My parking brake lever has starting coming disengaged lately. If I push on it while getting out of the car, the brake will release. I don't have to push the button, I only have to push down on the lever. It will hold some tension, but not enough to do any good.

I pulled the lever out and noticed two things:

1) The lever itself rides on a plastic bushing. This seems a little worn, and maybe it's letting the lever move just enough to release the pall from the the teeth.

2) The lead tooth on the pall seems a little worn. Should it better match the profile of the teeth on the rack?

Click to view attachment

Do I need to replace the toothed pall and/or the bushing? Does anyone sell a replacement bushing?

Thanks,

Mike

Mine does the exact same thing. It's been that way for years. The last time I had my rear calipers adjusted it got much better. It still does it but not as bad. Sorry about the unhelpful-ass post; I just wanted to do something today-this counts.

After taking the assembly apart it became clear that the bushing was not the problem. The bushing might make the handle wobbly, but the spacing between the teeth on the rack and the pall would not be effected.

It turned out the that the teeth on both the rack and the pall were pretty clearly worn. I used a dremel tool to resurface the teeth and add a little bit of an undercut to try to get a more positive engagement. So far so good, the brake engages fully and I can't knock it loose.

I'll make sure I keep a set of wheel chocks handy just in case, but I think I'm back on the road.

Mike

You discovered the fix, so I don't have to write it up.