The USA domestic gen 5 caravan has an auto-adjusting pedal mechanism. This is not to be confused with the adjusters built into each rear caliper. The factory service manual claims you can pull the cable rearward with a pair of pliers to extend it's length. Really??? Anyone have luck doing that? Mine is locked in the full tight position and no amount of pushing or pulling the cable will allow it to extend to it's full reset length. I wound up buying a new cable assembly because the cables were too short to reattach after replacing the calipers.


The e-brake pedal assembly under the dash has a sector gear for cable lenth adjustment and a ratcheting mechanism for holding the pedal down when applied. I can see the new assembly sector gear is at full reset position with a temporary pin installed while my old one is fully retracted. There are no obvious spots to stick a screwdriver into the mechanism to allow a pawl to release or anything. I really fiddled and it won't budge from full tight. Unless you can find a way to reset the mechanism there's really no way to replace a cable or caliper.


Any insight appreciated.

 

A small spring is wrapped around the end of a 1-1/2" gear, approx. 20 revolutions. A lever deflects the pigtail end of this spring, causing it to relax when you pull up on the e-brake pedal to force into the full reset position. This allows the gear to turn in the reset direction and ride along a sector gear. Make sure the lever is pushing against the end of the pigtail spring when you pull the pedal up. My spring was out-of-place.


The service manual makes no mention about pulling the brake pedal firmly upward before trying to yank the cable rearward to reset the mechanism. This extra step was necessary on my van. The tolerances on the lever and spring are not so precise. The mechanism is pressed & spot-welded together and not precisely built.

 

hmm this is for the parking brake? this is interesting cause mine never seem to work properly. please post some pictures. let me know.