stoshu

My parking brake wasn't doing anything so, I made an adjustment to tighten the brake cable. Apparently I over tightened it so the car wouldn't roll at all when in neutral. I backed off the adjustment a little so as to allow the truck to move when the brake is not on and the car is in neutral. Problem is now the brake doesn't do enough when engaged.

It seems to me that the cables have stretched to their limits and need to be replaced, what exactly do I need to buy to replace all the cables?

I can't seem to figure out based on the internet what exactly I need in cables? Left and Right rear? Is there a front cable?

dbsoundman

On the 88 I have I know there is a front cable that hooks up to the rear cable just to the passenger's side of center under the truck, almost under the passenger's seat. There's a little hinged bracket type thing that gets pulled forward by the front brake cable when the handle is pulled. I've got the Haynes manual at home and it covers the newer trucks as well if you need some diagrams, do you have the pull-up style handle brake, or the old kind that pulls out from the dash? I haven't been up close with a newer truck yet so I don't know what the interior is like.

stoshu

Thanks dbsoundman!

I'm basically familiar with how the system work. It's odd though, when I got to Auto Zone or some place it seems like they only stock the "rear" right and left cable. I'll have to keep looking.

I have the pull up style parking brake.

dbsoundman

I'd check Napa's website, they generally have more parts I've found. I needed a front cable for my 88, and the entire Napa franchise had one in the entire country, and special ordered it to my store for me!

stoshu

ok cool, i'll check it out.

SPEEDO

usually the problem is in the rt and or lt cables, not the front... thats why your not finding it (frt cable)

smj999smj

Did you adjust the rear brake shoes before you tried adjusting the cable?

Grug

I think smj. has a great question. Did you have the rear drums off and do any work / maintenance?

The proper working of the parking brake hinges on the adjustment of the rear brake components. (I found out the hard way on my '93 HB.)

smj999smj

Even if the drum wasn't off...properly adjusting the parking brake requires adjusting the rear brakes, first, if it is a drum brake setup. While they have "self-adjusters," they still require periodic adjustment.

stoshu

Speeo, thats exactly what I was wondering. Thanks!

Good point all.

I made an assumption based on the fact that the cables were possibly never tightened and the rear brakes do have an "automatic" adjustment. One other thing I noticed was when I release the brake lever (since I've tightened it), it goes totally loose my rear brakes still grab a bit, enough to stop the truck if released on a gentle hill. So my feeling was, if after I tightened the cables the brake lever doesn't grab enough when fully engaged and grab's some when released the cable's must have been stretched past the point of adjustment.