I just got my 93 F-150 back from the mechanic. He did a rear brake job and was supposed to fix the parking brake, but screwed it up instead. He said it was fixed; I paid as my son drove off with the truck. I had good success with this mechanic before and I am temporarily disabled, so I couldn't check it out like I normally would.

The mechanic mentioned having problems messing with the slack in the cable and it may need adjustment later, which he would do for free. This did not give me a good feeling, but I paid anyway. Problem is, my son calls me soon after picking up the truck and tells me the parking brake was real hard to push. He calls me back a little later and tells me the pedal is bending.

I don't think the mechanic knew much about parking brakes and tried to wing it at my expense. The place specializes in brakes and mufflers, but apparently not parking brakes. Is this common? Is the dealer the only place to go to get a parking brake worked on? I live in the Detroit metro area (closer to Ann Arbor). Can anyone recommend a "parking brake specialist"?

 

What do you mean the pedal is bending?You have rear drum brakes right?The P-brake and foot brake are together in a drum set up.Sounds like he may have everything too tight,meaning the star wheel adjusters and the cable.I would call them and explain the problem to them,and see if they want it towed to their facility or if they want you to drive it,If you drive it,tell them that you are not responsible for any damage that may occur to the componets.

 

I think I know what the problem is, so here goes. There is a cable assembly( a small cable in a larger housing) going into each rear wheel backing plate, that hooks onto the rear brake shoe(the back one of each pair of the rear brake shoes). These 2 cable assemblys need replaced. They just sort of bind up and the small cable within the assembly won't hardly work back and forth at all. These cable assemblies aren't too expensive. But the brake assemby will pretty much have to be disassembled again to install these.