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No, please do not readjust the handbrake cable. The cable has not stretched. They do not stretch unless they are at the point of breaking. Pulling that adjustment ever tighter causes the rear shoes to not sit properly on their anchor pin and less efficient braking results.

First bring the rear shoes back into good adjustment by means of the star wheel in the normal fashion--tighten till you can not turn the wheel by hand, then back off just enough to make the wheel nicely free, usually about 10 clicks if all is in good order. That will more than likely bring the e-brake back full effectiveness.

Over the years I have removed and thrown away (with malice and violence) dozens of those little doodads that folks hang on their brake cable to remove "cable stretch". In each case the rear brakes were badly out of adjustment on the order of 30 to 60 clicks. After that was taken care of it was not a problem to achieve good e-brake action with the normal adjustments. As an added bonus, the overall braking of the car was much improved.

Because of this oft repeated scenario, every time I get a new-to-me car in for service, I disconnect the e-brakes at the equalizer, make certain the cables are free, do the normal wheel adjustment with cables slack, then reconnect at the equalizer, tightening the adjustment there just enough to remove all lost motion in the cables.

Excellent advice from Ross, as always. Just a comment - before proceeding as he describes to bring the rear shoes back into good adjustment, make sure there is slack in the e-brake cables, or better yet, drop them free - then proceed with the adjustment of the shoes.

If e-brake problem persists after following all of the above excellent advice then most likely it is BAD e-brake CABLES.

The cables should pull and push rather ez thru the cable housings.

I just recently replaced bad cables on an 88 ford ranger. The cables have to be disconnected from BOTH ends to test them.

Wow! You-all saved me some time. What has been described as a fix will be done at the shop. I do not mess with brakes at all, except for checking the fluid. I should've know to apply this policy to the e-brake as well.

I just have one comment: If the e-brake cable needs to have slack or be removed before adjusting the rear brakes, then it would seem to me that the cable would need to be tightened again after the shoes have been adjusted.

The shop manual seems to have some pretty clear instructions on how to adjust the cable following the brake adjustment.

I'm sure glad I checked in here before just going ahead and wrenching on it.

Thanks to all for sharing this information!

Yep, like all the experienced guys say, set up the whole system per specs for proper operation. I shouldn't have just mentioned the cable tension, like Ross says it's a steel cable and if it is stretching then it is in the process of breaking. Brakes are one of those "holistic" systems (Dude!) where you want to treat the whole body and not just the symptom.

Wow, got all New Agey on you there.

It's all good, man.

Brakes OK. Just can't rely on a Parking Brake in an EMERGENCY!

That's why I'm running without overdrive in any situation where a panic stop may be required around town, up to 40 MPH or so. Then, if I have the presence of mind (and practice this) when or if the brakes fail, I slam it into 2nd (if it isn't already there) Pop the Clutch and Pull the Parking Brake at the same time. After that, it's in the Almighty's hands.

Just can't rely on a Parking Brake in an EMERGENCY!

If you're saying that applying the parking brake can't lock up the rear wheels while you're driving, I suspect it needs some attention. I've tried the parking brake on my '56 while at road speeds and the rear wheels lock up tightly.

Owen_Dyneto Quote:

Hey, I agree with O_D on something! Actually, I agree with Dave (O_D) on quite a few things, but on this one we are totally in sync. I've had the same experience on my 55 Pat.

Craig

Also...when doing a brake shoe replacement, the Service Manual discusses the ominous "Nibs".

I thought this was a bit of overkill however it does make a big difference in the brake shoe alignment to adjust the nibs correctly.

I still dont know what a "Nib" is I do know that this procedure centers the brake shoes in the drum correctly.

Essentially the anchor pin (top pin that the brake shoes are spring loaded to butt into) is not round shaped but it is actually a cam.

When the "Brake Adjustment Major" procedure is followed, it instructs you to tighten the star adjuster until the wheel is "just locked" (I read barely possible to turn by hand) and then loosen the adjustment 6 clicks and now the wheel will spin with just a bit of brake drag.

Then the SM tells you to loosen the anchor pin lock nut and then rotate the anchor pin until the wheel spins freely and then tighten the locking pin (making sure you do not accidentally turn the anchor pin).

Then adjust as Ross recommended.

This made a big deal of difference on my dads car. Prior to this it seemed that I had to loosen the star adjuster way more than the 16 clicks to keep a shoe from sliding on the drum.

Also ensure your primary and secondary shoes are installed correctly so that they "self energize" correctly. I guess I don't know why they don't simply install two shoes with the longer liner so that both are the "secondary" shoe?!?!?