Parking Brakes
The parking brakes consist of the following components.
- Hand-operated parking brake lever - automatic adjusting.
- Parking brake cables.
- Actuation levers and struts.
- Duo-servo parking brake assembly (rear disc only).
All models are equipped with a center-mounted, hand-operated parking brake lever mounted between the front seats. This lever is an automatic adjusting type that continuously applies minimal tension to the parking brake cables to keep them in adjustment at all times. The parking brake lever has a short output cable with an equalizer bracket attached to it that connects to the parking brake cables. The output cable can only be serviced as part of the parking brake lever. There is an individual parking brake cable for each rear wheel that joins a parking brake cable equalizer, attached to the parking brake lever, to the rear parking brakes. The parking brake cables are made of flexible steel cable. Both rear drum brakes and rear disc brakes use the same parking brake cable configuration, but cables are different. On vehicles with rear drum brakes, the rear wheel brakes also act as the vehicle's parking brakes. The rear drum brake shoes, when acting as parking brakes, are mechanically operated using an internal actuating lever and strut connected to the flexible steel parking brake cable. The parking brakes on vehicles equipped with rear disc brakes consist of a small duo-servo brake assembly mounted to the disc brake caliper adapter. The hat (center) section of the rear brake rotor serves as the braking surface (drum) for the parking brakes.