Parking Brake Mystery...Any Ideas?

[Asmoday]

Hello all...So I leave the house this AM for work. I back out my truck, park it for a minute and put the parking brake on...everything normal. I drive to work, park, press down on the parking brake foot lever and it goes all the way to the floor. Bummer.

So I figure one of the cables snapped....but....no. I get it home and start checking everything. First I check the cable at the foot lever. The collar is still attached and when I press the foot lever it pull the cable correctly. The I insepct everything underneath and everything looks fine. Nothing appears broke or like anything slipped. I pull the wheels off, pull the drums and inspect the parking brake levers. Both cables are attached and working fine when I press the pedal. If I press the foot lever down about half way and then get under the truck and pull on the main cable coming from the cab...it will loosen up....

I can't find anything wrong but sure enough when I press the parking brake foot lever...It starts to tension and then when it gets to about where it used to get full tension it just feels like it slips and goes all the way to the floor...

I am completely dumbfounded....????

Any ideas?

 

[rlwm211]

Your front parking brake cable has partially broken. In essence it is acting like a rubber band.

The check is to cllamp the cable against a bracket after it emerges from the front cable housing and then pull on the rear section and watch the action in the equalizer where the two rear cables connect with the front cable.

If you can tighten up the rear brakes and the cable holds tension the front cable is bad.

The front cable housing is exposed to more road spray and corrosives than the rear because of the proximity to the front tire.