E-Brake issues

[LA350]

I took apart my ebrake assy noticed that the cable was real slack. Pulled the wheels and the drum and noticed that the brake assy had frozen. Some brake cleaner, lube and some working of the assy freed it up and the slack in the cable was gone. My son adjusted everything for me and we remounted the tires. Took a drive to the Wal-Mart. Stopped applied the ebrake. Nothing. Went to pull the release handle. Nothing.

Taking off in first I could feel the drag of the brake as I let off the gas. Left for home, stopped at the gas station and as I was creeping along I could really feel the brakes dragging. Is this the cable rusted up inside the housing?

I guess I will have to rebuild the brakes. The pads were looking a bit worn, but still had plenty of miles left on them. My son was telling me of the 5 points that need to be lubed when performing the brake rebuild and that this was the cause of skipping the lube. We figured that the lubing we gave it broke everything loose, as it was moving freely.

I was pretty pissed after the brake failed to engage. Needless to say.

 

[KR69IDI]

My truck is a little older than yours, but I recently went through a similar situation. On my truck, I set the park brake and the pedel would not come back up. Turns out that the cables had corroded internally and would not release. I ended up changing both cables and problem solved. Hope this helps.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Your cables are frozen internally from not being used enough.

Install new cables.

Make sure both cables are same brand, same grade; otherwise, they will differ in length a little and one side will have to do all the work.

Park-brakes should be set, EVERY-TIME the truck is parked, else they will corrode and refuse to function.

This is one case where something will last much longer by being used more.

 

[Agnem]

+1 on what he said. Use it or loose it. The springs on the cable inside the drum are not strong enough to overcome the bad cable, and usually no amount of working it back and forth will restore it to good service.

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

another trick I have learned on the 92 up trucks with the self adjusting ebrake pedal is to add pull back spring from the equalizer to the bracket to where the cable mount, have done this on 3 of my trucks as well as a few customers, works well.
dont use too heavy of pressure though or it will reset the pedal each time.

 

[LA350]

Thanks fellas! I am going to the parts store @ lunch. This truck had sat for extended periods due to my FIL's failing eyesight.