radetic

My parking brake on 2007 Equinox LT AWD has to be adjusted. It looks like the only way to do that is from the inside of the car. Does anyone knows how to remove the cover by the parking brake lever, to get to the adjuster?
Thank you for your help.
Boris

ruley73

There is a park brake cable adjustment which is located under the park brake lever like your post refers to. You need to remove the middle console to acces it. I believe the console is held in place with 4 1/2 hex-head bolts and two smaller screws (7mm or 5/16" - I can't remember which it is). You may find it easier to remove the console by first removing the front seats. You will also need to unplug the harness going to the 12v power outlet when you remove the console. The front of each front seat hooks into the floorboard while the back of each front seat is held in place with two bolts (can't remember what size).

FYI there are also park brake actuators that can be adjusted at the each of rear wheels. I would think that it would be more desirable to adjust these instead of the cable. This would require removing the rear brake calipers and rotors. The rear wheels should not spin freely after 3 detent positions (or "clicks") of the park brake lever.

DukeVT

Curious to know how tightening the emergency brake cable went on the Chevy equinox? I have to do mine soon but hate thinking about removing front seats to access cable adjuster. Does anyone know of any videos to see?

tech2

did someone change the drum brake components? if they are set up wrong it will change the e-brake adjustment. Adjusting the mechanical cable set up is rarely needed.


As ruley73 stated, start at the drums before adjusting the cable. the drums must be set up right first before setting up the cable. I bet the drum adjustment will fix your problem and the cable will not need to be touched.

ruley73

The 2007-2009 Equinox has rear disc brakes with a parking brake setup that utilizes shoes and operate similar to a drum brake setup. I made the mistake of tightening the cable instead of adjusting the park brake shoes. I believe I may have stretched the cable parking brake does not engage enough to hold the vehicle on a slight hill even with the lever pulled all the way up. When I get a chance I intend to loosen the cable the same amount I tightened it and then adjust the parking brake shoes like I should have to begin with.

The service manual states that you must remove the seats and console to access the cable tightening stud located next to the lever - so that's what I did. However, if you're careful, you can access the cable adjustment stud by just removeing the brake lever cover - without removing either the seats or the console. Just move the driver's seat all the way back and pull the park brake lever all the way up. You can then remove the retaining screw (requires T15 torx driver) for the park brake lever cover. The cover consists of two pieces. The lower piece must first be removed before the main part of the cover can be pulled up. Gently pull the brake lever toward the driver's side to give you enough clearance to pop the bottom part of the cover off. Then slide the rest of the cover up past the button to reveal the cable adjustment stud. You will need a deep welled 10mm socket to fit over the stud to adjust the nut for the cable tightener.

Again, do NOT adjust the cable until the park brake shoes are properly adjusted.

2007-2009_Equinox_park-brake-adjustment.pdf

tech2

oh, it has hat in rotor style...disregard my post.

ruley73

Yup, 2005-2006 still have rear drum brakes though.