73Coupe
Senior Member
Well I haven't been around in a while, just been driving the hell out of my C-Body. It's been running fine and haven't had to do any heavy work on it for months. 27,000+ miles in two years since I acquired it!
I decided to tackle the parking brake release last weekend. It's the automatic type, with the
vacuum switch mounted to the steering column. The parking brake wouldn't stay on unless the car was off (no vacuum). Long story short, I trouble-shooted the issue and discovered everything is ok except for the engagement of the switch spring-loaded tang with the shifter tube (inside the column). I didn't expect this, since there is no adjustment in-out of the switch, only a rotational adjustment (which doesn't help in this case).
Anybody ever play around with this little bugger? It's a pain to get to, and hard to see what's going on. With a mirror I saw the shifter tube through the slot in the column. I wouldn't expect the shifter tube to have any adjustment inside the column, or does it? Or should there be a tang on the tube that engages with the switch? There is only a slot. It appears to be offset about 1/4" from the outside, just out of reach of the switch tang. The design of the switch tells me that the tube (or a tang attached to it) should have movement very near the inside surface of the steering column.
The link below to the Imperial club page on the switch covers everything in great depth, but not the issue at hand:
Chrysler Imperial Parking Brake Repair Information
I decided to tackle the parking brake release last weekend. It's the automatic type, with the
vacuum switch mounted to the steering column. The parking brake wouldn't stay on unless the car was off (no vacuum). Long story short, I trouble-shooted the issue and discovered everything is ok except for the engagement of the switch spring-loaded tang with the shifter tube (inside the column). I didn't expect this, since there is no adjustment in-out of the switch, only a rotational adjustment (which doesn't help in this case).
Anybody ever play around with this little bugger? It's a pain to get to, and hard to see what's going on. With a mirror I saw the shifter tube through the slot in the column. I wouldn't expect the shifter tube to have any adjustment inside the column, or does it? Or should there be a tang on the tube that engages with the switch? There is only a slot. It appears to be offset about 1/4" from the outside, just out of reach of the switch tang. The design of the switch tells me that the tube (or a tang attached to it) should have movement very near the inside surface of the steering column.
The link below to the Imperial club page on the switch covers everything in great depth, but not the issue at hand:
Chrysler Imperial Parking Brake Repair Information