cssnms

There is no tension when I try to engaging the brake and thus the brake itself doesn't engage as if the cable snapped or has become disconnected.

Has anyone else lost the use of their emergency brake?

cdew002

Yes, but never had it fixed. Have never used it, just noticed it when I was cleaning the crumbs out of there.

cssnms

Funny you say that, because that's exactly how I found out. Me wifey doesn't keep a very clean truck.

cdew002

Haha. In her defense, it's tough to get stuff out once it has dropped in between the leather folds (as you know).

SpeedFour

Does anyone know a fix to this? I do use the hand brake when parked and it recently went slack.

NTH

First, get under the truck and look at the cables going to rear brakes. Have your wife engage and release the lever several times as you're inspecting.

techrep

Yeah... make sure she has it in Park too when she is doing this...

PDubs

We had this exact issue but it only happened randomly and when parking on an incline. Dealer said the unit inside the cabin was failing and replaced the entire parking brake assembly. Not a fun fix but did not want to compromise safety.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

check the slack on the cable under the leather part of the handle. there is usually a small adjustment up front. once that adjustment is out of range then its more complicated or something is broken.

Ptero

I am a retired fleet mechanic. Most of the 4-wheel vehicles I have been responsible for have been Toyotas, although my experience also ranges through American and European brands. I just bought a 2006 Lexus GX470 with a parking brake that would not engage. Many elements of parking brakes are similar worldwide because the design patents have long ago expired. I always go for the fastest fix possible. With parking brakes, I do not begin discussing anything else until I lubricate the handle. Parking brakes are very simple. There is not much that can go wrong with them. Often, they are infrequently used. Over the years, the orginal lubricant will volatize and thicken, eventualy resulting in engagement failure in the rachet assembly. That's all it is. If you thin it back out with some WD40 or even silicon spray, you can easily identify the problem and "fix" it in a few minutes. On the GX470, the leather lever cover has a zipper. Unzip. Spray. Re-zip. Done.

Done? Not really. Drip some heavier oil or light grease in there and you won't have to repeat this "fix" next year. I think white lithium grease would be best.

Or yoiu can take it to your Lexus Dealer and get a new brake lever. I've seen them recommend that.

Ptero

I am a retired fleet mechanic. Most of the 4-wheel vehicles I have been responsible for have been Toyotas, although my experience also ranges through American and European brands. I just bought a 2006 Lexus GX470 with a parking brake that would not engage. Many elements of parking brakes are similar worldwide because the design patents have long ago expired. I always go for the fastest fix possible. With parking brakes, I do not begin discussing anything else until I lubricate the handle. Parking brakes are very simple. There is not much that can go wrong with them. Often, they are infrequently used. Over the years, the orginal lubricant will volatize and thicken, eventualy resulting in engagement failure in the rachet assembly. That's all it is. If you thin it back out with some WD40 or even silicon spray, you can easily identify the problem and "fix" it in a few minutes. On the GX470, the leather lever cover has a zipper. Unzip. Spray. Re-zip. Done.

Done? Not really. Drip some heavier oil or light grease in there and you won't have to repeat this "fix" next year. I think white lithium grease would be best. Lucas make it.

Or yoiu can take it to your Lexus Dealer and get a new brake lever. I've seen them recommend that. Works every time.

RPH74

Yes, a few soakings if WD-40 over a few days, as well as using a pick to remove some of that orange, cheesy looking adhesive that had gotten into the ratcheting mechanism got the parking brake working on our 04.

NavyBlueGX

Same story here on my '03. I didn't even have to use penetrating oil like WD-40, but rather just tried silicone lubricant meant for a treadmill. I raised the parking brake lever, unzipped the leather cover/boot, and then while keeping the lever up, I sprayed/dripped silicone treadmill lubricant all over the metal base of the lever (the portion under/inside the leather boot). I just tried to hit everything in there with lube, not really knowing what I was supposed to be aiming for.

After five or ten minutes, I repeated a process of lifting the parking brake lever, then lowering it, all the while pressing the thumb button on the end on and off. At first, the end button was stuck in the off/out position, but after a few minutes of messing around with it, it started to loosen up a bit, and then after a few more tries moving the lever up and down, I began to hear the delightful ratcheting noise that I had been so sorely missing. Now it seems to working just fine. Not bad for a 10 minute fix with supplies that I already had sitting around!


Parking brake leather boot/cover open. Area lubricated was the metal base of the lever and basically everything inside the leather boot

This is what fixed my stuck parking brake and stuck parking brake end button, no WD-40 required. For really tough jobs, you'll probably need WD-40, though, and then a more permanent lubricant later on.

I also ended up taking out the cupholders, but that was unnecessary, since the part that I had to lubricate to fix the lever was the part under the leather boot/cover, so looking at everything through the area under the cup holder just gave me better visibility into how the whole assembly works.

Thanks to everyone for posting your recommendations on here. I wouldn't have been able to get this working if it hadn't been for you folks posting your success stories.