curtis73

02 F150-7700.

I just did a complete brake job. The previous owner let the rear pads wear off and gouged the rotors, and the fronts were pulsing badly. The parking brake was also very ineffective. So here is what I did:

Front rotors and pads
Rear rotors, pads, parking brake shoes (the old ones had no friction material) and hardware.

I also removed the lever for the parking brake (the part that the cable attaches to) and disassembled, cleaned with a wire wheel, lubed with brake grease, and reassembled.

No matter what I do, the parking brake will not work well. I have adjusted them so many times. Right now they are adjusted too tight and on damp days I can hear them whining when I first start out, and they still won't hold the truck even if I jam the pedal down as hard as I can.

What am I missing?

w0lvez

The Parking Brake uses a Brake Shoe.

white89gt

Did you replace the parking brake shoes? They are notorious for the friction material falling off.

w0lvez

if the brake shoe friction material is contaminated with oil or grease you need to replace it.

w0lvez

Maybe the new model use the same cable like the one they used on rear door.

Tackle

Mine behave the same way. I can park on a slope and the parking brake won't hold the truck, yet it will make noise when parked in a damp area for a few hours. I've tinkered with them at least a dozen times. A couple wheel rotations and they make no noise (parking brake only). Didn't start until I replaced hardware. I don't worry about it.

Frank_Ford

I am suspecting that your parking brake cable is stretched out and when you set the brake your cable stretches instead of activating your parking brake. Also, double check the movement of the parking brake cable and make sure the brake cable activates the brake pads.

curtis73

Yup. I replaced them.

grizzstang

Your parking brake cables are most likely partially seized. Mine were with less than 70,000 miles on the clock. I ended up replacing both cables to the wheels. The brake peddle cable that ends under the drivers side cab was good. I could only find the cables through Ford at the time and they were not cheap from what I remember.

Jbrew

The parking brakes were more trouble than they were worth on the 98. I offed them back in 2001, just 3 years after purchasing the truck. I've never had a use for them and if by chance I or someone else used them on the truck, they either stuck or hung up half way. With the winters and the salt here, keeping them functioning correctly was a chore.