1997 Parking Brake Tension Fix

[Mordza_B2300]

If you're having trouble with the parking brake engagement on a 2nd Gen Ranger try this. I did this on a 1997 Mazda B2300 after rebuilding rear drums and all three parking brake cables on a 1997 B2300. I bought cables from rock auto for what they said was compatible with a 125in wheelbase ranger. My 2300 is an extended cab 2WD, 6 foot bed. After rebuilding, the parking brake was doing minimal stopping even when pressed to the floor. I could pull out of it in 3rd gear without stalling.

I believe there is a problem with the spring tension mechanism in the pedal itself that may have a recall. A new pedal is discontinued and people want crazy money for a used OEM replacement. I had the pedal completely out and read some "bench adjustment procedures" but what the procedure said was not matching reality. Any way, if any of you are having week parking brake hopefully this helps.

WARNING
This is prototype stage of testing and I haven't tested this beyond a few slight parking slopes. Use at you own risk.

Materials

• Lamp Screw - 1/2in x 2in length (The ones I found had some strange 9/16 thread)
• Lamp Screw Nuts (qtyx3) - Get these they match the strange thread
• 1/2" to 9/16" spacer - This will accept the cable end, get something wide enough but not wider than the lamp screw nut.

Install

• Release spring from rear equalizer coupling. (I replaced this spring with the red brake shoe drum spring)
• Pull forward cable out of coupling near middle of driver side. (initially getting this out was difficult. It's possible to vice grip the coupling to the frame and punch out the cable with a small punch.
• Pull cable out of forward cable stop. (Use some pliers, those long hose pliers with the round ends work best at releasing the one way tabs)
• Put spacer, then lamp screw and nuts on cable and back in cable stop. (See photo for order of hardware)
• Adjust like a bicycle brake cable, thread nut out to tension cable.
• Lock lamp screw with other nut.
• I added a spring from the body to correct how the cable came out of the lamp fitting. (see photos)

Long time forum viewer first time contributor. I hope this helps people out. Again this is untested and there may be better hardware to use. I'm skeptical of the lamp hardware but that's about as good as I could get from my local Ace Hardware. I'm planning on making this a one piece machined part, maybe with a slot to be able to install without removing the cable end. I'll let you all know how it goes.