Parking break light wont go off and there is dragging

[ah1988ford]

Got the truck moving after a couple of years of sitting and it moves but I think the parking break is stuck.
I had it engaged when it was in the driveway for the couple of years when it was sitting, it dosen feel like they dis-engaged.
How do I disengage it it feels like it is stuck when I am in drive and reverse it moves but it drag alot I have to give it alot of gas to get it moving.

 

[kc0stp]

Look under the drivers side of the truck on the outside of the framerail (between axles) and see if the cables are tight to start with.

 

[93f250invt]

sounds like the shoes are stuck to the drum depending on your axle it could be an easy fix or may be a little more labor intensive but i'm sure someone else that knows it better will weigh in on it here soon

 

[ah1988ford]

Its a sterling axle, I drove it around some more and noticed the parking break pedal is lose so I prop it up with my foot as i am driving and it seems to have helped alot they still will stick every now and again a little. It will move at idle, but it is kinda hairy. I pulled it up the driveway (driveway at a incline) and I felt the breaks dragging or something I could hear them rubbing against the drums. I will look at the cable and see how tight or lose it is.
I am almost there, with getting it moving at will get it registerd at the dmv on mon. so I can try to loosen thing up on the non-busy street.
How would I adjust the parking break ?

 

[ah1988ford]

Parking break cable has a good amount of losness to it it sags just a little below the frame where the metal piece is where the cables attach to.
The pedal sags it does not go all the way up when you release it, it will go down 3/4 of the way to the floor when you engage it. The light only goes off when
I prop the pbreak (p)pedal up with my foot sags a couple of inches. It drags everynow and again, I heard something rubing up against the drums when I was going up my drive way and I had to take it to 1500rpm to get it to crawl.

 

[93f250invt]

most have an adjuster nut back where the line branches out to both drums. as i understand it (don't quote me) the sterling is the axle that you can just pull the drum off with out messing with the axle might be better off getting brake cleaner and clean it out first to see if that's the problem rather than risk damaging some thing else if it's not

 

[Sycostang67]

The pedal return spring is probably weak letting your pedal sag and turning on the light. Had that happen on my 86. You will most likely need to remove your drums for some cleaning. Hopefully they aren't to tight so you can get the drums off. The cables can get rusty/dirty where they pass through the backing plate and that will cause them to stick. I have had to use crow bars to unstick them before.

 

[madpogue]

Pull the release lever and pull up on the pedal. Does it move all the way to the up position?

Keep in mind that that light is NOT just, in fact not even primarily, a parking brAKE light. Its primary purpose is to tell you when the hydraulic brakes have failed. So if you manage to get the parking brake pedal up all the way, and the light is still on, you may have a hydraulic problem.

 

[ah1988ford]

The brake light goes off when I lift the parking break pedal up and they dont seem to drag when I do this.
I need to know how to adjust them, so they wont drag.
Right now the parking brake pedal sags it does not spring all the way up when I pull the release it goes up most of the way but sags 1.5-2in.
The parking brake cable when the parking brake is released sags just below the frame at the metal braket thing.