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Adjusting "Parking brake" and removing center console

244K views 89 replies 49 participants last post by  Dr. Dyno 
#1 ·
Hello to everyone!! hope my post would be very helpful to anybody who likes to work and mod their ravs especially to those who would like to maintain their precious ones,.
First of. since we bought our first suv, i've complained about the parking brake being too weak. my mom drives an 06 corolla ce and i have compared both brakes. At the first scheduled maintenance i told my service advisor about it. after picking it up, he told me that they cannot adjust it and the brakes are new and made up of ceramics and other stuff, you guys know how some service advisor be like if they are too lazy or to busy doing some other repairs other than adjusting brakes, well heck
me too! and after about one year later i decided to adjust it myself since i cannot find any posts here:
its relatively quite simple
First Take out the coin pocket/window adjuster (sorry i dont know the term and i'm calling it by the name of its purpose)

Update: Pictures can be found here:
http://www.rav4world.com/forums/members/albums/30206-ravaboy/console-disassembly-8481.html

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carefully lift the assembly, notice that wire harness underneath, unplug it

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you are going to see underneath the "parking" brake adjustment screws that hold the cable to the lever

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loosen the top nut that locks the bottom adjusting nut then adjust the lower nut to your desired setting, both are 10mm
i've done this while the lever is not engaged and i adjusted it to 5-7 clicks, the stock setting was like beyond 9 and i did not pulled it up further or i may end up with not parking brake at all, believe me i've seen it happen, but not on my rav4 on some friend's car.

now to remove your center console (if you still has the motivation and powa to do so)

First step this is the most critical part of the removal process!


Underneath the center console compartment remove the cover to reveal 2-10 mm nuts that hold the console to the body

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then pry the kick panels on the center console

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next are the side panels, i found an easy way to do it, grab on the bottom at the end then carefully pull it up, then pull towards the rear(note there are still clips on the front)



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next remove the gear selector cover, the ones that has the PRNDL on it, carefully pry it at both sides and lift it up, there would be wire harness underneath carefully unplug it



next remove the black "thing" with the 12v accessory plug (sorry dont know what it is called but hey! thats why we got pictures to look at! grab on top then carefully pull, there will be another harness underneath unplug it duh!!



next is the center console cup holder, it is secured by two screws then pry it upward


then unscrew the console remember the grey sidings that were removed earlier, on the posts will be two screws on both sides


then unplug the harness that goes inside for the aux and that extra 12v accessory plug, also the wire harness is http://rav4world.com/forums/posting.php
RAV4World - :: Post a new topicheld on the side inside the console, pry it out



when lifting or removing the whole console, raise or engage the parking brake.

pics of the center without the console notice the air bag sensor, i removed the 3-12mm nuts that hold it i dont know but i got curious that underneath there may have some rat or cockroach nest hiding that i did not know, now is the best time to detail and clean those hard to reach areas on your console and also on the carpet and some dirt that may have passed through your parking lever cover
as usuall assembly is just the opposite of the removal, just dont forget the screws and nuts of which ones goes where.




hope this post may help others, as like some posts helped me maintain/avoid potential problems that may arise taking care of our precious rides.

Console disassembly disassemble console remove console shift lever shift knob cupholder mirror control
 
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#2 ·
Well, thanks for taking the time to do a write-up with pics. But I, like perhaps many others, rarely use my parking brake with an auto tranny. Even if I did, I wouldn't think that it would get out of adjustment very easily.
 
#3 ·
thanks for the reply, but i got accustomed to using my e-brake when i park,
i usually put it on neutral then the parking brake then shift up to Park.
i dont know but i like the extra security in case i parked on an inclined road or drive way. bcoz sometimes i noticed that when i just put the gear selector on park, when parking on an inclined road, but when i get back to the car, i noticed it is hard move the gear selector to drive,
 
#5 ·
mkperceptions said:
or you could have done the parking brake adjustment the correct way..... in the drum in disc assembly in the rear.
I agree.

The emergency brake shoes are not self adjusting. When the shoes wear and the lever starts to travel too far (too many clicks) it's a sign that you need to adjust the star wheels in back, NOT remove cable slack up front under the console.

Once you readjust the star wheels, your lever travel will be restored to the original setting.

Ravaboy.... if you adjust your brake shoes correctly in back, you will certainly find that the front cable is now too tight, and the brakes will drag as you drive. Then you will have to open up the console and put everything back the way it was before. At least you know how now....
 
#6 ·
Ravaboy;

As others have said, I'm not sure this is the best way to adjust for slack in the cable, but I really wanted to say what a good job you did in your writeup.

I used to belong to the Escape/Tribute forum where writeups like this were more common, but I rarely see anyone do this on the RAV4 forum.

I may never adjust my brakes in the way you described, but your procedure along with the photos will make it a breeze if I ever want to add a switch for some accessory to the console.

Thanks for your work, and I hope you and others continue to provide these procedures in the future.

Rick
 
#8 ·
RAV4Don said:
Well, thanks for taking the time to do a write-up with pics. But I, like perhaps many others, rarely use my parking brake with an auto tranny. Even if I did, I wouldn't think that it would get out of adjustment very easily.
That is a really lousy idea (not to use BOTH parking break and the tranny in P). I've seen a couple of cases that the transmission (don't ask how, I do not know) shifted to N (or somehow disengaged) and the car went on rolling...

(in one case, the car went across the street, up the curb, over some grass and then 2 meters downhill and into someone's apartment, quite a sight).

When the firefighters came, the car was locked and the key was not in the ignition. Somehow the car tranny did not keep the car parked.

BTW: there was no significant slope (other than the final 2 m drop), and the car was a honda accord (so, it wasn't some cheap crappy car).
 
#9 ·
cpotoso said:
That is a really lousy idea (not to use BOTH parking break and the tranny in P).
I wouldn't characterize it as a "lousy idea", perhaps exceptionally common and very typical for those who drive auto tranny vehicles. :D Frankly, I think it is understandably rare to use the parking brake and mostly unnecessary, except is some special parking situations. When I drive my cars with manuals I use the parking brake.
 
#10 ·
mkperceptions said:
or you could have done the parking brake adjustment the correct way..... in the drum in disc assembly in the rear.
:twisted: +100,000,000 that is the only way a parking brake should be adjusted by adjusting the rear drum shoes.Anything else is just dangerous and a waste of time...The write up you did is great dont get me wrong and I like all the pics you posted but please dont adjust your brakes that way its nothing but trouble. :shock:
 
#11 ·
thanks for the input guys, any comments and suggestions are welcome, i got no problem with that, we are here to learn and teach. i know we all started as noobs, and failures are just doors to accomplishments once overcome
so i decided to update my posting earlier. so this afternoon i removed my rear tires to really adjust the parking brake, hope this pics shows how its supposed to be done





first i loosened the adjusting nuts on the lever to its orig settings, then removed both rear wheels.
i removed the rubber plug to reveal a hole which you can adjust through it the star wheels.
sorry bout the last pic, i was trying to make a shot at the star wheel adjuster but unfortunately i dont have a mini camera,
i found it by rotating the disc so that the hole is in the bottom part, i used a flathead screw driver to push the star.
adjustment is like adjusting a rear drum brake car but the hole is in the front facing you not on the back like most old cars.
i was into hondas b4 i got this car their parking brake was self adjusting so i did not have problems with the parking i just have to adjust the slack on the cable at the lever.
 
#46 ·
:thumbs_up:
thanks for the input guys, any comments and suggestions are welcome, i got no problem with that, we are here to learn and teach. i know we all started as noobs, and failures are just doors to accomplishments once overcome
so i decided to update my posting earlier. so this afternoon i removed my rear tires to really adjust the parking brake, hope this pics shows how its supposed to be done





first i loosened the adjusting nuts on the lever to its orig settings, then removed both rear wheels.
i removed the rubber plug to reveal a hole which you can adjust through it the star wheels.
sorry bout the last pic, i was trying to make a shot at the star wheel adjuster but unfortunately i dont have a mini camera,
i found it by rotating the disc so that the hole is in the bottom part, i used a flathead screw driver to push the star.
adjustment is like adjusting a rear drum brake car but the hole is in the front facing you not on the back like most old cars.
i was into hondas b4 i got this car their parking brake was self adjusting so i did not have problems with the parking i just have to adjust the slack on the cable at the lever.
 
#12 ·
Those pics are fine. Some words of caution...

You must run the adjusters in tight until the drum/ rotor can't be rotated with gentle hand pressure. You can use a pry bar or tire iron in the wheel studs to move the drum around... or you may not be able to move it back to where the hole lines up otherwise.

Then back off the adjusters about 10 clicks to provide correct clearance. You do NOT want the shoes to drag while driving or you will burn them up in a few weeks.

The adjusters are right and left side specific, with opposite threads, so be aware of this. Going the wrong way just wastes time and makes you swear.

It's most important to clean and lube these adjusters when you do a brake job - I like silver anti-seize. They commonly freeze up and then you have more fooling around to get them to move.

When you install new rotors, you will then have new surfaces for the emergency brake shoes, and they will have to either be adjusted, filed and shimmed to match the new smaller diameter, or replaced with new shoes. The latter is a far better option since the shoes and drum will match perfectly and word perfectly. Old shoes in a new drum.... nope! They NEVER work like new.

New shoes ought to be bedded in for them to work 100% - you need to drive at 20 mph for half a mile with the brake engaged half way, then release and let them cool. Repeat half a dozen times and they should work great. Now you are ready for handbrake turns!

Of course, if you never use your emergency brake, it never wears the shoes or drum, and the drum size on a new rotor doesn't matter ;)

BTW, I have never seen a self adjusting drum type emergency brake. Is the Honda a caliper type or drum? I much prefer a caliper type - one black mark for Toyota! Drum brakes suck.
 
#13 ·
John E Davies said:
BTW, I have never seen a self adjusting drum type emergency brake. Is the Honda a caliper type or drum? I much prefer a caliper type - one black mark for Toyota! Drum brakes suck.
My 67 Vette had drum style parking brake pads even with Delco-Moraine full floating all wheel disc brakes. And let me tell you I will never forget it because they were such a bear to replace. :wall
 
#14 ·
Parking brake

I recommend, even if parking on level surfaces 100% of the time, to apply the parking brake every now and then. (especially in the winter time - cold slushy wet weather etc.)

That would help ensure the hardware and cables get a "little exercise" so that when you really really need it - it'll work!

:idea: One little tip - be careful after driving in really wet weather when freezing temps are expected. It only takes a little moisture to freeze in cables or brake assemblies to lock them up tight! When I'm finished for the day - I NEVER set the parking brake under those conditions. :idea:

Lesson learned with another car ... drove to the airport on a rainy afternoon in February .. returned from trip and found parking brake cable frozen up tight after sitting at an airport parking lot in upstate NY for 3 days of sub-zero weather! :(
 
#16 ·
i never imagine that a lot of people would be looking at my post since it its my first time to try to post something, thanks for all the input you guys made.
yeah probably i hope this one goes to the sticky icky! :)
Yeah the honda i drive is an si has 4 wheel disc brake it has the caliper type, you start off by just loosening the adj. nut on the lever, then stepping on the brake (while engine running) sev times so the parking brake mechanism on the back adjusts, then u can adjust the nuts on the lever, thats how the manual says,
i agree it sucks that i have to peep inside that tiny hole just see where the star wheels are and i think when you do a brake job on the rears u have to clean and inspect both linings then still have to adjust the parking brake :x

also the principle on adjusting brake drums are almost the same for all, i remember our family once had an old school vw beetle and it has drum brakes on all 4 wheels imagine that! and we always, when we change shoes we re-surface the drum or replace it when it nearing its min thickness.

here in vegas we dont experince sub zero temps so i guess freezing lines is not a prob just the high temps these brakes experience during stop and go traffic
 
#17 ·
RAVABOY said:
i agree it sucks that i have to peep inside that tiny hole just see where the star wheels are and i think when you do a brake job on the rears u have to clean and inspect both linings then still have to adjust the parking brake
I NEVER understood why the engineers keep designing a drum type emergency brake on new vehicles - they are excessively "labor intensive". Brake shoes are so... 20th century.
 
#18 ·
Oh my God! Did you take the center console apart for any particular reason? Most of the garages I went to in the past adjusted the hand brake by simply accessing the cable right behind the handle.... As for the adjustment at the drum end, that is typically done when they replace the drum cylinders.

Cheers.
 
#21 ·
John E Davies said:
RAVABOY said:
i agree it sucks that i have to peep inside that tiny hole just see where the star wheels are and i think when you do a brake job on the rears u have to clean and inspect both linings then still have to adjust the parking brake
I NEVER understood why the engineers keep designing a drum type emergency brake on new vehicles - they are excessively "labor intensive". Brake shoes are so... 20th century.
:twisted: Yes but the rears are drum/disks so they are pretty state of the art because they have both designs in one.
 
#22 ·
BAZRAV4 said:
Oh my God! Did you take the center console apart for any particular reason? Most of the garages I went to in the past adjusted the hand brake by simply accessing the cable right behind the handle.... As for the adjustment at the drum end, that is typically done when they replace the drum cylinders.

Cheers.
:twisted: The adjustment at the handle is the improper way of adjusting the slack the proper way is to adjust the star wheel in the drum.This not only for cylinder replacement it is the way and only the way a qualified tech will adjust the rears.If you where to do it by the handle you would be fired in any shop ive ever worked at.Once again this is a great write up and it should be a sticky that way people know the proper way of adjusting the shoes and they also know the improper way once this thread goes away you will have people asking how to do it and if they should have the dealer do this instead of maybe being able to do it themselfs.
 
#23 ·
#25 ·
John E Davies said:
Those pics are fine. Some words of caution...

You must run the adjusters in tight until the drum/ rotor can't be rotated with gentle hand pressure. You can use a pry bar or tire iron in the wheel studs to move the drum around... or you may not be able to move it back to where the hole lines up otherwise.

Then back off the adjusters about 10 clicks to provide correct clearance. You do NOT want the shoes to drag while driving or you will burn them up in a few weeks.

The adjusters are right and left side specific, with opposite threads, so be aware of this. Going the wrong way just wastes time and makes you swear.
Which way is tighter when rotating the star thru the hole? -- up or down?
 
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