Park brake madness

so someone ‘fixed’ my park brake cable. Looks like the front cable is to short for the rear left cable to hook into the splitter bracket. They fixed it with 2 gear clamps and a random piece of other cable..... pic at bottom. I took it apart and theres no way i can get the cable to the bracket and obviously pulling on it applies the park brake. No experience with this type/style so how does one make this work?



the reason for investigating was the park brake just barely holds the truck with me forcing the peddle to the asphalt...

 

What year is the Ranger?

Do both rear cables seem to work, slide in and out?

One rear cable is usually "fixed" no adjustment
But the other rear cable is usually adjustable to match range/movement of the other fixed rear cable
So both cables move the same distance when the one cable pulls on them, that part of the setup is called the "equalizer"

The one cable to the front is often the one that stretches, there is a ratchet mechanism on the pedal that tightens this cable but at some point cable is just stretched too far to tighten
You can replace that cable or use a tightener
Tightener looks like this: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...w1StA&usqp=CAU
Just, in effect, shortens the one cable

Other thing is the rear brake shoes and the Star Wheel, the shoes need to be in good shape, thick, and the star wheel(adjuster) needs to be in good working order
The star wheel keeps the shoes the correct distance from the drums as the shoes wear down from use
If a star wheel freezes up then no automatic adjustment and no E-brake on that side which limits holding power


Just as a heads up
If you live in an area that gets freezing temps, you should try to get lube inside the rear e-brake cables in the summer
If the boots on the cable get worn and let water inside it will freeze over night and you won't be able to release e-brake in the morning
Which is a real bummer if trying to go to work, lol

 

Sorry, its a mazda b4000 2005

both cables move freely and honestly i think the pads are due. It might be worth doing the whole thing. I dont think the forward cable is stretched as its short of hooking up with the drivers side by 3 inches.... maybe its racheted up at the pedal? Its got 15 years on it of course and by the ‘repair’ its plausible that none of it was done right. I looked on rockauto and theres 2 lengths of cable, which is stock length?

 

If referring to the front cable then there would be one for regular cable, shorter, and one for extended cab, longer

The rears are two different lengths of course, passenger side is much longer than drivers side

The Long bed(7ft) Ranger rears may be longer than standard bed(6ft) but not sure on that

Yes, if you haven't had the rear drums off for awhile I would start there, then move on to the cables

 

Ah ok this makes sense if they put a short one on. The difference is about 3 inches and that correlates. They must have done that then rigged it.... F*******!

thanks that gets me in the right direction

 

Pulling the drums tmrw to see what's going on, as far as i can tell the foremost cable and intermediate cable ate correct. Internet says the intermediate should be 45 and mine is so that leads me back to the drums/shoes being wonky somehow.

whats the re assembly procedure on that? Someone mentioned self adjusting on the rears

 

Pulled the hanes manual out and will follow that. Still perplexed at how a cable on the left that moves freely can be short 3 ish inches... surely the drums and pads cant wear that much to show that amount of cable loss..

 

The rear cables can and are more than 3" different lengths

Good look here at the older setups: https://www.ranger-forums.com/genera...spring-156624/

Can't find the 2005 setup but it will be similar, like this one: https://www.ranger-forums.com/genera...spring-156624/

 

This is what i mean, whoever did this coukdnt get the drivers side brake cable to attach to the equalizer so they made an extension loop from another cable... attaching with gear clamps. Trying to figure out why they thought they needed to. Anyway new shoes and drums tmrw and ill see whats going on hopefully

 

Brakes replaced and still cannot hook up park brake drivers side and passenger side cable pulled out of position. I have researched the cables and they are all stock with the extension intermediate being the longest avaliable at 45inches

soooo....... having zero experience with truck lifts, did the previous owner do a lift on this thing and thats why..? 2005 mazda b4000




its 4ft from the ground to the top of the box if that helps

 

I am having the exact same problem with my recently purchaced 2002 Range edge. I have replaced shoes and hardware as well as left and right parking brake cables. There is about a three inch gap between the intermediate cable and the rear brake cables assembly. Is there some sort of ratcheting mechanism on the e-brake pedal to compensate for cable stretch?
Did you find a solution?