Automatic tensioning parking brake adjustment

[Selahdoor]

Let me start this out with... I am not positive this is a problem yet. I'll find out soon enough.

But, the problem explained...

My brakes were completely rebuilt. All new components. I mean ALL new components.

When they went to put the parking brake cables on, they were too short.


What I am thinking is that mine has the auto tensioning assembly.

Now maybe it has had the plastic piece added, maybe not. (The plastic piece stops the auto tensioning function from happening any more.)

But even if the plastic piece was put in there, there's no guarantee that it hadn't already been tensioned some before the piece was put in.

It's already cold enough out there that I don't really want to go out there and crawl around working on tis, without having some knowledge ahead of time.

What I need to know...

I know I can take the plastic piece out. (Then put it back, when I am finished.)

But does anyone know how I can release the tension on that assembly, and let the cable back out, after the plastic piece is removed?

 

[chillman88]

Everything I've read on the matter basically said pull hard and it should release (after the clip is removed). Not sure I really believe that but that's what I've read. My truck has a good old fashioned screw adjustment under the bed.

 

[Selahdoor]

Gonna have to imitate Rosanne Rosannadanna again... Never mind.

Mine doesn't have the plastic piece, or even a place for the plastic piece.

 

[chillman88]

Sounds like you need a turnbuckle and some cable clamps from the hardware store

 

[Selahdoor]

I don't know dude. Maybe I am going crazy.

Not sure now, whether I have that, or not.

I looked at the pic that I posted . (It's from the thread I linked earlier.) Realized that the pic was from a different angle than I had been looking. Went and looked again, and took a pic....

Maybe I do have that, after all.

Now I've got to go back out with some brake clean, and a really good light!!! (Old eyes. Old memory. Presumably, old attention to details. )

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[79jasper]

It still has a ton of tension. Brake has to be fully released as well.
I might have used a ratchet strap. Or vicegrips clamped on the cable and a screwdriver to pry it out.

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[Selahdoor]

Ok, a couple of things.

No plastic. (So, I wasn't mistaken, or crazy.)

But where the plastic would be, is a solid chunk of steel flatbar, that is shaped into a sort of pawl.

The part I have outlined in green, is just this half of that bar. It pivots on a bolt in the center.

The other end is shaped into a sort of hook, that is pulled by a spring, up into the teeth on the cable reel assembly.

If you pry on that, either direction, on either end, you can't get it to move.

But if you pull out on the release handle, then pull up as hard as you can, on the pedal... That pawl end pulls against the spring, and out of the teeth of the cable reel assembly.

I am assuming this is how the tension is released on this thing. Especially since, after doing so, I was able to pull down on the cable under the truck, quite a bit further than I had been able to, before.

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[Selahdoor]

Second thing... I don't think that my pedal goes down any more than 2/3 of the travel that is obvious in the other pic. It certainly doesn't get anywhere near the floor.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Second thing... I don't think that my pedal goes down any more than 2/3 of the travel that is obvious in the other pic. It certainly doesn't get anywhere near the floor.

Admittedly, I never use my parking brakes and may be off on this, but isn't that a good thing? If it goes all the way to the floor, don't you need to adjust your rear brakes, parking brake, or both?

 

[Selahdoor]

Yes, if your brakes are hooked up and working. Mine aren't even hooked up.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Yes, if your brakes are hooked up and working. Mine aren't even hooked up.

Ok. Gotcha! That doesn't sound right then. It should go to the floor. When I had a friend and his step son here to go deer hunting several years ago, I let him drive my Bronco with a ZF5 a ways so that I could try to push some deer to them. He gave me some hell for not telling him that the parking brake didn't work (I didn't bother to hook it up). He said that he thought the pedal was going to go through the floor. I told him to just shut it off in gear. Yes, the pedal went clear to the floor on my old 1986 Bronco.

 

[79jasper]

Buy a new one, or grab one from a P'N'P.
You can pull it out and have a look to see what the problem is.

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[Selahdoor]

Eventually I'll pull it out and have a look.

 

[smithman]

I had the exact same problem with my truck. The cable seemed about 4 inches short after rebuild. Here is what I did.

I removed the parking brake assembly from the cab. Cleaned it and lubed it where possible. I didn't have the white clip.
I put the cable into a bench vise. Bench press the assembly away from you and see the internal torsion spring rotate. Prepare a drill bit in your hand. Bench press it again all the way away. Put the drill bit into the assembly to lock it at the end of travel.
Reinstall the assembly in the truck. Attach the coupler between the intermediate cable and the front cable from the assembly. Pull the drill bit out and all the tension will be released. Take the truck out and do a few hard braking cycles in reverse. Then test your brake.
Mine only goes halfway to the floor, grabs like a mother, and doesn't drag during driving.
I think it could be possible to do this on the truck using a come along or something to pull hard enough on the front cable.

This assumes that the rest of the brake components like the lever inside the drums are OK.

There may be other ways to accomplish this but I can only recommend what worked for me.

 

[Selahdoor]

I was able to pull so much cable today, that I am not convinced their problem was that the cables were too short.

I think maybe their problem was the same as what is outlined in a new thread I have.

I'll find out tomorrow exactly what the problem was/is.

But I don't think it is because there isn't enough cable...