co4wheel

I got my new 04 GX. Very good shape but I failed to check the parking brake before I drove it off the lot. MISTAKE. Parked it on my sloping driveway and Pulled the brake, NOTHING. Not a good feeling. It was so loose I figured the cable was broken. Very hard to trouble shoot by yourself. First step was to remove the rear tires and also the rear rotors. You have to remove the brake calipers, just two bolts each. Slide the rotor off. The annoying part is if the brake pads that make up the parking brake stick as you pull off the rotors. Just wiggle. Once the rotor is off have someone pull the handle. See if the cables move on both sides. Mind did. If that is the case you got to adjust the star at the bottom. Move it forward towards you to tighten them. You want to tighten it enough so that you can easily slide the rotor back on but when you pull the handle the rotor tightens up. Make sure it spins freely when the brake is not engaged.

So that got my cable back in the game and the wheels would lock when the handle is pulled. But the handle did not lock. So both cable are working. Time to look at the handle. Remove the front cup holder. Unscrew the shifters for the transfer case and transmission. Unzip the boot on the parking brake. Gently pry the center console up from the rear by the cupholder. The front side pieces need to be moved up and back. There are two electrical connections. One for the sifter and one for the height and shock control. Once you get the trim pieces off you can see the parking brake handle and the entire assembly under there. If it's not locking there is a PAWL in between the two parts of the riveted handle near the base. Take a Thin 5-1 Painter tool, or screw driver. Some thing piece of metal and push the pawl towards the rear. This will engage the pawl. If that locks the handle up take some Penetrating oil and spray it between the two halfs of the parking brake and into the handle. If your lucky that will loosen the frozen handle and make it all work. Mine came loose and is now working. As you move the handle up and down you can see the two cables near the floor. You can see that they both have slack when the handle is not raised and also see if one is tighter then the other. Sounds harder then it all really is.

Good luck. Hope this helps someone.