DIY parking brake fallout

[Lanerious]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Unfortunately my first post is me begging for advice. It's a long story, but suffice it to say, my parking brake equalizer became disconnected from the left rear and right rear parking brake cables. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get sufficient slack on either the output cable (which connects to the lever on one end and has the equalizer dangling at the other end) or on the left or right rear cables. I'm completely at a loss and would love some input! Thanks in advance.

[Lanerious]

Bumping with a little more info. Hoping for input if anyone has any. It seems the issue is that I can't get the cable that's connected to the handbrake to reach the cables that go to the left and right rear brakes (I have rear drums if it matters). When I pull the cable that's connected to the handbrake as far as possible towards the two e-brake cables I'm a good 4 inches or so away. I feel like there's got to be some way to loosen the handbrake cable up to get it to move where I need it, but I can't figure it out. Would love input if anyone knows what I'm missing (or is the handbrake assembly busted? Everything looks fine in there, but not sure). Thanks!

[rob302]

Try this: Drum brake replacement Parking brake cable

Lmk if it helps. If not i can look it up. There was a longer more painstaking process on here somewhere... Can't seem to find it using my phone though. anyways the process on that link sounds better and less involved

[Lanerious]

Thanks for the reply! The thread you linked is actually exactly what I did, but when I pulled back on the single cable the two rear cables came disconnected from the equalizer which is linked to the single cable (which then goes to the handbrake). I clearly did something wrong. Now the pickle I find myself in is that I can't figure out how to get enough slack on the single cable/equalizer side to reconnected to the two rear cables.

[rob302]

is this how your looks?
Capture.jpg
this is how mine looks with the spring unwound. (i sent someone on here the cable)



if so, you will need to rewind the spring and insert the punch as shown below(3), and then try it again.


there are no instructions that i see on how to re-wind it, just a fairly stern warning to insert the punch to prevent the 19lb spring from unwinding

second pic is from here:
http://www.justanswer.com/chrysler/3...ar-brakes.html
which is exactly the same as what alldata shows

[Lanerious]

Ahh, I think we're getting somewhere. My handbrake is still mounted to the floor, so I'm not sure what it looks like from that side. It does sound like the spring needs to be rewound, but I'm having trouble picturing it. There's a coil of what looks like thin plastic that's wrapped around itself with a bent tip that hooks onto part of the handbrake assembly. Is that what I'm trying to tighten back up? Any idea how to rewind it? Thanks again for the help.

[Fk5]

Maybe I didn't follow this correctly, but if the rear cables fell off when you extended it, it seems it went back far enough and maybe you have to look at whether the rear cables are getting far enough forward?

[Lanerious]

I don't think the issue is with the rear cables. I believe they came disconnected because, while pulling the single cable back in an attempt to remove tension I think I lifted up slightly which allowed the rear cables to come out of the bottom of the equalizer. It appears the solution is going to be to get that spring rewound. I'm just not sure 1) precisely what the clock spring is (is it the coiled plastic rope), and 2) how to rewind it. Currently the single cable which comes from the handbrake doesn't even clear the metal crossbar that supports the front seats. All the diagrams I've seen have shown the single cable extending well behind this piece and connecting up with the rear cables fairly close to the rear window controls at the back of the console.

[VsandFords]

I just want to throw in a big WELCOME to the forum.

[Lanerious]

Thanks V! If I can get this parking brake thing figured out, then I'll have the old girl back in tip-top shape. '02 Limited, Taupe Frost Metallic (i.e. gray) with woody, ~118,000 miles so hopefully many, many more miles left in her.