How come there seems to be so little information in this forum regarding the replacement of the front parking brake cable assembly?
I have seen plenty of people ask like myself over the years but gotten few responses.
Is this an big mystery area?
I just had the front cable break on my 2000 F250 superduty.
Because it's a manual transmission I use the parking brake all the time.
the other week I went to use it and "bamm" the pedal went to the floor. when I looked at it the very front cable had broken off the anchor on the front of the cable where it hooks into the parking brake pedal assembly.
I was able to get the new cable run thru the floor board and re-attached to the pedal assembly but now it is about 2" short of hooking into the cable connector that ties the front cable to the mid cable.
All the Hayne's manual tells is when replacing the cable to have someone pull down on the cable from underneath releasing the tension while you put a drill bit in a hole some were in the pedal area to hold it in place while you install the new cable and then remove it when you are done.
Well that's fine when your replacing a cable that hasn't broken but I can find no hole to put a drill bit in, especially from the picture that Hayne's is showing and they also neglected to tell you that you have the CPM in your way to do any adjustments on brake pedal assembly itself.
I keep hearing mention of a "Pawl" that will allow more slack on the cable until I can get it reattached but again with the damn CPM in my way, thanks again Haynes for not mentioning that I have not way of getting to the parking brake pedal assembly to see anything.
Is there some kind of adjustment I have to do to get the cables to come together under the truck or what? I can only fix what I can see and I'm lost at this point.

 

When I replaced mine I unhooked the intermediate cable where it connected to the two rear cables because IMO it's the easiest connection to hook back up. With it unhooked I could assemble everything up front and then with only a couple grunts hook up the rear cables.

 

Did you have to do any adjusting up around the pedals assembly?
I keep hearing talk of a slack adjuster wedge that needs to be taken out, hook up the cable and then put it back in but with the PCM in my way I can't tell what I have to do.
Right now I have 2" between my front cable and the intermediate connector and I don't know how to get that much slack out of it. I thought of putting a ratchet strap from the equalizer for the two rear cables and pulling in forward but I'm afraid of locking something up in the rear if I pull to much on it. Right now I can still use the truck and just park it in gear but if I screw something up in the brakes themselves my truck will be down which I can't afford right now.

 

Following 2001 Ford Repair Manual says "remove PCM " .
................
SECTION 206-05: Parking Brake and Actuation 2001 F-Super Duty 250-550/Excursion/F-53 Motorhome Chassis Workshop Manual
REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION Procedure revision date: 06/21/2000

________________________________________
Control—Except Motorhome Chassis
Removal
1. Disconnect the battery ground cable (14301); refer to Section 414-01.
2. Remove the powertrain control module (PCM) (12A650); refer to Section 303-14A for gasoline engines or Section 303-14B for diesel engines.
3. Disconnect the electrical connector from the parking brake switch.
..................

 

I didn't have to adjust anything but there was some slack under tension in the pedal assembly because the cable pulled some when I hooked up the equalizer. Did you try doing it the way I suggested, you shouldn't hurt anything in the parking brake if you're doing it all by hand. If you start prying on things with tools then you might cause some damage. I didn't have to pull the PCM. I just pushed the pedal down before I hooked up the new cable, fished the new cable up around the assembly and hooked it up, then I pulled the release lever and pulled on the cable under the truck to get the pedal back up into position.

 

No but I am going to give it try this weekend. I don't have 4x4 so my truck sits kind of low to the ground. Need to put it up on the ramps.

 

I'll try and keep an eye on my phone this weekend if you have trouble.

 

How'd it go?

 

skymanr, since the guy you were trying to help never responded, and I used the info you gave and it helped me.... just wanted to say thanks!!!

I had the same problem, and I took it apart as you advised at one to two cable coupler and was able to get all back together and it works great! Saved me from having to give up till morning...