After 3 trips to the dealer and minor cable adjustments and nothing working (Parking Brake Holding) I decided on a different route. I replaced my rear disc pads, turned the rear rotors (fronts are fine) and while working the rears took off the rotor to find a good bit of mud inside the inner drum. The parking brake drum and the shoes it uses are HUGE and setup very similar to old school truck drum brakes. Well the shoes were not too worn, but a little but the rotor was dirty and rusty. They were sanded down real good (NOT TURNED) that is not allowed on parking brakes (unless you did it yourself I guess), well long story short, after cleaning everything up and using the PB it's better than it was brand new, just a little tug now and that baby holds. I have to give credit to Just Brakes for their honesty, being the type to always do my own work I had to get it done due to time and my job but they talked shop with me, showed me every step they took and I'm just happy to have Parking Brakes that work now.

EDIT: Ensure the Parking Brake star adjuster is adjusted the correct amount to accomodate at least a 1/2 handle pull/holding parking brake.

Word to the wise, ABSOLUTELY stick the power wash nozzle (wear safety goggles) in the parking brake cable entrance to the hub to rinse out (best you can) any dirt, mud, salt-water, whatever your into. The caked up mud is especially worse because it acts as a rotating abrasive over time deteriorating the PkBk's ability to hold. Better yet just stay out of the mud when possible

Hopefully this will help the do it yourselfers get your PBs working again.

 

Thank you sir and your question is a great one that I should have mentioned. My dealership adjusted the star mechanism to grab better and even with that my handle was coming up almost vertical as you mentioned. Not sure if the cleaning the mud out along with the sanding did the trick but 1/2 PB handle this Jeep doesn't budget on a reverse incline. It would always hold going forward by the physics of the drum parking brake design but not in Reverse on an incline. Having a manual of course I put it in 1st gear but still if ever I lost all of my driveshafts on a mountain side and had to make this puppy stop, well w/o a working parking brake I'd be up a creek...well probably in it rather.

So yes you should clean, sand, re-adjust accordingly to get the prober 1/2 handle PB. I say 1/2 handle because most I've heard that have working PB's only use 1/2 handle along with every vehicle I've owned with a console PB.

 

glad it worked out for ya! my fix involved wiping the pads down and the inside of the rotor and rotating the star wheel until the rotor's fit snug (not tight)... mine holds like a champ