twd3

Im trying to rebuild the parking brake system on a 98 f150. It is supposed to be a self adjusting system. I installed all new cables. There is a lot of slack in the cables and the pedal itself has no tension on it. My question is, is the parking brake pedal supposed to be spring loaded even before the cables are installed or does the tension of the cables and other springs in the system give the pedal its tension. Also, why cant I get the slack out of the cables. They seem to long but the part numbers and the cable lengths are correct?

akdoggie

Does your truck have drum or disc rear brakes? I ran into this yesterday. It will be the right cable that is giving you the grief, not the left. The lefts are all one size. The right has one for the 120wb, 139wb and the 15*wb. Each is different. I needed one for the 120wb and the axle I installed came from a SCrew. It is 12 inches too long. I ordered the correct cable yesterday. If the cable is longer than what is supposed to be, you most likely have the wrong right cable.

I have my take out available if you need a picture of the cables. Once I remembered that the axle I installed came from a SCrew, then I knew I needed a shorter right cable. If you post your truck info and what the number of the cable you tried to install, we can give you the correct number. I'm betting on you having the wrong right cable.

twd3

I have rear drum brakes also 120" wb. When the right cable feeds through the bracket mounted the the drivers side leaf spring, the cable is not mounted to any kind of bracket so the cable is free to move which sort of makes the cable longer or shorter if it is not held down with a bracket like the one on the top or the rear dif housing. I hope Im making sense.

akdoggie

There is a bracket mounted to the left front spring mount that the right and left go thru. If you need a picture, I'll take one for you.

akdoggie

here is a picture of the cables thru the mounting bracket and how they are attached to the rest. Don't forget the spring that goes on the remote bracket and attaches to the main bracket.

twd3

Thank you for the pictures. Do you know if the foot pedal is spring loaded even if no cable is connected to it or do the springs within the parking brake system bring the parking brake pedal all the way up when the release lever is pulled? The right brake cable they sold me is 110.35" long with a 91" conduit length.Is this the correct one to the best of your knowledge. Again, it just seems like there is to much slack in the cables and ford will not help at all unless I take it to them.

akdoggie

No it's not spring loaded that I remember. The cable pulls the pedal up with the tension caused by them. Do you have your equalizer bar hooked up correctly. If not, it will not put the tension on the cable correctly. The small spring hooks to the equalizer bar and then to the spring perch mount. This will hold your cables in the correct position to hook the locking clip over the rear main (rt side) cable. Make sure you pull your lower front cable towards the back and use a vice grip like pliers to hold the cable out. This will make hooking up the rear cables to the intermediate cable.

akdoggie

I just double checked your cable and those are the correct dimensions from Ford. I read aftermarket parts after I check with my Ford books. I'm an old Ford parts/service/warranty person, so I always double check.

It can only mean, since you have the right parts, that you don't have the equalizer bar hooked up correctly. The left cable fits into the right hole on the left rear (front of) spring bracket. The right side goes thru the other hole, then the e-bar goes over that and down to where the casing is. The left side fits into the other end of the e-bar, and the spring goes on then. You now should have your one cable sticking out and should fit into the intermediate cable without problems. It's the e-bar and the spring that make this work correctly. Missing either will give you a problem tying this all together.