[Damon]

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that the parking brake sometimes does not hold, you may have found this out already on your own. Luckily there was someone outside who saw my Spyder rolling and got behind it before it crashed into another vehicle. I now keep my Spyder in First gear and use the brake. Curious though, has anyone else had this problem> Thanks, Damon

[TharkunRT]

Damon, on Sep 13 2009, 07:46 PM, said:

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that the parking brake sometimes does not hold, you may have found this out already on your own. Luckily there was someone outside who saw my Spyder rolling and got behind it before it crashed into another vehicle. I now keep my Spyder in First gear and use the brake. Curious though, has anyone else had this problem> Thanks, Damon

Ya....the cause is someone was looking and playing with your Spyder, always leave it in gear, don't place all your trust in the parking brake. Only other casue is if your parking brake is out of adjustment.

This post has been edited by Tharkun#409: 13 September 2009 - 10:00 PM

[Tarantula]

Tharkun#409, on Sep 13 2009, 09:59 PM, said:

Ya....the cause is someone was looking and playing with your Spyder, always leave it in gear, don't place all your trust in the parking brake. Only other casue is if your parking brake is out of adjustment.

I've had my parking brake adjusted twice now by the dealer...it seems to work well for a couple of months and then it just looses it to the point where its useless! Does anybody know how to adjust it? procedure....I would rather do it myself than drive all the way to the dealer and drop it off just for that. Any suggestions would be helpful thank you!

[TharkunRT]

Tarantula, on Sep 13 2009, 10:15 PM, said:

I've had my parking brake adjusted twice now by the dealer...it seems to work well for a couple of months and then it just looses it to the point where its useless! Does anybody know how to adjust it? procedure....I would rather do it myself than drive all the way to the dealer and drop it off just for that. Any suggestions would be helpful thank you!

• Park your Spyder on level ground with parking brake released.
  
• Adjust the cable from the caliper end by loosening the lock nut on the cable and adjusting the front nut a little at a time and adjusting the rear nut up.
  
• Check for hold by pressing the pedal gently till you hear one or two clicks and the brake holds.DO NOT STEP ON THE PEDAL as this will give you problems .

This method may take a bit of time to adjust it correctly.

The main reason for needing to adjust the parking brake is that the plastic coating on the cable wears down and the brake losses adjustment. At some point you will
not be able to adjust the parking brake, when that happens you will need to remove the arm that the cable attaches to, advance it a few notches on the splined shaft and then re-tighten it, and then adjust the cable .

This post has been edited by Tharkun#409: 14 September 2009 - 10:42 AM

[Tarantula]

Tharkun#409, on Sep 14 2009, 08:43 AM, said:

• Park your Spyder on level ground with parking brake released.
  
• Adjust the cable from the caliper end by loosening the lock nut on the cable and adjusting the front nut a little at a time and adjusting the rear nut up.
  
• Check for hold by pressing the pedal gently till you hear one or two clicks and the brake holds.DO NOT STEP ON THE PEDAL as this will give you problems .

This method may take a bit of time to adjust it correctly.

The main reason for needing to adjust the parking brake is that the plastic coating on the cable wears down and the brake losses adjustment. At some point you will
not be able to adjust the parking brake, when that happens you will need to remove the arm that the cable attaches to, advance it a few notches on the splined shaft and then re-tighten it, and then adjust the cable .

Thanks! I'll get to it one of these days! Good thing So. Cal is FLAT!

[mudpie]

the reason it goes out of adjustment is that as the rear pads wear down, the park brake runs out of movement.
and yes ,after you run out of cable adjustent, you pull the arm off and repostion it on shaft
mud

[brutus450]

mudpie, on Sep 29 2009, 09:19 AM, said:

the reason it goes out of adjustment is that as the rear pads wear down, the park brake runs out of movement.
and yes ,after you run out of cable adjustent, you pull the arm off and repostion it on shaft
mud

I just ran out and adjusted mine after reading this. REAL EASY. I moved the arm one notch on the spline and now the barrel adjustment isnt maxed out and brake works perfect on 2 clicks instead of 4!

But I dont think its becuase the pads wear down, it looks like to me that the parking brake mechanism is seperate from the pads. If you apply the parking brake the pads are still loose. The parking brake is more like a cam inside the housing and "twists" a seperate pad against the rotor.

The more likely reason to me is that the cable has stretched. All new brake cables will stretch and after the initial stretch, it should be ok for a long time.

If you parking brake doesnt work like it used to, this is really easy to do.

[spyryder]

brutus450, on Sep 29 2009, 08:21 PM, said:

I just ran out and adjusted mine after reading this. REAL EASY. I moved the arm one notch on the spline and now the barrel adjustment isnt maxed out and brake works perfect on 2 clicks instead of 4!

But I dont think its becuase the pads wear down, it looks like to me that the parking brake mechanism is seperate from the pads. If you apply the parking brake the pads are still loose. The parking brake is more like a cam inside the housing and "twists" a seperate pad against the rotor.

The more likely reason to me is that the cable has stretched. All new brake cables will stretch and after the initial stretch, it should be ok for a long time.

If you parking brake doesnt work like it used to, this is really easy to do.

The splined shaft is threaded into the rear caliper piston. Applying the parking brake forces the piston out using the brake pads. There is no separate parking brake.

This post has been edited by spyryder: 29 September 2009 - 09:08 PM

[mudpie]

atv's have been using this design for years
and they need constant adjustment due to mud wearing away the pads quickly
keep a eye on the pads, dont want them to go metal to metal
and when you replace them you will need to put arm back to stock postion
mud

[spyderwoman]

I had to have mine adjusted last week. Lou Gutowski of Pirate Powersports in Riverside, CA showed me how to do it. He holds "Tech Talks" about once every other month to show people how to change their oil and answer all their questions regarding the spyder. It's free and he is a very gracious host not to mention a wealth of knowledge regarding the spyder. I drive 1 1/2 hours to see him but it's well worth it. He did my 6k maintenance and it was very reasonable priced. Spyderwoman