Explorer 8.8 into Ranger Parking brake troubles

[kennykenny]

This weekend I finally got around to putting my disc brake 8.8 into my ranger. Everything went smooth as I had expected and when I got it all together the only problem I'm having is with my parking brake, I used the rear most sections of the explorer cables and connected it to my ranger cable and feeding it into the bracket bolted on the spring hanger. It all went together nice and looks fine but doesn't pull equally on both sides. It pulls more on the drivers side. Before I go giving myself a headache messing with it does anyone have any pictures of what they did to make theirs work? I think I can get it to pull evenly but I'd like to see what other people have done first. Thanks in advance.

 

[4x4junkie]

Are the two cables hooked onto each other correctly?

The driverside p-brake cable (inner cable itself) hooks onto the forward cable that goes to the brake pedal. The passengerside cable (inner) then hooks onto the clip that's attached around the outer jacket of the driverside cable. The passengerside cable (outer jacket) is then clipped into the bracket on the frame. This setup distributes the pulling force equally between the two cables.

You can kindof see how things are connected in this pic. The cable fixed into the bracket is the passengerside cable.

The spring I believe is there to help them release evenly (at least that is how it was setup as factory, so I just carried it over)

If they are hooked up correctly, I would then check for a pinched or damaged cable.

 

[kennykenny]

That is how mine is set up except the bracket in your picture is in a different location. I didn't reuse the explorer bracket I used the existing ranger bracket, which is a few inches forward of where yours is. I suspect that may be pulling that cable prematurely on my setup.

 

[4x4junkie]

If the cable doesn't have enough slack in it, I could see that being an issue, yes. The Explorer cables do seem shorter than stock Ranger cables (they were definitely shorter than my BII cables).

 

[RangerSVT]

There are two ways to do this, one is a cheap way, the other is a correct way. I simply put a 2 inch spacer between the passenger cable and the bracket holding the cable, where the cable will run through the spacer, this basically moves the mounting point backwards...The correct way is to measure the distance between the pass and driver cable mouinting points on the explorer, then measure and mount the passenger cable bracket to match the measurement you previously took. This is what I did, I initially used the spacer to check its use, then I measured and made the bracket mount to match the measurement.
SVT

 

[wahlstrom1]

95' Explorer's have 1 length of cable, all other year's are another....I'll post the lengths when I get back to red deer and can get the specs outta my truck.

 

[kennykenny]

If it makes any difference it is 98 ex into 98 ranger. I understand what everyone has said so far and I appreciate your responses.

 

[kennykenny]

RangerSVT out of curiosity what did you use as a spacer?

 

[RangerSVT]

I used a Threaded female pipe nipple, I believe it was 1/4 or 3/8 NPT...But you can use a regular steel pipe with an inside diameter the same as the ID as the hole for the mounting bracket
SVT

 

[kennykenny]

Alright I know this has been dead for a while but I'd like to give it somewhat of a conclusion, and I've been lazy and just finished yesterday. I put the bracket on like 4x4junkie did but I "mis-calculated" and ended up being in the wrong spot with my bracket. Not wanting to drill another hole in the frame I went ahead and used some nuts as spacers on the stock ranger parking brake bracket like RangerSVT said. I plan to fab another bracket to make it right but I plan to use the hole I drilled since it is already there. I'm going to stick with what I have in the mean time since it works perfectly.

 

[RangerSVT]

Be careful not to use this setup for too long...the threads on the nut chafe the E-brake cable everytime you use the E-brake. See if you can align the axle cable with the cable from the foot pedal, this will help with the cable not chafing as much til you can get your bracket setup
SVT

 

[PlumCrazy]

Here's my bracket. My hangers are moved forward a little bit, but the bracket would be the same regardless. I also shortened the splice where the cables make a "Y" and re welded it as well to tension up the cable a little.

 

[kennykenny]

Dude, awesome! I already have some square tube and some plate. Maybe I'll try to get it done this weekend if I have some time.

BTW I followed your build, looks great!

 

[PlumCrazy]

Dude, awesome! I already have some square tube and some plate. Maybe I'll try to get it done this weekend if I have some time.

BTW I followed your build, looks great!

I made mine out of some stainless scraps i had laying around.

Thanks.

-plumcrazy