I have an 08 Ranger 2WD 5spd manual. It has been well maintained with only 135000km. I am certian my problem is the parking break, not rear diff or transmission. It seems park break sometimes sticks after use, then releases as slowly start easing off the clutch. It has happened about 5 times, always after parked, no 'stickiness' any oher time during driving. The park break release also needs an adjustment: while pulling release have to get foot under park break pedal to help fully disengage the park break. Is this all a matter of adjustments? New cable needed maybe? Is this a task a non-professional mechanic can do on own? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

It could be an adjustment issue, try fixing that first as that would be the easiest fix. If that doesn't do the trick, then see below.

Something similar to this happened to me. I would push my Parking Brake Pedal down, and when I released it, I needed to kick it up with my foot to get the pedal all the way up. I soon realized that my rear brakes did nothing(put parking brake on, put truck in drive, rolled forward without a problem). I replaced the shoes, but then couldn't put the drum back on. Why? Because my cables were seized which kept the rear shoes pushed out, which might be the issue you are facing.

Does your parking brake stop your truck? If it does, then the shoes should be good. If not, take the drums off and inspect the shoes. Since my cables seized, the parking brake was always on, resulting in excessively worn shoes.
If the parking brake does work, but takes some time to release, or the pedal needs to be pushed up(like you said it does), then your cables might be seized, which basically means they are always on the "on" position, pulled tight and activating your parking brake. To test for this, you can see if new shoes prevent the drum from fitting back on, or pull the brake and release and mark the cable to track how far it is pushed or pulled. Also if there is slack in the cable then that's a sign that something is wrong with that. You should also look for chafing along the cable lines. After replacing my shoes, I realized that a part of my cable had been rubbing against the frame and was all torn up.
If you need to replace the cable, then you need to take apart the drums. That being said, you might as well replace the shoes while you're there. O'Reilly's has a set of 4 shoes for $20, and a hardware kit for $10. I would recommend replacing the hardware as well as the shoes, if you decide to. When I ordered my parking cable, I needed two of them, for the two sides of my truck. I got both from RockAuto for ~$30. Getting the cable on can be a pain in the butt, having an extra set of hands helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

After reading this, I realized that you didn't say if you have drums...do you?

 

Hey, thanks for response and it most likely will be quite helpful. I have a feeling you are correct, about everything. Parking does still work but when last drove there felt like a bit of a "drag" on the **** end. When have the time, I will look at it; until then it's parked.

 

That drag is key, glad I could help! Let me know how it goes.

 

I had a similar problem with my parking brake. Over time, gunk builds up on the mechanism in the footwell. Clean it up and relubricate it. No disassembly required. For me it was a shop rag and some silicone WD40. You can use whatever's handy, really; although I recommend something a bit better than WD40.

Once applied, the mechanism was worked multiple times, specifically holding the release out and working the pedal with authority to work the lubrication in.