parking brake cable routing - PO disease

J

jmalloy

Member
Hello -

I have a 1980 turbo diesel traveler. The parking brake cable has always been difficult to set and I figured it was not installed correctly. Recently the front cable failed and I set about replacing/repairing the whole setup.

To make a long story short, it looks like the po replaced the parking brake cable but ordered the wrong one (around 12 feet long instead of around 15 feet long). I assume that's the cable for a Scout II, not a terra/traveler. It looks like he chose not to replace the cable with the right one, but instead welded a bracket directly in front of the passenger side front cable guide and moved the front cable over there. (sorry - no "pre" pictures. I pulled the cable before I thought about pics.)

this had two effects: first, since it's now a straight shot to the driver side rear wheel, the pedal travel was significantly reduced. Second, the front cable was in contact with the transfer case, and eventually frayed.

I'm half way through putting the brakes back together right, but want a sanity check before I go do something hard to undo.

Take a look at the following picture of the front parking brake cable guide on the passenger side. Does this bracket belong here? It interferes with routing the parking brake cable to the center of the transmission cross member. It looks like the po welded it in, and I plan on removing it unless someone tells me I'm way off base here.

Thanks,
--jim
 

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The turkey-turd welds say booty fab to me. Do you have the rod with a hook on one end and curly-q bend on the other? It is used for taking up some of the slack in the cable on the passenger side.
 
I have no such thing.

I'll eventually post a write-up for the cable replacement, but I'm still waiting for the front cable so I can finish up.

What I have is the curved strain relief piece that the front cable bolts to, and a spring that goes the same place. It looks like the cable should be the right length and not need slack taken up.

Can you post a pic of the piece you're talking about, correctly installed? Also, I have the manuals but can't find a diagram for the cable routing (which I assume would list the curly-q piece...). Which chapter should I be looking in?

--jim
 
Holy booger welded bird poop batman. I be guessin that the po got tired of his stale bubble gum.

Those half hoops that the cable in photo is hooked to, two of them welded to the frame, looks to be partially right. As mentioned earlier, there is a threaded shaft with spring and half clip coming off the e-brake handle cable that gets attached to the cable in photo.

I May have a stock oem set up on my 72 yellow Scout. I will try and get a photo of it - if I remember
 
The proper routing actually seems pretty straightforward. I've been taking lots of pictures of the "before" (because someone May need a laugh) and "after" (so folks can tell me how I screwed up) states, and will post a build thread when I'm done. The front cable arrived today. I'm out of town as of Friday afternoon, but I May finish before then. I'll add a link here when I'm done. Here's the short version:

as near as I can tell, I started with:

- really high pedal pressure to set the parking brake
- broken front brake cable, probably caused by really high required pedal pressure:(
- wrong front cable
- wrong rear cable
- piece of junk welded in to compensate for wrong cables, which is in the way of running the cables correctly

and I've learned:

- terras and travelers need a longer rear cable (duh)
- the front cable changed from '78 to '79 - the newer cable is about 5" shorter
- '79 and '80 diesel scouts need the longer cable
- '76 - '78 scouts also get a curly-q thingamabob
- you need to completely disassembly the rear drum brakes to replace the parking brake cable
- removing the rear cable once you've disassembled the rear brakes is still a pain
- routing looks really straightforward (we'll see if I get it right...)

thanks for all of the help!

--jim
 
Almost done, but I have one more question. I routed the front cable through the tub and into the transmission crossmember. The length is perfect, but...

The hole in the transmission crossmember is too big. The cable simply slides through. If a better solution doesn't came by, I'll fabricate a backing plate with the right size hole and bolt it into place.

Can someone let me know what the mounting point for the back end of the front cable is supposed to look like? Pictures would be great!

Thanks,
--jim
 
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