On my 95 XL, my parking brake has never worked since I bought it (a couple of years ago with 120k miles on it). I've sprayed the cable and wrangled it around just in case it needed that to break it open if it was stuck somehow. What happens is if I were to try to depress the foot actuator, it will be very resistent to going down and even bend the foot pad part of the metal. I can get it to squeeze the brake drums a little (not enough to keep it on an only very slight grade) but it just doesn't engage like it's supposed to, not near enough to be useful. I was wondering if it might actually be in the engage/release mechanism inside the cab or if it's under the truck at the drum or in the line. I don't think it's in the line. I've given that a good shaking and lube.

TIA
Allen

 

Your cable may just be rusted up. Either the portion from the foot pedal to the split, or the split to each wheel. If one of those is frozen then it would affect both sides. Try taking off the cable at the point where the cable splits to the two rear wheels and see if you can actuate the foot lever at that point. If you can and it is free then that cable is good. That leaves the other "two" cables (really one that connects to both wheels) and it is probablly frozen. You should be able to get some action out of the brakes when activated witha pry bar or some really good muscling, if not, it needs replaced. If the truck has seen a lot of water, or salty roads, it can happen. Ford had some issues with ebrake cables freezing up on some of their other cars (contour) and they had to be replaced because they were not sealed well and everyday driving go t them to rust and not move.

Hope that all helps,
Brian