'95 4wd Ranger new parking brake cables too tight

[ortho stice]

Hello all, I feel like I'm going crazy. I bought this '95 a week and a half ago because it was basically free of rust, which is unheard of in W. PA.

That's about all it has going for it though, it's been manhandled for sure. Among the many issues it has was a disconnected parking brake system with rotted cables. The 4R44E won't go into park (whole other story) so I wanted to get the e-brake functional while I get this thing back up and running.

My local NAPA had the rear left and right in stock and I confirmed they were for a 10" brake truck, like mine. I got everything apart and started mounting up the new cables until I went to join them to the front cable. I confirmed the parking brake pedal was all the way up and released and yet I could not get anywhere near close to hooking the front cable to the rear cables. The only way I was able to get them joined was by blowing apart all the drum brake hardware. But now I can't seat the front cable in its bracket and the rear springs on both cable are almost fully compressed. Pictures below for reference:

Any ideas? Anyone had this problem before? It's almost like there's too much spring on each cable. I put them side by side with the old ones that came off and everything basically looked the same.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Hmm. I know that I ran into a problem on my one 00 Ranger where there was apparently a standard and HD option for the cables. Problem is, most parts stores only list and stock the standard option and not the slightly longer HD option. Not sure if that applies for the pre 98 trucks though. I also know that on my 00 trucks there’s a way to re-set the ratcheting e-brake pedal assembly and that there are different intermediate cables but again, not sure how much of that applies to the 93-97 trucks.

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

I just did this like a week ago. There's 6"+ of extra slack in the front cable beyond just having the brake off.

Take the trim off the ebrake mechanism and shine a light in from the front. There's a vaguely L-shaped piece of metal with a torsion spring on it, that allows a cog with tiny teeth to ratchet one way (taking up cable) but not the other (releasing it).

Stick a punch or a drill bit or a hex-key or whatever in there and bend the keeper away (I think it's down) to free the mechanism while you pull the front cable hard with your other hand. It'll pull back far enough to reach the rear cables.

If you can't get it by tomorrow night, I can take a picture of what I'm talking about.