Hi,

I'm having a little trouble fitting a new handbrake to my Sierra drums. Everything is basically in ok, but the main problem I'm having is attaching the cable to the backplates.

The old cable that came off of the donor was slightly different. I've got some new clips to fit the new cable but for the life of me I can't get the damn thing to stay in place. It would seem that Ford changed the way the cable attaches at some point but I can't seem to find any information.

Any help or pointers would be most appreciated.

Cheers.

Are they too small for the holes?

On one side the hole that the cable goes through is too small for the clips (and cable).

The new handbrake cable (minus clips) also doesn't seem to poke through the plate far enough for anything to be able to secure it in place.

On the other side the hole in the backplate is a lot bigger as the "insert" from the original seems to have come out.

I'm beginning to think that either:

1) The new cable is the wrong one.

or

2) I'm going to need new backplates.

or

3) I've been given the wrong clips.

or all of the above.

Hope that makes some sense.

Just a thought.....
The cable isnt the wrong way round by any chance, i.e the cable ends will only fit into the correct backplate?

Both cable ends are identical on the new cable, the only reason that one side (hole) is bigger than the other is when I was taking the old cable off the inner "ring" came out and seems to be stuck on the old cable, probably due to age.

on my cables there is a small circlip holds it in,the clip you describe may be an earlier version and superseded by circlip fitting

Can you describe what the clip you've used looks like, I can then maybe work out if I have been given the wrong ones. Cheers.

the clip i got is just C shaped,like a circlip with no holes for pliers in the end

D'oh, should have read the message properly when you said "circlip". ;-)

Looking at the way the new cable pokes through the backplate with the inner ring still in place it seems that a circlip would do the job, on the other side however the hole is far too big with the insert missing.

Hmmm, it's looking like a new backplate on one side might be in order...

the "insert" is posibly the old clip,knock it out and try the cable with a circlip or peice of welding rod wrapped round in the groove,dont really do too much

Just to make things easier to describe I whacked off the old insert that had rusted to the old cable. Here's a picture of it:



The old cable would go through that and then be held in place by this:



When asking the local Ford dealership about the insert that came out and asking if I could get a replacement they gave me this:



Dunno if that lot will make things a little easier to visualise. I would scan the cable in, but I can't get the car through the front door. Really must get a digital camera soon...

[Edited on 7/9/2003 by Crispy Beef]

hmm,as long as the outer cable is fixed to the back plate with a clip/sleve/small jubilee clip,thats all you gotta do

And that's the major problem, none of the stuff I've got seems to hold the cable in place effectively. A quick yank on the handbrake and it all comes out.

Think I'll have to go back to the Ford place and refuse to leave until they come up with an answer.

Cheers.

It looks to me like the thing that you wacked off is the key to all this. When the cable end feeds through the back plate there's supposed to be something against which the cable sleeve rests so that when the handbrake is pulled only the cable moves and the sleeve holds firm against the back plate.

I think you need to re-attach the thing you wacked off or get a new backplate.

The third picture is of a safety retaining spring clip and from my installation doesn't seem to be massively important.

Either way, you need something to stop the sleeve passing through the backplate, perhaps a suitably sized waher would work.

Russell

The thing I insert I showed in the pic is now back in the backplate, but it's not very secure. It came off with the original handbrake cable, and I had to smash it off of that today as it seemed to have welding itself in place.

Funny thing about the third safety clip is that it fits snugly on the end of the new handbrake cable clipping in nicely. But there's nothing to secure it too.

The rusty bit is part of the backplate afaik. One of mine came out with the old cable. I just pushed it back into the backplate and pushed the new cable in too. It all seemed to work for me!

Cheers

Mine must be too far gone then, it won't stay in the backplate at all, at least I can take the old insert into the Ford place and show them what I need and see if they have a replacement.