You need to loosen the mounting points for the e-brake handle, remove two of them (IIRC) and tilt the handle while pulling the console up and forward. I did it alone, with help it might work better.

 

i might look into this today. after looking at it, it looks way harder if you leave the seats in.. no room to work at all. such a pain to remove the front seats just for a simple check.. still trying to talk myself into it.

i have to check how to get the 2 shift knobs off. every says just pull.. but i dunno. i dont want them loose when i put them back on either.

 

20,000 miles on this 2007 Jeep. I expect brakes have never been touched.

I started on the console and gave up quick. I knew I would break all the clips and get new scratches and it just wasn't worth it. But I did get a small glimpse into the shift knob assembly:





Then I got a couple pics of the assembly as best I could. The first pic is thru the tiny latch hole for the compartment. The brake itself doesnt not use a mini cable. That entire metal mass there swings to pull the only parking cable. The 2nd pic is from the front, thru the brushes.





I then jacked it up by the rear end, put a couple jack stands near the frame rails just in case, and removed the wheels.

Next, I removed the two 1/2" floating caliper bolts. You need to hold that outer nut with a 15mm wrench also:



Bungee's work awesome to hang calipers:



My rear pads look pretty good, no need to change them really..



Next, I unbolted the 18mm larger caliper mounting bracket bolts:



Caliper bracket was then removed with the pads still in it:



Rotor off. Looks decent. You can barely feel any difference in the parking brake contact area.



The parking brake cable comes in at the front end of the rotor:



The cable pulls on this device which forces the two shoes apart, pressing them into the inner rotor surface. The dual blue springs are very important, and they make sure the parking brake releases fully and doesnt drag:



Next, you see the rear end of the rotor, which has the adjusting star mechanism:



Pics of how much parking brake shoe material I have left. Probably almost the same as new:





The yellow spring is very tight, and keeps the star from turning by itself by accident. You can see how it fits perfectly into one of the valleys between the notches:



I figured out which direction lengthened the adjuster and moved both sides out to show another couple threads. I was taught by a auto-master in the early 90's how to adjust the stars. I took the rotor off to do it. I adjusted it out until I could just shove the rotor back on. This gave a nice bit of friction but its not dragging constantly.

Here is a full shot of the ABS sensor and probe. On the front wheel, that is what gathers the speedometer info. That is why you dont need to recalibrate the speedo if you change gears, but not tires:



Reinstalled everything.

Torqued the caliper bracket bolts to 55 ft lb. (56 to be safe)



Torqued the smaller caliper bolts to 26 ft lbs.



I dont even know if the extra 2 threads on each side made a difference in my parking brake lever. Maybe very slightly. Before I can pull 5 clicks pretty easily and the 6th click was pretty hard. Now, I can do 4 pretty easily, and the 5th is pretty hard. Lot of work for not much difference, but every click counts.

 

Nice pictures, plac!

 

Is that a NAPA 3/8" torque wrench?

 

no,i dont have anything napa. its a cheap one tho. i have a 3/8" ft lb, a 3/8" inch lb, and a 1/2" foot lb.

 

its pretty obvious that the slipping is what causes these parking brake cables to snap. every time it slips it is wearing down a little more. something about the path is not smooth enough. kinda sucks, when you are just waiting for it to brake someday, maybe at a bad time when you need it! i have a warranty on this thing, but i'd probably rather replace it myself for peace of mind if i ever need to. i gotta find out how much a parking brake assembly runs to see if i would pay for it.

on a side note.. the adjustment is indeed perfect now. 3 clicks gets it real tight. 4 gets it unmoveable. 5 is impossible. of course.. every time you adjust it, you are just adding more pressure to the wear point.

 

The brake assembly is a lot cheaper than i thought??

Mechanical Catalog - 2009 - Jeep - Wrangler
Brakes, Parking brake, Parking brake control, Parking brake control, wrangler

$37.55 at dontfearthejeeper

for that price, i'd prob buy it just for a fun job. i bet they dont start slipping for at least 10k miles.

 

Looks similar to the Napa 3/8" ft/lbs one I have, one of the better torque wrenches i've used so far and it wasnt expensive.

 

my brake is perfect now, and its 3-4 clicks..

but i already ordered a new handbrake assy and twin cables. about $80 + shipping for everything. I wont be replacing anything since its perfect. but it will be good to keep the spares in case i ever need them.