Editing Emergency brake cable replacement

For help in replacing the emergency brake cable, there are online diagrams like seen at NAPA and AutoZone, or from manuals like from Motors, Peterson, Chilton, Mitchell, Perkins, etc. Not much has changed in the area of drum brakes over the years. If the cable end at the wheel is hanging down, it means it is not connected to the actuator arm/linkage. You can operate a vehicle without the emergency (parking) brake, but obviously it's better (safer) to have a functional emergency brake. The emergency brakes may become out of adjustment, the cable can seize up from disuse and road salts in northern climes, or it may have been left disconnected by someone working on it who was inexperienced. See the images below of the 1955 Chevy pick up. The color photos of the parts are from a '66 truck. [[File:55chevy_brakes_1.jpg|600px]] [[File:66chevy_brakes.jpg|400px]] <br style="clear:both"/> One of the main difficulties people face when working on parking brake cables is getting them off. The cable housings are very often retained in the brake backing plate (and sometimes brackets on the chassis also) by a set of metal "fingers" that hold the cable in its opening. You can pry the fingers one by one while wiggling the cable to get it loose but it's akin to mild torture. There are specialty tools that work pretty well but you may not want to buy one just for one or two cables. One simple method is to use a closed-end 12 point wrench. If one end of the cable is loose, slip the wrench over it and down to the fingers. Wiggle the wrench down onto the fingers then twist it back and forth like you are loosening a nut while pulling the cable with your other hand. Most of the time this works very well. If the cable retainer isn't accessible with a closed end wrench, you can try using a small hose clamp to compress the fingers. Key being tightening the clamp just enough to pull the fingers in but not so tight you can't pull the cable on through. ==Resources== *1966 GM 1/2 ton pick up [http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/drumbrake drum brake assembly]] *[http://www.truckforum.org/ truckforum.org] [[Category:Brakes]] [[Category:Undeveloped articles]] [[Category:Undeveloped Brakes articles]]

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