Parking brake pedal not working right, cables good

[mikepier]

Hello, the other day I went to use my emergency brake, and the pedal went all the way to the floor with no resistance . The first thing that came to my mind was that the cable broke, but I checked , and all cables were fine, so this leads me to believe the pedal assembly broke, but I don’t know how to tell. I removed the assembly from the vehicle, the only thing I spotted was a spring in second pic that maybe looked like it broke but not sure, I looked hi and lo online on how to troubleshoot, can’t find anything, can someone give some advice?

 

[97RangerXLT]

Did you try releasing and resetting the brake several times? Mine would go to the floor with no resistance every time I disengaged the parking brake by pulling on the cable. It's got some kind of automatic tensioning system. If after setting and releasing it 3-5 times it's still not working, I'd say that mechanism is bad and you'll want to replace the unit.

 

[mikepier]

Ok , we’ll i got a new OEM pedal assembly, went to install it, same issue. So it’s not the pedal, it has something to do with the length of the other cables changed, it’s like a foot extra slack someplace.
The middle cable looks fine, and the 2 rear cables look fine, I don’t think these cables stretched. I’m thinking there was a mounting location where the 2 rear cables are , and it broke off, causing the rear cables to get moved up forward more, causing more slack. I need to look when I get home.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Makes sense! There is a mount point where the two rear cables meet the front cable, maybe that one broke? While you're under there, you may want to pull the rear wheels and check the backing plate condition. There's a pretty bad design flaw which I discovered and fixed on mine. I doubt it's causing your issue, since the cables should tighten up and create tons of resistance in the pedal instead of none.

[SOLVED] 96 Explorer 8.8 Parking Brake Won't Engage

 

[96eb96]

How did you check the rear cables? Did you totally disconnect them and check movement and verify NO binding??

A tech did a state inspection my truck and said we should hire you here. We were talking about the parking brake. He said he spent a whole day on an EX replacing tons of stuff and it still wasn't 100%. You really have to scrutinize the entire mechanism, levers, etc. The link from 97 Ranger is very helpful. It isn't a great system to begin with, and there is wear and tear on the parts too. The aftermarket parts suck too.

This is 1890s technology that they couldn't get right!

 

[mikepier]

I found the issue, it was a rear left broken cable, but I did not see it, it broke inside the rubber housing . I ordered all new cables from Rock Auto.

 

[Hacra]

I have similar issue, with parking brake barely just engaging. I have to press the pedal to the floor for it just to engage. I have adjusted rear brake shoes and they're new.

 

[97RangerXLT]

I have similar issue, with parking brake barely just engaging. I have to press the pedal to the floor for it just to engage. I have adjusted rear brake shoes and they're new.

Did you check out my thread? That sounds exactly like what mine was doing.

 

[Hacra]

Will have to glance at my backing plates