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I'm operating on Mazda CX-9 2008 changing rear rotors/pads and parking brake shoes and spring kit (first time).

On operation I find my back-left parking brake is missing the "operation lever". The right is fine. This does not come in the kit and I cannot get the part for a few days at least.

As a workaround, I plan to remove the entire parking brake hardware from both back wheels including all the push nut things, shoes, springs, everything, so that I can continue to use the vehicle a few days until I get the part. It will look like this both sides:

Proposal

The right side is normal looks like this:

Right side with operation level

The left side shows the missing part:

Left side missing operation level

I cannot see anything possibly going wrong with this, except the parking brake will not work, which it didn't anyway. However I am new and may be overlooking something.

So to you experts or accomplished DIYers. Am I missing something or is this safe for now?

Update: Note I am going to put back caliper, brake pads and rotors.

Update: Adding service manual diagram showing the shoe pistons, which push the shoes, showing missing lever and how it pushes on a push rod to push the shoe open both sides. This appears to be a very old and rubbish method which does not use any hydraulics. There is no brake line connection to it and the caliper is 100% separate.

enter image description here

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This is not safe :

One you won't have any rear brakes at all,

Two if you proceed with this course of action then you need to stop the hydraulic fluid coming into the, now empty, wheel cylinders and I don't advise this course anyway.

Three - it would be better to keep all the brakes intact (shoes, pistons, springs) and allow them to work as normal but just not use the handbrake.

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  • Mike, I think I did a bad job explaining, appologies. I intend to put the rotors back on, re-attach the calipers, install the brake pads. There is no capping off of brake hoses, etc. Note that unlike some vehicles which appear to have hand-brakes which are hydrolic, this vehicle is manual - cable driven. Pressing foot on cable pulls lever which pushes apart the the shoes which engage the inside of the rotor drum area.
    – Chris
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 19:08
  • I could put everything in also but my concern is that I now have brake shoes which are not attached to the brake cable. Will they then scrap as a result when driving? I do not want to warp these new rotors. Old ones has a warp of 12 thousands according to how i tried to measure.
    – Chris
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 19:12
  • From the description in your comment compared to the original description you are describing two systems : pads, rotors (discs) and calipers and the other as shoes, springs etc. You say "pressing foot on cable,..." well cable pull brakes went out of fashion years ago (only used on trailers AFAICR). The cable is used to operate the handbrake.
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 19:38
  • Attached snippet of service manual which i think confirms that this vehicle uses old cable tech. Thanks for the comments and help so far.
    – Chris
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 19:59
  • So, the snippet shows the cable is used for the parking brake mechanism only - which is what I described as "The cable is used to operate the handbrake". Thanks for confirming my description.
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 20:16

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