Interesting thread, the same thing happened to me. I couldn't for the life of me get the spring to release, so I disconnected it. (When in doubt, take it out) LOL.

Once I disconnected that "clock spring " in the handle, it was free as a bird, and I could loosen up the brake cable. The pawl still engages the ratchet, so it stays wherever I set it. I now have a manually adjusting parking brake, and I'm much happier with it that way. Pull the handle, and it's 6 clicks to engage the parking brake. And it stays that way, no problems. The first time my wife got in the van, she thought it was broken, because it pulled up farther. LOL, it's just working like it should now.

All I have to do now is put a small screwdriver on the ratchet every once in a while, and adjust it a tooth or two tighter if I think it's got too much slack.

The self adjusting feature is a nice thought, but I think we've all found out it doesn't always work right. I almost burned a set of shoes, and I caught it before it toasted the axle seals, but it's something too easily overlooked, even by the dealership. Now that bothers me, if Ford can't even figure it out.

BTW, it works just fine without the spring in the handle mechanism. At least it does for me.