All:
Noticing that I had virtually no parking brake the other day, I put the Crown up on jack stands to try to adjust the parking brake. What I found sort of made me queasy and while that generally isn't a pleasant feeling, it REALLY isn't a pleasant feeling flat on one's back on a creeper. After opening the access panel on the drum, I could not find the adjusting screw. The manual shows it right in one's face, as it were, so I knew something was wrong. Feeling around with my fat fingers, I found the adjusting screw/cam in two pieces -- the threaded nut/bolt combo and the pressure shaft that goes over the threaded bolt on the bottom of the drum lying loose. I also felt around in the drum and noticed that at least one of the retaining clips/springs were also loose in there though I could not reach them to retrieve them.
I am thinking that these sorts of things just don't happen on their own; that the parking brake, if it fails, doesn't fail in that manner. I have read some of the notes on the site and there just ins't much ut there for a 1961, so, I thought I would ask the membership here.
First, is it possible when the transmission shop was reinstalling the rebuilt transmission, that they did not attached the parking brake drum properly to the transmission and, thus, created this situation? If possible, would it make sense to take it back to the transmission shop along with the FSM and have them repair what they have done or should I just do it myself?
Last, I was unable to find a cable adjustment screw/cam on the parking brake pedal & lever mechanism under the dash. The FSM shows a fairly detailed schematic of the parking brake pedal & lever assembly for both the Chrysler and Imperial models but shows an adjusting screw/cam on the Chrysler schematic and none for the Imperial schematic shown. Is there a cable adjustment under the dash for the Imperial or is it too at the brake drum on the transmission?
Thanks everyone!
Joe
Allen, Texas
'61 Crown 4D Southampton
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network