dang ebrake

ok guys i cannot make my ebrake work.

i have a 73 cj5. i am in the process of assembling everything and since i want to put a cage in it i wanted to mount a ebrake handle on the transmission hump since the front downbar will block the pedal assembly.

i got one at the junk yard out of an 01 plymouth breeze. it fits nice and will look good as soon as i put a boot on it. so far so good right.

the problem i am having is that it doesnt seem to pull the cable far enough to move the shoes enough for them to lock the drums up.

first of all my old release cable was broke on my old assemble so i really have no way of knowing how much the cable was supposed to move. i made brackets to hold the cable sheath in place so that when the lever is pulled on the new handle, it does move just the cable.

i also replaced the shoes and drums because they were out of spec/worn badly.

the only thing i noticed is their is a spreader bar (?) between the shoes and it has some slack in it. their is a spring to take up the slack, but when the ebrake handle is pulled it basically takes up the slack (which is about 3/16) and maybe moves the shoes a little but i can still roll the jeep. i have adjusted the cable, and adjusted it. but it makes no differance. i actually broke the ebrake handle/ bracket that the cable hooks onto. and had to get another. whoops!

i wondered if the spreader bar could be worn but this jeep only had 40,000 miles on it. the only other thing i can think to say is that the system has no fluid in it. would this make a diff?

thanks for any and all replies!

jeep

 

Fluid should not matter. Make sure the rear brakes are adjusted properly. Maybe the new handle just doesn't pull the cable far enough.

 

:iagree:

For the park brake to work properly the rear shoes must be adjusted correctly. If not then the shoes simply cannot contact the drum properly to put the proper force against the drum to do its job. Possible the handle you have does not have enough throw to pull the cable enough. If you still have the old pedal, measure the amount of pull it can put on the cable and get a handle to match, or better yet, build a bracket on the front leg of the cage to mount your stock pedal to. Nickmil