hello all,
I have a 2004 town and country limited, the emergency brake pedal does not catch any more, I believe the spring broke, can you just replace the spring? or do you have to replace the whole mechanism? is this a hard project? any help would be appreciated, thank you

 

This is an interesting one for us over the pond as our emergency brake or handbrake if this is the same thing is not a pedal but a handbrake lever between the front seats. So if you have a foot pedal one gives an insight of where it is and how you release it.

 

it is a pedal to left side of the regular brake, you step on the pedal to set it, and pull the lever to release it, depending on what side you drive on, I actually don't know where the pedal is on a right side drive car

 

Sounds like a ratchet and pawl arrangement with as you say a spring/s. You need to underneath to check it out. Maybe Chrysler Cares knows the situation.

 

Yeah when I was living in the US the T&C I was using did the same thing although the mechanism hadn't failed it just needed lubricating. But didn't find that out until after I'd removed it! hahaha

However if I remember correctly there wasn't any serviceable parts, you have to replace the whole mechanism if something was broken which is a pain in the butt.

Okay so to gain access; you have to first remove the trim piece next to the door, (between the pedal and the door frame). Then loosen the lower part of the dash to the left of the steering column. (2 screws at the bottom and one on the left side). You may have to mess around with the release level but it should pop off!

Once removed you should see a metal plate this has to be removed (9 or 10 10mm bolts),

Once removed you should be able to see the fuse box, yup it has to come out also. Now there are a number of connectors on this, one of which is held on by I think a 10mm or 11mm bolt. Remove it all so you can gain access to the actual pedal.

From here its a little easier. There are another 3 bolts which hold the assembly in place, the lower 2 are easy but there is one near the top which is hidden and difficult to remove. Again I think they were all 10mm (a 10mm ratchet wrench makes this easier) . Also be aware that there is another small connector on there for the dash light so take care not to damage it when removing.

Now on mine the whole ratchet mechanism was just stiff and so was no longer coming into contact with the teeth therefore just needed lubricating, a good soaking in PB Blaster did the trick.

If however you do have to change it then I'm afraid you're going under the van to release the cable from the equalizer. This can be found by sticking your head under the van just around the drivers seat position( may have been a little rearward). You should see a single cable feeding in from the front and 2 cables heading off towards the rear. Now I'm not sure how to release this without releasing tension off at the rear brakes themselves, but either way the cable has to be released here in-order to remove it from the pedal mechanism.

Now you should be able to release the cable.

Personally, I'd just remove the trim so as to gain enough access to soak it all in PB Blaster or WD40 and see if that work before getting into removing the actual mechanism.