The park brake in my 1994 E350 is useless. I think the issue is cable stretch. I inspected the pedal assembly and I noticed that the "self adjusting" ratchet is at its max, and still there is barely any drum/shoe contact with the pedal to the floor.

If I replace the two rearmost cables/housings, will this solve the cable stretch problem? I'd hate to go through the hassle and parts cost to be left with no improvement. And changing the cable within the pedal assembly looks like a nightmare.

Seems like I could easily remove the steel coupler between the first and intermediate cable and use some cable clamps for adjustment to take up the slack.

Someone has done this, I'm sure?

 

w/o actually seeing what you have....
get a couple of nuts and cut a slot in them and use them as spacers on the end of the cable to see if that works before you go buying parts

 

I don't believe the cable could have stretched.

I bet your rear brakes need service.

 

it would be rare but not impossible
numerous things could be wrong

 

My rear brakes are all new (rotors, shoes, hardware, etc.) It looks peachy back there.

The park brake problem existed prior to the new brakes.

I'm just thinking that the 20 feet of cable could have stretched an inch or so, and the cable housings compressed some, enough to consume the range of auto adjustment in the pedal assembly.

I've read a lot of complaints about bad park brakes in these vans, but I never seem to find a complete answer. I'm at about 8000 lbs, and I NEED a good park brake...

 

i've driven almost 1,000,000 miles in my lifetime and I have never used the parking break to park, nor for an emergency. Never. Stick shift/ automatic - doesn't matter.

I grew up in the Rust Belt where everyone was afraid to use a parking brake because the brake would commonly not release upon using it.

Anyway: no offense- do what you like. I just felt the need to share. Let us know what you find.

 

You're right. The piece that pushes the forward pads to set the park brake has sheared off the the top of the pads (on both sides). Either the wrong pads were installed or these are just bad pads. Working on a warranty claim, from out of state, not fun.

 

I knew it wasn't the cable