Removing Emergency Brake Cable

[Archangel]

ok, I need to change out my rear brake pads on my 98 240sx, and on my 94 Infiniti G20. But for both of them, it is neccessary to disconnect the emergency brake cable from the rear caliper in order to swivel the caliper up to access the pads.

I'm doing them on the G20 first, since its the beater.
I've found a nut that loosens the tension on teh cable, but not enough to actually get the cable off the "hook" (for lack of a better word). There's got to be another way to loosen the cable, or something that I'm missing.

Can anyone help??

[mrmephistopheles]

you don't need to remove the ebrake cable to change pads...

[Raine]

There's no reason to remove the sidebrake cable unless you're removing the rear caliper completely, or replacing the cable itself.

Quick question: After you jacked the car up, put it on stands, and then tried to change the rear brake pads, did you remember to RELEASE the E-brake first? Not calling you a noob, but you'd be surprised how many people forget to do this.

[Archangel]

No, the emergency brake is off.

I've done front brakes plenty of times, and I know how to do those, but this is my first time doing rear brakes.

In order to get to the brake pads, you typically remove one of the bolts on the caliper, and lossen the other, then you would rotate the top part up and out of the way to access the brake pads, correct?

However, on the G20 at least, you cannot rotate the top part up, because the emergency brake cable is attatched to it, and there is not enough slack to move the top part of the caliper.

The only other way to do it would be to remove the caliper completely, which is possible, but then you have to try to reseat the piston while the caliper is not bolted to anything, which is extremely difficult.

Any suggestions?

[Raine]

With the brake fluid res. cap off and the right tool to reseat the rear piston, I'm sure it can be done with someone holding the caliper for you while you twist. It might take some muscle, but I doubt nothing extraordinary.

I'm not exactly sure how the setup looks on a G20... maybe you can try unbolting the caliper completely, then maybe bolting the top of the caliper to the bottom of the caliper mount?

Just an idea

[91rusty240sx]

haha you should just do the ghetto way, get a needle nose pliar, and tighten the piston while pushing down on it...

[Archangel]

Actually, that is not the ghetto way, you have to twist the caliper to reseat it on the rear brakes. But the pliers don't work well, cuz you have to push down hard while twisting.

Anyway, I finally got it, so in case anyone cares:
The emergency brake cable runs through a bracket, and I was able to remove the clip that holds it in. then I had plenty of slack to remove the emergency brake cable, and swivel the caliper up to change the pads. While this was on a 94 G20, I'm pretty sure that it will be the same on a 240. I guess I'll find out when I change the pads on my 240 next month.