Stainless Steel brake cables?

[david85]

Browsing Fleabay and found this: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Parking-Bra...ash=item544c72b43e:g:9gYAAOSwwdtZ4gA0&vxp=mtr

Then I looked up who ABSCO is: http://www.absco.ca/cables/?lang=en

Last I looked for SS cables, you had to send them out to get sized custom.

Is this for real? Anyone else try them?

 

[david85]

Found the lookup catalog on ABSCO's website:

http://www.absco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Catalogue-cable.pdf

Page 48 shows the listing I needed for my truck.

Front : 6481
Rear Left : 6421
Rear Right : 6491

Couldn't find the front cable online, but was able to find both rear cables which are the real trouble makers. I'll update later when they arrive and I have a chance to install them. Either way, I need new ones and I'm sick of the "Roberts" brand they sell locally (plastic coating tends to de-laminate from the cable and cause a bind).

 

[mblaney]

Just have to say thanks for this! Ordering a complete set for my truck. And Canadian sources too! Found them on Wrenchmonkey.ca and partsmonkey.ca - free shipping in Canada.

Please report back after you install them. And again after another 30 years

 

[david85]

Yeah, its not often that we can find cool stuff right here in Canada. Although technically...it's in Quebec...

 

[compressionignitionrules]

stainless steel park brake cables, definitely interesting in this part of the world! might be worth my efforts for my winter truck I'm building. nothing like having a cable seize up just as you got the trailer loaded and tied down ready to roll.

shipping from Que*rbec won't be a bad either.

 

[david85]

The cables arrived today and I have bad news. The left hand side doesn't fit. The sheath is about 2" longer, while the cable is too short by the same amount. Total difference is nearly 4". No apparent issues with the driver's side yet. Part number on the package matched what I ordered, so I'm not sure what happened.

I am not going to blame the manufacturer yet because I ran into a similar problem years ago when I tried to buy a set of cables from crappy tire. In the end, I managed to salvage the cables I had and left things as they were.

Does anyone know what changes happened on the sterling 10.25 brake cables for later years? The link above does seem to show a different part numbers for 92 up and 85 down. Maybe the part listing I purchased assumes a dana70??? Maybe the rear axle was swapped on my truck?

mblaney, would you mind taking some measurements of your cables when you get around to installing yours?

The quality of the cables appear to be good otherwise. A magnet still grabs the cable, but not as strong as on carbon steel so it appears to be the real deal.

 

[david85]

Well, I never did figure out why the cables didn't fit. I rebuilt them instead.

I have access to 4mm SS cable and hardware normally used for commercial grade railings. It's thicker than the brake cables, but they still fit through the sheath nicely. I did have to drill the end ferrule bushings of the casing but that was about it.

Then I had to hunt around for a return spring for the drum end since the one supplied was too short and too stiff. Some old spring-loaded desk lamps fell victim to my cannibalizing (pack rat FTW!). Once I rebuilt the passenger side, I decided to rebuild the driver's side too. One side got the "updated" spring while I tried to use the supplied spring on the other.

Everything works nice and smooth now but the passenger side ('lamp spring') locks up before the driver's side. Turns out desk lamps used good quality springs...who knew?

I'm a little disappointed the brake cables didn't work properly right out of the box, but I ended up with a better result anyway.

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