item but ill get them fixed anyway.....cheers all.............wayne .

From : denny

i just replaced the rear rotors and pads on my 2000 awd le caravan and the parking brakes are hosed they froze up and made the rotor replacement extremely difficult they are drum type on the inside rotor hub blah i had the pound the rotors with a maul and then gear j type pullers just to get em off and the p brake is not usable same on both sidesmonro wants $200 to replace em i havent checked with the dealer yet . any comments on this type of p break.............wayne if you use them once in a while they dont rust up near as bad. denny .

From : neil nelson

wayne smith wsmith5@rochester.rr.com wrote i just replaced the rear rotors and pads on my 2000 awd le caravan and the parking brakes are hosed they froze up and made the rotor replacement extremely difficult they are drum type on the inside rotor hub blah i had the pound the rotors with a maul and then gear j type pullers just to get em off and the p brake is not usable same on both sidesmonro wants $200 to replace em i havent checked with the dealer yet . any comments on this type of p break.............wayne comments in general... ....if the parking brake had been integrated into the caliper which is the other way its usually done with rear disc brakes it too would have frozen up due to lack of use. main difference is that you be spending a whole lot more money on parts and labor getting it fixed. you might want to make it a habit of using the parking brake more often and pay closer attention to having the cables and linkage lubricated properly at maintenance time. .

From : slick willy

wayne smith wsmith5@rochester.rr.com wrote in both true statements but dont forget to blame the damn winters we have here in western ny we use a lot salt.i bought the car last year and the parking brakes were hanging up then. the van has 80k miles on it. i try to use p brakes most of the time i dont remember if p brakes are a ny inspection item but ill get them fixed anyway.....cheers all.............wayne it is ... -- regards slick willy 73 cb 450 95 xj 600 99 dakota 03 flstf mtfbwy ... always !!! remove the bendover to reply .