Changing parking brake cable

[Gary Smith]

I have a '79 with only 30K miles and even after I adjusted the drum brakes and ran the equalizer adjustment bolt all the way in, I still have virtually no parking brakes. Reading other posts, it appears the rear cable is usually the culprit and I am wondering how hard it is to replace. Do I have to grind the rivets off and remove the discs or can I unhook the cable without doing that? If I have to remove the discs, is the cable easily unhooked or do I have to disassemble the entire brake mechanism?

[Joe L.]

Re: Changing parking brake cable

Gary-----

The rear cable is easily removed without having to grind anything. All you need to do is to loosen the cable at the equalizer and remove the nut. Then, you can remove the equalizer and the cable will just slip out of it. With the cable loose, you'll be able to easily slip the cable ends off of the parking brake levers. Installation is a reverse of the foregoing.

Now, the above is the easy part. The hard part is performing the above and having it be effective at correcting a parking brake problem. I don't see how the cable could possibly be the source of an inoperative parking brake unless it actually broke. Otherwise, any "stretch" which might occur in the cable over time could be easily adjusted out at the equalizer adjustment. It just isn't possible for this cable to stretch to any significant degree, certainly not enough to render adjustment at the equalizer ineffective.

[Chuck R.]

Re: I would say the E-brake shoes are toast Gary

Possibly by the following:

1) Being driven with the handle not fully released

2) Possible corrosion hanging the shoes up enough so that they were turned down over time by not fully releasing.

3) Shoes are contaminated with grease from leaking bearing seals.

I would opt for #1 #2 #3 or all three combined.

But hey, I guess it could be a combination of both cables being stretched, but there would be obvious signs as Joe mentioned.

Regards,

Chuck