CapnJack Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 works similar regular drum brakes... the cog turns one click when you use the brakes in reverse. The cog is there is make up for brake pad wear....which your e-brake pads should not be wearing at all unless you do stupid human tricks or forget to dis-engage it all the time. The cable does stretch though, especially in the first year. That's where you want to take out the slack. Don't mess with the cog. I pulled the disk/drums off the back of my 07 LGT this past weekend to inspect the rear brakes and found out there is no adjuster for the cog. It appears this is strickly a manual adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 It's there.. you just didn't find it. If you aren't 110% sure what you are doing when it comes to brakes... DON'T TOUCH THEM. you'll DIAF My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJack Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 I know exactly what I'm doing and there is no adjuster to be found. The only thing that could even be considered an adjuster is the spring that holds the bottom of the shoes together but only because it's in close proximity of the cog wheel. Typical drum brakes have a piece of metal that hooks under the shoe hold down spring and rides on the cog wheel and is adjusted by a cable adjustment mechanism. None of this is found on the Legacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Part number 1301 - General Description.pdf My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derkahn Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 do you guys just pull the leather boot back (do you just pull it of or is there a bolt,pop nut something to get it off) ? or do you have to take off the center armrest console thingy to get at the adjuster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTATV Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 do you guys just pull the leather boot back (do you just pull it of or is there a bolt,pop nut something to get it off) ? or do you have to take off the center armrest console thingy to get at the adjuster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 If I remember correctly, the leather is stapled and glued to a piece of plastic trim that just snaps on and off. So yeah, just pull the leather till the plastic cnaps off. i think My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTATV Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 i think famous last words Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJack Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Part number 13 I was speaking about an auto adjuster (adjusting lever in attached photo) for the cog wheel adjuster. The parking brake shoes do not automatically adjust themselves to compensate for wear similar to a traditional brake shoe setup, thus making the parking brake adjustment strictly manual with a screwdriver through the access hole. Reduces complexity, provides service opportunities for the dealers, and saves costs for Subaru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 It IS a parking brake after all... shouldn't really see wear of the pads... EVER My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJack Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 That cog is supposed to index itself through regular driving. No it won't. After double checking with some other car guys...you really shouldn't mess with those cogs except as a last resort. To index the cox manually, you simply set the parking brake lightly, and then drive forward and backward a few times. Each change in direction indexes the cog one turn...starting with the backing. On a traditional drum brake setup, this is correct, but on the Legacy's setup it won't work. works similar regular drum brakes... the cog turns one click when you use the brakes in reverse. The cog is there is make up for brake pad wear....which your e-brake pads should not be wearing at all unless you do stupid human tricks or forget to dis-engage it all the time. The cable does stretch though, especially in the first year. That's where you want to take out the slack. Don't mess with the cog. On this setup, you may need to adjust both if you use the e-brake to do stupid human tricks or forget to dis-engage it all the time. The cog will not turn by itself. If you aren't 110% sure what you are doing when it comes to brakes... DON'T TOUCH THEM. you'll DIAF I whole heartily agree on this statement. That's why I made my first post in this thread is because there is no self adjuster on the parking brakes on this car. The adjustment is stricktly manual. To recap. The only way to adjust the parking brakes on this car is with the cable or with the cog wheel with a screw driver. The brakes will NOT automatically adjust themselves while driving the car. If you only use the parking brakes to park and not to slow down, the cable can be adjusted to accomidate for stretch. If you use the brake for slowing down, you may need to adjust the cog wheel as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonklein611 Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 (edited) works similar regular drum brakes... the cog turns one click when you use the brakes in reverse. The cog is there is make up for brake pad wear....which your e-brake pads should not be wearing at all unless you do stupid human tricks or forget to dis-engage it all the time. The cable does stretch though, especially in the first year. That's where you want to take out the slack. Don't mess with the cog. To replace rotors it's necessary to back the cog off the rotor so you can get the rotor off. Other than that, the cog should auto adjust, just do some hard reversing and stop. each stop should tighten the parking brake a lil bit. Or at least thats what it tells you to do in the repair manual... And you should NEVER use the handbrake to stop a moving car, use the pedal in the middle (or left peddle for the AETs). Locking the rear wheels in an AWD = bad news bears. Edited November 3, 2008 by jonklein611 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJack Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 To replace rotors it's necessary to back the cog off the rotor so you can get the rotor off. Other than that, the cog should auto adjust, just do some hard reversing and stop. each stop should tighten the parking brake a lil bit. Or at least thats what it tells you to do in the repair manual... And you should NEVER use the handbrake to stop a moving car, use the pedal in the middle (or left peddle for the AETs). Locking the rear wheels in an AWD = bad news bears. Unless something has changed recently in the design, the parking brake will NOT auto adjust itself by backing up. There is no auto adjustment mechanism! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 To replace rotors it's necessary to back the cog off the rotor so you can get the rotor off. No you don't My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonklein611 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 When I pulled my last set of rotors off, I had to back it off to remove the old rotors. I'll look up the procedure in my haynes manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Mine were a bit hard to get off when I put my big rotor kit on... but then I dis-engaged the E-brake and they practically fell off My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derkahn Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 did it , pull up on the front of the boot the clips near the center of the console pop up easily, the ones close to the seat may need a little wrestling. I ended up sticking a flathead down there to open up the clip as the ones close to the seat look like they might break if you force them. it is a 10mm nut , I only tightened it about 4 full turns and now it is only 4-5 clicks to full e-brake. where as before it was 8-9, nice and tight now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 see.. not so bad My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT.legacy Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 (edited) i dont know if anyone has said this already but if anyone doesnt get it, i just adjusted mine. when you lift up the arm rest, there are 2 screws where the latch for the arm rest is, take those off and pop open the thing u just unscrewed. put the ebrake down and you should now be looking at the nut, it is on your side. take off the top nut and tighten the bottom one to around 4-5 clicks and then put the top one back on. i went from 21 clicks to 4 clicks ;] but i kinda did it wrong first and broke the top section of the bolt off, but then tightened it, now im good. *bd5 legacy's, mines a 1998 in case anyone is wondering* Edited December 18, 2008 by GT.legacy bd5 only Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 nice diagram. I must stop using my ebrake to initiate oversteer at slower speeds... I must watch too many rally vids. I'm sure your centre diff just loves you Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN 2.5i Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Just did the parking brake adjustment today - just as described, turning the wheel behind the grommet. Worked great. E-brake lever now engages where it should again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polo08816 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 in my last car i pulled lots of e-brakes ( i was young and restless). After a while the brake stopped engaging. Can someone explain what was happening? I kind of have an understanding of whats going on reading this tread but not completely. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAMMER DOWN Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 (edited) To add to all this info. Their is 3 cable nut adjusters under the center console. 1) The main cable nut adjuster in under the parking brake boot. Which can be removed with out removing the center console. 2) & 3) cable nut adjusters is under the center console & must be removed. These two adjust the DS & PS rear parking brakes cable separately. To recap, 1) hooks into 2) & 3), then they hook into the DS & PS rear parking brakes. You can pull a hell of a lot of cable slack out, without pulling the rear wheels. Mike Edited October 31, 2010 by HAMMER DOWN Mileage:331487 Retired/Sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julianfast Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 I also just did the adjustment. Popped off the little panel by gently inserting a flat blade screwdriver in the crack between it and the console and gently working it free. Turns out there is not much risk of breaking any flimsy snaps. They are pretty heavy duty. A 10 mm wrench is the right one. I overtighened it the first time. A couple of turns tightens it quite a bit. Of course, I didn't check the forum first so I started removing the entire console and now a I'm short one screw which is going to be rolling around under the console forever! Anyway, so this didn't solve the problem I was trying to solve which was the brake light never goes off. I suspect the parking brake switch since I have fluid and the brakes otherwise work well. Anyone have any ideas on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julianfast Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 So, I fiddled with the switch under the hand brake and the light went off momentarily. I figured it was a bad connection so I tried cleaning the contact. No luck it looks like this switch only controls the DRL which seem to be fuctioning fine. So, I don't think this switch is bad. Is there some other switch that tells the car if the parking brake is on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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