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E-Brake Removal Tips

hotdimmes

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Dec 26, 2003
Messages
4,112
Location
New Britain, CT
Not sure if if this has been mentioned or obvious but ....I replaced my passenger rear caliper a last fall and removing the E-Brake cable was miserable. Ended up ripping the boot and moisture got in and now it definitely freezes up during the winter. This weekend I replaced the driver side rear and it went much smoother. A neat trick I realized after a half hour of screwing around with needle nose pliers is to use a zip tie to squeeze the tabs on the cable so you can remove it from the caliper through hole. That plus lots of WD40 on the rubber boot makes removal and installation much easier. Make sure to pull on the end of the cable when reinstalling. This stretches the rubber boot out and effectively makes the diameter of the "accordion" boot smaller so it doesn't bunch up at the through hole. Pulling and wiggling side to side and spraying with WD40 got the job done surprisingly quick.

Although convenient for quick responses, don't forget that facebook posts aren't very searchable! Nothing beats the wealth of info on this site! (and I think the extra effort it takes to post keeps idiots out, mostly)
 
The zip tie is a great idea, I have struggled with that brake cable retention several times, and my '99 has zero corrosion, tore up a cable boot once.

Bought some Toyota restoration clutch cable boots off eBay awhile back, need to get under there and see if they work as a replacement for the Ford cable boot. The cheap-a** in me can't stand the thought of replacing a whole e-brake cable for a $1 rubber boot.
 
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