Howdy, My emergency brake has never really worked and today one of the ends of the cable broke off(the one for the right wheel) I managed to fix the cable and put it all back together. My question is - how tight should the e-brake cable be in the neutral position?
I have it pretty tight right now and when the brake is set nothing happens - although there is little resistance when I apply the E-Brake. If I give the cables a pull I can hear the brakes move inside the drums. I just need to know what you(the experts) think.
I get so much useful information from this web site.
Thanks in advance

 

Are all of the cable parts moving at this time, there should be a main cable, and a splice along the line somewhere where the cable goes to each rear wheel.

If you are pulling down on the cable and the brakes are being applied....I would question whether the main cable is moving. If it is moving and you are feeling the brakes move, then you will have to remove your rear drums and manually adjust the brakes. Normally I adjust them so that I feel a little drag on each wheel.

 

Have you ever had your rear drums off the truck?

The cable pulles a lever that pivots at the top of the backing plate, working a cam that spreads the brake shoes to apply them.

The pivot/lever is held on with a little 1/4" nut.

When I got my truck, that nut had fallen off on the passengers side. . . After I fixed that, the cable popped out of the lever on the drivers side . . . In both cases from outside I couldn't tell what was wrong at all, though I could have noticed that the nut was missing from outside.

If your brakes are adjusted so they work properly with the pedal, then your parking brake should work without having the cables very tight.

I think that you are going to have to pull one or both drums.

Good luck,

Alec

 

Yeah. I figured taking off the drum would be the only way to really fix the problem. I have never removed the brake drum from the dodge, is it difficult? Thanks for all the good info

 

Just finished doing my rear brakes.
Not alot of fun,but not complicated.
Rear axles have to be removed,which means new seals & repacking wheel bearings.

 

I would also check your Self adjustingsection on your brakes. Mine have always been off when I pulled my rear brakes so I finally gave up and just cut the stupid things off. now I need to Manually adjust them every few thousands miles or so. They never worked to begin with and I could see where they would bind up and grind some material off them, I feel it is safer knowing they are no longer binding and having me adjust them when the nose of the truck starts diving more and more. Adjust, brakes work wonderful again.

Takes about 1 hour each side to pull rear brakes. I would suggest changing rear seals like mentioned before. Bearings are lubed from the rear axle fluid so make sure you check your fluid level after putting it all back together. I fill mine up till it starts coming out of the fill hole.

 

May or may not need to take off the drums. If you say you can grab the indiv. cables and hear the brakes applying, then the problem has to be in the pedal assembly or main cable. I would verify all that b4 I mess with the drums. You have to have the special (LARGE) socket to get the hub nut off.

 

"Bearings are lubed from the rear axle fluid"

This is correct, so you SHOULD NOT pack the bearings with grease, and will probably need to add a good pint to the diff after doing both sides -- drive the truck around a few corners and then check the level. Also, make sure you put some gear oil on the bearings as you assemble them so they don't run dry.

To go back to the beginning: The drums are "inboard", so you have to remove the hubs to remove the drums. To remove the hub, you have to remove the axle shaft (undo the bolts on the flange and slide it out), and then take apart the wheel bearings (1 9/16 "round cornered" nut with nylock and sheet-metal locking wedge, pull out wedge, undo nut, etc.) When you pull the axle shaft out, about a cup of oil will pour out, so you might want a little tub to catch it . . .

The threads on the rear spindles are the same as the front spindles, so you can convert to the front style adjusting nuts if you want to get rid of the nylock & pin crap. (Parts Mike Parts on the web has a good price on front locknuts and washers.)

There should be a plastic coated metal gasket under the axle flange -- I use high-tack on it it as a sealant.

I put redi-sleeves on my seal surfaces on the spindle -- the sleeves I got were a little too wide, but I managed to drive them on using the inner bearing cone as a slide hammer, after I pulled the "drive lip" off so the end of the sleeve could expand a little.

I also cut out a little circle of wood to drive the new seal in past the oil slinger inside the drum -- one can also use an old bearing race or a big socket if they are available . . .

Cleaning and lubricating the auto adjusters will normally get them to work okay . . . If you want them to work, check to make sure that the teeth and the cam for the ratchet are in good shape.

Hope that was a little helpful.

 

I second what asilitch said. Here is a tip of advise, buy the best wheel seal you can and put it in correctly! This will save you time and money in the long run. Also use some antiseize on the wear pads and auto adjusters. Use it sparingly, dont go crazy with it and get it all over your shoes and drums, this will make mess.

Paws

 

I have a 1992 ram diesel LE and was having breaking problems especially the parking brake. When I had the drums pulled The adjusters wernt working and the cable for the emergency brake was not able to move freely. Also some idiot had put smaller width shoes on the thing. I think they were 2 1/2 wide and the truck calls for a full 3 inch wide shoe. What a mess So I ended up with a new cable and new shoes and hardware. No more problems. When I was young and full of you know what I did my own brakes. Now I take it to a brake shop and watch to make sure they do it right.

 

Well I broke down and brought the truck to the brake shop to see what was up. Turns out one of the e-brake cables broke inside the drum and both seals were leaking so the brake shoes had a nice coat of oil. All said and done the e-brakes work great and I only wish I had done this a year ago. Thanks for all of the great feedback