Removing Parking Brake Cable

monknomo · 09-02-2010, 10:59 PM

My parking brakes don't work. I think I tracked the problem down to really worn out pads and a rusted through cable housing. I've figured out how to replace the pads, but I can't figure out how to remove the cable. I've got all the nuts and springs off the handbrake end of the cable, and have tried to pull it through the passage in the floor, but I can only get it a few inches through before it jams.

I'm wondering if A) I'm missing something really basic and B) how far does the cable housing go into the floor tube? Mine rusted and flaked away right at the point it connects to the car, and I can't tell if I just have a bunch of cable housing stuck in the floor passage.

I don't really want to resort to heroic measures to pull a cable through a hole...

Grandad#3 · 09-03-2010, 01:14 AM

Hi, You had best better attach an electrician fish wire or a stiff wire to the cable when you pull it back through the tunnel, or you will never get a new cable pulled back to the breaks.

Cheers,
Larry

monknomo · 09-03-2010, 11:27 AM

That's good advice, but not quite what I'm looking for. I'll be sure to attach a follower when I can pull the cable more than a few inches. Maybe a picture will help?

My big question is, should this hole be bigger? Do I have junk jamming it up? Because I don't think I'm capable of pulling the cable through the hole as it stands. What's it supposed to look like? I can't tell, because all I have is the rusted ruins of what used to be a cable end.

Or should I just hit the gym and muscle up?

matthewb · 09-03-2010, 11:34 AM

That rusty piece should pull out of there.. you will probably need to get some good pliers or vice grips to twist on it to break it free. At that point it should all pull out easily. In my experience, I have never needed to pull a fish through. It is one single tube and there should be no issue pushing the new cable end through.

Good luck

monknomo · 09-03-2010, 02:20 PM

Alright, I got it unstuck. I learned a few things, though, which I may as well share to enlighten people like me. Apparently the ferrule on the end of the parking brake cable is pretty big. I mistook it for the tube the cable runs through. So, if I had been on the ball, I could have grabbed the ferrule and just pulled it out. Instead, I grabbed some of the remains of the spring and pulled. I got a lot of the spring out, too, until I broke it off deep inside the ferrule.

So then I jerked and jerked until I worked myself into a stupor on the cable, to no avail. I got frustrated and clipped it, which made removing it pretty easy. Then I drilled a hole through the ferrule, or tried to. After some persuasion with the Dewalt, it popped right off. Surprised the heck out of me.

For those of you who can't tell what is cable and what is car, this part is part of the brake cable:

Next questions: Is the central part of the cable attached to the car with round clips? It kind of looks like on mine, but it is a bit rusty (see a pattern yet?) and I'm having a hard time telling. I don't want to start ripping stuff off at random, so maybe someone has a picture?