Welp, there's two things preventing my car from passing a safety check: 1) turn signal not working and 2) parking brakes not working.

PARKING BRAKES!!

So here's what I did today:

Put the car up on jackstands. Released the parking brake. Released tension on the parking brake adjuster under the car. Took the wheels and drums off. Checked to see if the parking cable is still hooked up to the shoes.... OK.

Adjusted the brakes by hand by turning the drum brake adjuster wheels to push the shoes outward... and when they were too tight, I'd turn them to slowly bring the shoes back in, until the drums barely fit... Put them drums back on, and the wheels. Let the car back down, and put tension on the parking brake cable. As it stands now the nut can't be turned much more to tighten the cable; The handbrake feels tight when I pull on it.

In Neutral, the car does not move, only unless I push on it - it will stop the car on a very slight incline. In Drive and Reverse, the parking brake does not hold at all, even though it feels like there's a crapload of tension on the cable.

I've had this problem for awhile, and I'd really like to get it fixed. Any insight as to why this isn't working?

You don't say what car you're working on so it's kind of hard to be specific. I'm going to assume a typical A-body car. It's possible that one or more of the cables has stretched. Under the car the main cable from the parking lever hooks to a cross cable that goes to the parking brake mechanism on either wheel. The clip that hooks the front cable to the cross cable has an adjusting screw in it. It will probably be coated with rust and/or undercoating so you'll need to clean it and hit it with penetrant such as PB Blaster. One it's clean and free to turn, just screw it in to take up excess slack in the cable system.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

On my cars it was always the rear cables rusting up inside the sleeve. Every year at inspection time I would have to remove them to work on the bench getting them freed up and lubed then reinstalled. Finally I got new ones.

Yes, it sounds like the rear cables are stuck in their sleeves.
I just went through this on a 64 Valiant that had been sitting for 20 years.
We pulled out the cables, sprayed them with PB Blaster, worked them back & forth a million times and reinstalled.
The ebrake now works.
DD

my bad guys - it's a 1965 plymouth valiant 200 with a 76 duster 7.25 rear end. the parking brake cable is from the 65.

The suggestions above are still valid for that combination of parts.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Take the drums off, then apply the P brake. Did the shoes move? Release the brake. Did the shoes move back? If so the cables are not frozen. If the cables are not frozen, you can take the nut off the adjuster at the front of the cable and add some spacers to make the cable tighter when you adjust it. If the cables are stretched, this is a temporary fix, but it should get you through inspection.

TopHat

thanks for the reply guys. i'll take everything said under consideration. the washers are a great idea for getting more tension on the cable, although, i'm beginning to think the cables are not actually pulling on the brakes. i'll take a look at it tomorrow.

aloha,
matt

Oh...
If the cables from the old 65 rearend were not swapped over, then the 75 E-brake cables coming out of the backing plates are to long.

I have fixed this by using a small cable clamp and either putting a loop in the "V" cable or connecting the legs of the "V" right after it comes-off the adjuster's "U" bracket". The only trouble with this fix is those "wire rope" cable clamps will permently smash down and kink your "V" cable.
DD

If I remember correctly, the cables from the 65 were used. The 76 duster cables were a lot longer so we swapped in the cables from the 65. I THINK. It was awhile ago and I remember buying the parts from Duster Idiot back in 2001 or 2002. Sometime this week I want to attempt the PB Blaster method - I have a feeling the cables are seized up in the housing, because the front half of the cabling is tight as all hell and yet the parking brakes are unresponsive.