Tremo

Guys, the release button on the end of the parking brake lever rattles like hell. Any way to quiet it down? Thanks.

joshp14

mine does it too, if i grab it it stops, i cant stand it!

Dirty Rob

Theres a little phillips screw on the inside of the handgrip on the lever, if you pull that, you can slide the handgrip off, and the button will be exposed. I think there is a spring or something on there for tension. You might want to check into that.
- But i could be wrong, havent looked at one in awhile, so if theres no spring in there, dont flip out, just check for looseness.

BORLAZ06

i have to do the same thing..lol.

im jus too lazy to tighten that screw on the side. its too much for me..heh

joshp14

i had it off a month ago when i had my console out, but i tightened the screw and it still does it, i think that it has to do with the spring.

BORLAZ06

yup...it always comes loose.

Tremo

Interesting, I'm not alone, I see. Yeah, if I grab the brake lever, it stops rattling. Here's another thing I noticed. When the car was newer, the release button did not stick out of the handle very far. Now it sticks out a long way and I can even rotate the damn thing. Whassup with that?

Am I mistaken or was there a factory fix for this problem? I think I read something about it once.

joshp14

sounds like the spring is too springy and broke sumthing that holds it in place... take it apart and find out what it is.

87z28TN

I had the same problem for quite a while. What I did was take the cover off, and I place a small dab of some heavy grease at both the ends of the spring. I reinstalled the cover, and it no longer rattles. Hope this helps.

redraif

My actual handle rattled, so I took it off and put some felt on the metal part of the handle and slid the plastic back on. It tightened the plastic and stopped the rattle. Plastic and metal vibrating and rattling together is annoying!

Tremo

OK, how do you get the leather cover off the handle? I see the screw hole, but I can't get ANY tool to engage a screw in there. Allen wrench, torx, screwdriver, nothing works. It's almost like it's riveted. What am I missing? Thanks.

deadtrend1

iTrader: (1)

A drill because its just a stripped phillips head screw. Someone was probably tinkering before you got it. Sears or pretty much any hardware store wills ell something to help you get it out.

Tremo

I don't understand how the philips head screw could have been stripped. I'm the original owner of the car, I bought it brand new off the lot back in 88. I've never tried to remove the handle before, so as far as I can tell, the thing has never been off. I don't recall ever having it in a shop where they would have had to pull the center console requiring that the leather grip be removed. This really puzzles me. I wonder if it could have been stripped at the factory during assembly? If it is really stripped as you say, it's **totally** stripped, there is not even a hint of any slots or anything in there. It's almost like someone has already partially drilled it out. It's basically a smooth circular hole.

I think I'll try an easy-out or something like that.

What size should the replacement screw be? I want to replace whatever is in there with the proper hardware.

Thanks!!

redraif

I bet it was a torx & now with you trying to get it out it stripped. The torx strip easy. Plus if you have never removed it that thing is in there tight. Mine was a pain to get out the first time. I really had to press on it hard and then go slow or it would hop out and strip. Mine was not a leather handle though and i think it was a philips.

joshp14

sears just released the new tool called the 'screw out' and i've heard it works quite nicely. not too bad of a buy at $20 for a set of 3 diff. sizes.

Tremo

I probed around in the hole with a wooden toothpick. The interior walls are perfectly smooth. I tried a big (T30??) torx and it just doesn't bite into anything. It's like the thing is just pressed in or something. I don't think I stripped it because none of my tools ever bit into anything when I shoved them in there. This makes no sense. As far as I know, this is the first time that thing has ever been removed.

Looks like it's off to Sears for a screw-out tool. Sheet......



Thanks guys.

redraif

Have you looked at it with a flash light to really get a good look at it. It should use a small torx, if it uses one. Like on bird headlights, or like the torx they use on the door panels! It should be that size. Or a phillips. You may have to try different phillips heads. 2 is the common size, it may take the small #1. Mine was a PITA. I though it was stripped too.

Dirty Rob

Mine was a phillips. Never saw any that were torx screws, and the phillips that was in there was a good size, had no problems biting into it. I dont know if it was ever replaced before I had the car or not though.

Sonar_un

my whole parking brake lever has a lot of play in it also. Drives me nuts becuase my Camaro's lever was solid. Plus the button doesn't work very well when I depress it. It ends up sticking when I try to put it down, so I have to sort of slam it. Argh I hate it.

Tremo

My button was sticking for a while as well. It was because like a dumbass I spilled Coke on the ****. I fixed it by blasting it's insides and the ratchet with WD40. No more sticking.

Now if I can just get the damn handle cover off so I can fix the damn rattle........