Parking brake woes, 300SDL

[cmac2012]

The emergency brake only half worked the first few years I had this car. I sat it for long periods while it was waiting work.

It's running really well now and I have found myself in spots parking on something of a hill where I really wanted that parking brake.

I replaced rear drum brake shoes plenty of times on other rigs back in the day, but never got into one of those tiny drum brakes on a rear rotor. I bought Kent's special tool and DIY video. Worth the purchase price.

At one point, he recommended having an assistant work the pedal while you watched the mechanism at the back in action. I had no helper nearby so I propped up my cell phone and in a cardboard box and took a video. The passenger side seemed to work better than the driver side, but I eventually decided it was OK. Now I'm not so sure.

The rotors were in bad shape, Pick and Pull had a 1990 420SEL, the rear rotors were both nice on that one. While I was at it, I looked at the little activator cam and the cable, the last part of the cable going down to the E brake. I tried to take it out, but oh my God, it would be a challenge.

I got it all together back today and it was a serious letdown. First time out they didn't work at all. I took the wheels off and dialed each adjusting gear quite a bit. They had been so tight to fit over the drum, I didn't think it would need adjusting, but it did.

Even then it did not grab well. So I found an adjusting bolt for the cable tension and got it pretty tight. It still doesn't work well and the pedal pressure feels abnormal. I'm afraid I'm going to break something before too long if I use it like this.

This is just a little bit daunting. New cables are available, but oh my God putting that in will be one hell of a job. Cap'n Ahab had his Moby Dick, I sometimes fear a Waterloo moment on an old car - the job you can't quite do and can't justify spending two grand to have done.