Emergency brake seems weak?

Its an 04 i just bought used.

I park it in my drive that has a decent grade to it.

Thing is my other two cars emergency brakes would pretty much hold.

The Liberty's do not...

Even with a strong tug on it - it still creeps down until it hits park in the transmission.

Is this bad for the trans? Can the E brake be adjusted?

Is the Rig just too heavy?...

Yes, you can adjust both the handle in the console and each pad at the rear wheels. Here are some threads I made on lostkjs.

http://www.lostkjs.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=187268&highlight=emergency+brake#187268




http://www.lostkjs.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14757&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=adjust+emergency+brake&start=15

No problem.

And yea, the ebrakes on the drums work alot better.

Jeepster, I am going to try the parking/emergency brakes repair. It looks straight forward and obviously you know quite a bit about it.
Thanks from a fellow liberty lover

sailorbowman said:

Jeepster, I am going to try the parking/emergency brakes repair. It looks straight forward and obviously you know quite a bit about it.
Thanks from a fellow liberty lover

Click to expand...

You can adjust the brakes at each side on the rear but adjusting the handle in the console only helps so long before it slips again. It works perfect until that clutch loosen up. Just wanted to make that aware.

Sometimes the ratchet assembly fails. Or at least that's what my dealer claimed when my first parking brake failed.

Ya know, pretty much every KJ owner I talk to has the same problem with the Liberty's handbrake!

Same problem here!

trichard310 said:

Same problem here!

Click to expand...

I've adjusted all there is to adjust and the damn thing still only works intermittently!

I had the same problem from new with my 2002 CRD. At every service I asked for the emergancy brake (we call it a handbrake here!) to be adjusted. Finally when the Jeep was out of warranty the dealers replaced the racket assembly and that fixed it. They gave me the old one back, which I have since discarded, and it is quite a complicated device with a large spring wrapped around it which acts as a sort of one-way clutch.
I think this is where your problem lies!

Can add one more here

...And I thought I was just a weak b!+@# not being able to pull it up far enough! Thanks for the how-to threads JeepJeepster.

Quiksilver21 said:

Can add one more here

Click to expand...

Fixed

I got in a habit of pulling so ******* the handbrake that the cable eventually broke...

Ryan09 said:

Ya know, pretty much every KJ owner I talk to has the same problem with the Liberty's handbrake!

Click to expand...

I believe it's a design defect. I seem to hear a lot about it too. I've had two fail on me in five years. I've never had a single handbrake fail on any other vehicle I've ever owned.

This has to apply to the rear disk brake versions only. My drum style parking break will hold my Jeep off the parking pawl in almost every situation. It works flawlessly.

I have a new assembly and mine still *****!

Quiksilver21 said:

Fixed

Click to expand...

What did you do??? What's up on a recall???

Just curious, but how many realize there is a proper "break in" when new parking brake shoes are installed?

I'm not trying to be critical. I just wonder how many know about it.

I've found with my Jeep, it's best to let off the service brakes very slowly to let the parking brake engage. My parking brake will hold my Jeep with a 14' aluminum boat & trailer on a boat launch ramp.

I have been using the slot screwdriver trick to take up slack on tab/adjuster..ya..ok..
I feel like cutting the brake cable and installing a manual adjuster on each side, just so I don't have to worry about cable stretch, and the fact that the auto adjuster is a complete piece of f***%n crap.