Attaching Parking Brake to Brake Lever

[dazviking]

Hello
I'm in the midst of reassembling the drum brakes on my 94 ranger, but I am having trouble reattaching the parking break cable to the parking brake "lever". THe cable spring is held tight to the "knob" on the cable and I can't seem to find a way to pry it so that the fork on the lever will seat.

Any suggestions.
Thanks

 

[MAKG]

I've played some games with pulling the spring back with a bent pliers, but honestly, the best way to do it is eat a can of spinach, hire a bunch of brass players to play Popeye the Sailor Man, and just muscle it in. Well, maybe just the last part...

 

[dazviking]

Thanks
I had my shredded wheat with blueberries this morning and that seem to do the trick...That and also filing a chamfer on the "fork" to help wedge the spring up a little.

 

[Shoeboy]

Whenever I get stuck with doing drum brakes at work and when it come time for installing the parking brake cable, I always use 2 pairs of side cutters. slide one pair in with the "V" pointing to the stop at the end, and then slide the other pair with the "V" pointing to the other pair, use the first pair (furthest away) to pry against the second pair, when you get the spring compressed enough clamp the wire and slide the lever in. The wire is quite strong so unless you really try to cut it you'll be fine, just enough to keep the spring from moving is all thats needed, obviously. I've always found thats the best way to do it. When you're woking off of book time, you have to come up with ways to make jobs go faster.