Hello -

I’m typically hanging around the Caravan board but I got a look at something today on a customer car and thought some of you would be interested to see it. I don’t know if this is common for these vehicles or not. I’m not specifically a Dodge/Chrysler tech but see plenty of them.

The vehicle was a 2007 Durango Adventurer 5.7 - customer asked us to diagnose the ABS light and a problem with the parking brake (his words were “something broke”). I also noticed the TCS and ESP lights were on which is common if there’s an issue with the ABS system.

The codes I pulled were C1027 (erratic signal) and C1043 (tone wheel performance) - both indicated the left rear sensor. I started by just getting it up on the hoist and checking the wiring. The harness was in tact but the connector seemed loose despite the tab lock being secure, so I removed the connector and could see the terminals on it appeared to be spread out. I thought that might be the cause of the erratic signal so I cleaned and tightened them, applied a little dielectric grease and was going to test drive it to see if anything changed.

But before I did that, I wanted to check out the parking brake. I made sure the cables weren’t dragging or sticking, then I set the brake and tried to turn each wheel. The right wheel was locked up solid, but the left spun freely without any signs of drag.

I removed the wheel to have easier access to the adjuster plug, thinking maybe the shoes were just out of adjustment, but when I used an inspection mirror to see the adjuster wheel, nothing was there! I could see the edge of the shoes but no adjuster. First thought - “Well that’s odd.”

I removed the brake caliper and rotor to find this - not only was the adjuster wheel missing entirely (I mean gone - it didn’t hit the ground when I removed the rotor or anything) but the shoes had obviously been inoperative for some time.



Then I noticed the tone ring and figured well, it’s right there - might as well have a look. I didn’t have to spin the axle more than 90 degrees to see the chipped teeth. The red arrow is the position of the ABS sensor in the backing plate - I couldn’t get a good pic of it.



The customer is bringing it back next week to do the repairs. Although it’s just the left tone ring that’s causing problems, we plan to have one ready for the right side as well. I’ll have it apart to replace the parking brake shoes and hardware anyhow and since the axle has to come out it won’t be much more work to replace the right side if needed.

I’m kind of excited about this project - we have a press but depending how long the axle is, it might not clear the floor for installation.