after dealing with a stretched shifter cable not always going into park and having to chase the rolling away truck as i get out for close to a year,
i finally decided my new leg was good enough to get under the truck to adjust the cable.
so i broke out the jack, creeper, jack stand, and wheel chock.
pulled the truck up to the shop, stuffed it in park, shut the truck off, and set the parking brake. half way down, POP!!! and the pedal hit the floor.
stupid cable that goes from the pedal through the firewall broke.

oh well, at least the truck don't roll away anymore, and i have a spare park brake pedal cable from one of the trucks i parted out.

 

how hard was it to replace the parking brake cable? curious how you adjusted it? My parking brake pedal goes down pretty far so I need to adjust- just haven't dug into it yet to see if you adjust the pedal/cable side or if the adjustment is strictly in the e-brake hardware (which is the common thing for self adjusting brakes).

 

no adjustment on the p-brake cable. i adjusted the shifter cable. the p-brake cable is a pain in the asterisk to replace.
you need to stand on your head under the dash to get it out of and back into the pedal assembly, and then sneak it through the firewall and cab framework to get to the lower clip, then get the broken piece out of the cable connector. then you need 6 hands to put the new cable into the connector.

 

Your truck doesn't hate you, that's a Ford flirt. It just wants your attention.

 

I feel your pain. Im not having brake isues, but lately I feel this truck hates me. Ever since beginning of May i have worked on my truck every weekend except for one. Its a handful of things, some major, mostly minor, but just cant seem to snuff em out.....

 

This is part of the contract we sign when we get a 16-year-old vehicle with a lot of miles - stuff's gunna break. If it eases your pain, I had to replace every brake part on my truck except the cable. I'd take the cable any day, rather than mess with those back brakes again.

 

I think I see why your truck hates you.............almost 42,000 posts???!!! You need to back away from the keyboard and spend more time with her!

 

believe it or not, besides routine maintenance, i have not had to do anything to it.
when i got it 8 years ago i had the CPS and fuel pedal recalls done by ford.
other than that it has just been oil change every 5 k miles, trans fluid change every 30k miles, and brakes when the calipers seize.
i did treat her to a brandy spankin new $6,400 snow plow last july, because i got ticked off at the old one after it broke again in February and i cut it off with the plasma cutter.
i also replaced the old federal jet strobe emergency lighting bar with a (used)fancy $1,400 Whelen LED bar i picked up for $300

 

Can't see from the pics since the brake shoes aren't sideways, but did you actually wear out the parking brake shoes? Must have left the brake on and started driving more than once.

I've got 548,000 miles on my truck (with a stick shift that requires the use of the parking brake every time I stop) and all I've ever had to do to mine was adjust them. And that was just one time about 3,000 miles ago. My shoes still had plenty of meat left on them and are still working just fine today.

 

They weren't so much worn thin as they were rusted and stubborn. I had about 275K miles on the brakes when I decided to clean up the mess in there. I use my parking brake to augment Park on the boat ramp.

 

Sounds more like your truck loves you and held out to the last second, which was perfect timing for you, instead of happening in a parking lot somewhere.

Stewart

 

as much as I have enjoyed the no truck payment for 8 years, mine has been screaming for lots of attention the last 6 months as well, but with 15 years and 230k, parts happen I guess. Like Transmission rebuild, steering box replacement, brakes all around, alternator, power steering pump, front axle u-joints, front drive shaft ujoints, seat covers etc. had actually been on a really good 3 or 4 year run with limited expenses until this past winter, but suck is life.

 

Consider the alternative - down-payment on a $75K modern diesel that does the same work, but has frightening costs after the warranty is up.

 

Rich, I REFUSE TO PAY MORE FOR A TRUCK THAN I PAID FOR MY HOUSE !!!!

 

Preaching to the choir. Some would say I've spent stupid money on Stinky - but he's paid for, all my work has been pay as I go (no credit card use), he'll be cheaper to maintain than anything new, and he's still tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than the initial price of new.