My parking brake snapped, any ideas?

Also, my parking brake light is stuck on as well as the rear abs light. Not sure if the abs light is related or not.

 

The cable broke? That's typical of an old cable especially in the rust belt. Replace the cable and see if the lights go out. That usually solves things when they get fixed..

 

once you replace the cable(i would do both) the brake light will go out. in the mean time, you can tie the park brake pedal up and it will turn the light out.

the abs light has nothing to do with the park brake system.

 

Yeah, I ordered the right and left ones.

 

get 2 cases of beer, 30 lbs of ice, a big box of band-aids and some antiseptic cream.

trust me, you will need all of those.
the beer for pain killers, the antiseptic cream to keep infections down, band-aids to keep the blood in you, and the ice to keep the pain killers cool, and to use on the injured areas to help keep the swelling down.

 

Hahaha...thanks for the advice!

 

Best advise for working on any truck in the rust belt.

 

see that?? and you thought i was kidding.

 

Found it amusing?...... yup! Thought you where kidding?............. nope, not for a second!

Them'll be real fun to change. Wear safety glasses save on them eye ***** too!

 

they really ain't that bad to change.
i find the hardest part is getting the old cable out of the backing plate

 

Easy, instead of trying to push those three tabs down at the same time to remove the cable, take a small screwdriver and bend them backwards. They will snap right off then the cable slides right out.

 

Got both cables installed; really wasn't all that bad. Any tips on adjust the tension on them? How tight should they be?

 

tension adjuster is on the front cable.
tighten the nut on the rod that goes through the plate you hooked the cables to.