Parking Brake Cable Replacement- And maybe a cure for your weak parking brake.

[Pino2234]

Another problem affecting all of us likely 1980 to 1997 is that all of the brake shoe cores in circulation for all new and most reman shoes are made incorrectly in the parking brake actuator area. In the area at the top of the shoe where the parking brake actuator wedges the brake shoes apart to force them against the drum there is metal missing due to sloppy mfg. that allows the actuator to completely miss one shoe and nearly miss the other. After hunting all over hell for shoes that were made correctly, I finally grabbed the MIG and built up the shoes to match the originals in that area. A little grinding and filing and presto better than new park brake! Ran into this 3 times now.

I have drums off of my 86 F350 right now. This would be great if I could get some specifics on this. I took it all apart because the parking brake cable was not working. Wouldn't engage well or spring back. It has new DORMAN cables for all 3 (front, left and right cable). I'm not sure what brand is better but I'll need to replace them all with another set, cables are stiff now with only a year or 2 on them.

I read a thread about greasing the cables before hand with a piece of fuel line? I'm not sure of the procedure but I am going to try it.