Broken E-brake cable

[8950HO]

The emergency brake cable that goes from the lever to the equalizer just broke on my 89.
This is the short cable.

Just wondering if anyone has done this and how much of a pita resetting the spring tension on the hand brake assembly is and how hard it is to reconnect the cable?

Not looking forward to this .

 

[Dayzed50]

It's not too big of a pita, but you do have to remove part of your center console. The e-brake cable has a fitting on the end which sits into a slot on the handle assembly, and is tensioned by a spring loaded rotary assembly. You can rotate it with hand pressure so no special tools should be needed, and as far as I could tell there are no adjustments that can be made, it is how it is. Dig in to it and you'll see how it works. Also, I would recommend drilling two thru holes and bolting the two rear floor pan to equalizer tabs to the floor, as over time the spot welds brake and the bracket bends forward, losing cable tension and contacting the driveshaft if your lowered. The floor is too thin to re-weld. I figure once your there a little preventative maintenance is worth the extra effort.

 

[8950HO]

Thanks.
Were you able to reset the spring tension without removing the hand brake assembly?

My Ford shop manual say`s to remove it to reset the spring tension.

 

[Dayzed50]

i did not have to remove the assembly to reset the tension, I just spun it by hand, though I'm not certain if you need to remove it to feed the new cable thru the floor. my equalizer broke when I lost tension, not the cable itself

 

[Shakerhood]

It's not too big of a pita, but you do have to remove part of your center console. The e-brake cable has a fitting on the end which sits into a slot on the handle assembly, and is tensioned by a spring loaded rotary assembly. You can rotate it with hand pressure so no special tools should be needed, and as far as I could tell there are no adjustments that can be made, it is how it is. Dig in to it and you'll see how it works. Also, I would recommend drilling two thru holes and bolting the two rear floor pan to equalizer tabs to the floor, as over time the spot welds brake and the bracket bends forward, losing cable tension and contacting the driveshaft if your lowered. The floor is too thin to re-weld. I figure once your there a little preventative maintenance is worth the extra effort.

The bracket on the underside is a 1993 ONLY Fox Issue, 87-92s have a different set up. It might be possible to regain spring tension with it in the car, but probably would be harder than just taking the 2 bolts out.

 

[Dayzed50]

The bracket on the underside is a 1993 ONLY Fox Issue, 87-92s have a different set up.

This is correct. Myself and a couple friends all own '93s so I forget the earliers do run a different bracket.

 

[Shakerhood]

Actually there is no bracket, just the Equalizer Bar and then the cables hook to that and then go back through those Football shaped pieces and then above the Torque Boxes and back to the wheels.

 

[vikingpower]

Resetting the spring in the handle is a serious pain in the ass, other than that its pretty straight forward

 

[Shakerhood]

Resetting the spring in the handle is a serious pain in the ass, other than that its pretty straight forward

If I remember correct, once you get tension in the spring you can stick a nail through the handle to hold the tension while you put it back in place.

 

[Ryano]

If I remember correct, once you get tension in the spring you can stick a nail through the handle to hold the tension while you put it back in place.

good post!

I have a question,Some of you guys here have reset the tention in the hand brake. When you disconnected the short front cable from the equlizer, did the cable then suck into the reel in the hand brake or just drop? an anolgy of what I am talking about is sometimes seen a lawn mower engines with pull start, the rope does not go all the way back into its reel (not enough tention or rope binding,streched) but on the other hand well working ones suck the rope up just fine.

I read where one of you rewound the parking brake by hand (if needed) can this be done with the short cable still attcheted, or do you remove the cable re-wind the spring then re=attach the short cable.

 

[8950HO]

good post!

I have a question,Some of you guys here have reset the tention in the hand brake. When you disconnected the short front cable from the equlizer, did the cable then suck into the reel in the hand brake or just drop? an anolgy of what I am talking about is sometimes seen a lawn mower engines with pull start, the rope does not go all the way back into its reel (not enough tention or rope binding,streched) but on the other hand well working ones suck the rope up just fine.

I read where one of you rewound the parking brake by hand (if needed) can this be done with the short cable still attcheted, or do you remove the cable re-wind the spring then re=attach the short cable.

Mine broke at the equalizer bar and the rest of the cable got sucked into the reel,then the equalizer bar and cables rubbed on the driveshaft.

Rewinding the spring is easy if you put the handbrake assembly in a vise then use the short cable to pull on the reel until you can line up the small holes provided and pass a nail through to hold the tension in place.

Then install the handbrake lever and cable in the car,reconnect the cables to the equalizer then twist out the nail and bang,it`s set up.


If the short cable is NOT broken and you want to disconnect it,you need another person under the car to pull on the equalizer,while the other person inserts the nail in the handle to hold to spring tension.

If you don`t do this you will loose the tension and have to rewind it.

 

[Ryano]

ok I get all that!
What bothers me is when I disconnect the short cable from the equlizer it dosent get sucked back toward the floorboard, i'm doing this with nothing holding reel to keep it from getting sucked up. My understanding is that the stock hand brake keeps continous pull on this short cable,even when to the park brake lever is full off. thats what the self adjusting feature is. The way mine is now sorta reminds me of a old lawn mower we had that had the pull start rope hanging out 3 or 4 inches. It would work but not very well.

 

[8950HO]

What bothers me is when I disconnect the short cable from the equlizer it dosent get sucked back toward the floorboard, i'm doing this with nothing holding reel to keep it from getting sucked up.


You have to install the nail in the handle to hold the spring tension to stop it from being sucked up.Takes 2 people if the cable isn`t broken.

I haven`t tried disconnecting the two cables at the equalizer bar under spring tension,but I doubt it`s easy if possible.

 

[Ryano]

I got the new cable in and connected to the handbrake reel, I replaced all the brake cables. It looks to me there is to much tention! Its causing my e-brake not to release all the way. Im going to see if I can unwind the reel 1 turn and see what happens.

How you doing with yours?

I have a 95! To get where I could pull back on the short cable I had to remove a metal bracket on top the handbrake lever. Then I could pull on cable to stick in the nail.

 

[Ryano]

I took this thing all apart and did some snooping around on how it works.
What im talking about here is a handbrake of a 95 Mustang ! Not all Mustangs have the same handbrake so to be sure we are operating from the same page compare and you decide, if this is for yours.

First off my handbrake has a bracket made of metal that fits over the top of the handle, its held in place by a screw, I painted it orange! This bracket locks spring tension where the teeth meet and does not allow tension beyond the hand lever while it in the off position.

None of what I just explained is in the Hayes Manual that I have! “Ford Mustang , 1994-2003” Chapter 9, Page 9-17, Brakes, shows a picture of a brake lever that is different from mine it has no removable bracket. In its procedure, #10 “Parking Brake Cables-replacement”, there is no mention of the bracket that must be removed in order to release the rear brake cables from the equilizer. For me I just removed the bracket pull on the front cable and use a nail to lock the reel in place, then remove the cables.

Now for adjusting the cable slack pull the nail with the new cables in place! (bracket still not attcheted) We are almost there. I measured the tension in the cable to see what it was, The fish scale I used read 41/2 pounds of tension. I now replaced the bracket, to get it to go on you must place the praw into the first tooth of the gear and then place the bracket on ! NOW THERE IS 1/2 PD OF PREASURE ON THE CABLE. If I didnt do
this the brake would have been parshely applyed ! It Would drag slightly.

I can tell you it takes about 12 lbs of pressure on the cable to pull the reel inside the brake mechanism to place a nail through the holes and spring to lock it in place. It take about 1/2 turn of the reel to line up the holes for the nail. I used a old front brake cable to pull the reel to position for the nail. Just to find out how much recoil there was I let it un-wind, it was only 1 turn.

 

[8950HO]

If your car is a 95 you have rear disc I believe.

My 89 has drum brakes in the rear.

It takes less than 1 turn to rewind the spring on mine and the tension is pretty heavy.

The slight drag of the rear brakes is likely normal on your rear disc brakes.

With disc brakes,the pads are usually slightly in contact with the rotor even when the brakes are released.

 

[Shakerhood]

I took this thing all apart and did some snooping around on how it works.
What im talking about here is a handbrake of a 95 Mustang ! Not all Mustangs have the same handbrake so to be sure we are operating from the same page compare and you decide, if this is for yours.

First off my handbrake has a bracket made of metal that fits over the top of the handle, its held in place by a screw, I painted it orange! This bracket locks spring tension where the teeth meet and does not allow tension beyond the hand lever while it in the off position.

None of what I just explained is in the Hayes Manual that I have! “Ford Mustang , 1994-2003” Chapter 9, Page 9-17, Brakes, shows a picture of a brake lever that is different from mine it has no removable bracket. In its procedure, #10 “Parking Brake Cables-replacement”, there is no mention of the bracket that must be removed in order to release the rear brake cables from the equilizer. For me I just removed the bracket pull on the front cable and use a nail to lock the reel in place, then remove the cables.

Now for adjusting the cable slack pull the nail with the new cables in place! (bracket still not attcheted) We are almost there. I measured the tension in the cable to see what it was, The fish scale I used read 41/2 pounds of tension. I now replaced the bracket, to get it to go on you must place the praw into the first tooth of the gear and then place the bracket on ! NOW THERE IS 1/2 PD OF PREASURE ON THE CABLE. If I didnt do
this the brake would have been parshely applyed ! It Would drag slightly.

I can tell you it takes about 12 lbs of pressure on the cable to pull the reel inside the brake mechanism to place a nail through the holes and spring to lock it in place. It take about 1/2 turn of the reel to line up the holes for the nail. I used a old front brake cable to pull the reel to position for the nail. Just to find out how much recoil there was I let it un-wind, it was only 1 turn.

The Handbrake Assembly is Exactly the same from 87-98 except for the Leather Handle.

 

[Ryano]

If your car is a 95 you have rear disc I believe.

My 89 has drum brakes in the rear.

It takes less than 1 turn to rewind the spring on mine and the tension is pretty heavy.

The slight drag of the rear brakes is likely normal on your rear disc brakes.

With disc brakes,the pads are usually slightly in contact with the rotor even when the brakes are released.

Does your 89 have the bracket that mine has (painted orange)?

Reason I ask is we bought the car second hand and dont know its history for sure. We took the car to Ford and thay told us that are car was not part of the recall, it only effected some Mustangs. The description of the recall says:

"Corrective Action: Dealers will modify the parking brake control and install a plate or over-bracket to the control to lock the self adjust mechanism in position following adjustment. "

I was thinking that maybe this bracket I have (painted orange) is the same bracket mentioned in the recall.



With the handbrake installed again the brakes do drag slightly, watching the e-brake levers at the rear on drivers side shows that thay dont open 100%, I would say 85% is what I get when releasing the parking brake, I can pry with screw driver fairly easly to get the 100%. I think there must be some kind of binding enternaly in the Caliper bracket where it meets the Caliper piston. Alot of unknowen area for me. These brake are a PIA!

 

[8950HO]

I`m pretty sure mine doesn`t have that bracket you mention.
Don`t recall seeing anything like that on mine.

 

[Shakerhood]

I have never seen that Orange Bracket before, that makes sense that they would have them colored Orange as they could easily see if the recall had been performed. If you rear brakes are still dragging you can install the Ford Racing short cable, cut the Spring and weld the pawl and then you would have it set for manual adjustment.