Toddman0025

I just bought my '69 Mustang - previous owner said "e-brake doesn't work" so I stopped by Midas on the way home to see what it would cost to have it repaired. Turns out it's missing completely (well, the cable is there) and here's what they say needs to be done:

Adjuster kit $51.86
Adjuster kit $51.86
Adjuster bar $66.67
Adjuster lever $66.67
labor $115
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Total : $352.06




Seems a little steep to me but if that's what it costs then that's what it costs I guess. Just wondering if anyone has a suggestion on where I can get those parts for a little cheaper...




Thanks!

ideal_mustangs

A big thing is to just do the work yourself. Brake work is easy and will save you a lot of money. As far as the bar and lever, go to a junkyard. They are the same on about all fords with that same size brakes. The adjuster kits seems really high too. Check at the local auot parts.

BillyBobJoe

ima a lil confused as to whats not there...lol. i have a 69 too so i know what should be there though. I dont really know what needs an adjuster kit. It should just be a simple nut at the end of the cable that needs to be tightened. But ya, try local parts dealers and maybe a junkyard.

Toddman0025

I found a local guy parting out a '67 would they be the same parts?

BillyBobJoe

im pretty sure they're different. maybe a few parts can be interchanged...i duno for sure. how it should work is, when you press the pedal, it pulls the first cable up. At the end of that cable is what look like the threaded end of a bolt. Attached to this with a simple piece of medal that looks like a clip and a nut should be another long cable that on each end connects to the rear drums. when the cable gets pulled, it pulls on the internal parking brake parts and causes the brake to engage...i guess that last part is obvious,lol but i was on an explaining roll. maybe i can take a pic and show you what it should look like if you want

Toddman0025

That would be GREAT as I will probably attempt to install myself


Thank you so much!

ideal_mustangs

Its the internal parts he needs. The 67 should be the same. There is a bar that runs between the shoes and then the lever pushes one shoe and the bar causes it to push the other shoe

Ridiculon4000

Really, do the work yourself. It's a simple job...I was able to do it on my '69, and I'm a complete moron most of the time. I posted the following on another forum, but this should apply to you (even more, as yours is a '69 too). I think I got my one missing piece (passenger side parking brake lever), used, at my local Mustang shop for $13.00.

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I've recently had to investigate and fix mine on my '69, and it was a fairly straight-forward fix. I would imagine that the '65 wouldn't be too much different in the parking brake department.

If you have the shop manuals, they did a great job of identifying everything in the parking brake system.

First off, there's the pedal and release control assembly, inside your driver's compartment. If the pedal's going all the way to the floor, you're not connected somewhere. Follow that cable assembly down underneath your car, and you should see it connected to a cable that stretches in a trapezoidal pattern from the front of your car back to both sides of the rear frame rail in the front of your rear wheelwells.

If that connection is good, look at the ends of the cable in the rear. Ensure both sides should be entering a hole in the front of the brake drum.

If that's the case, you'll need to pop the wheels off and open up your drums. The parking brake cable has a parking brake cable housing retainer that opens up and keeps the end of the parking brake cable inside the drum. The very end of the cable should fit around a notch on the parking brake lever (which is mounted to the inside (toward center of the car) of your secondary (rear) brake shoe. That lever is just a crescent-shaped piece of flat metal that attaches at the top to the secondary shoe, and at the bottom to the parking brake cable. At the top of the lever there is a notch that accepts the parking brake link, which is what pushes against the primary (front) shoe.

There are literally only 4 pieces to a rear-drum parking brake:

Parking brake lever
Parking brake lever retaining clip
Parking brake link
Link spring

Of these, only the parking brake lever are specific to Left and Right.

Again, if you have the shop manuals, opening up and working on drum brakes is very simple and diagrammed very well, even if you've never worked on them before.

Just as an aside, fixing only one side is not like to do much. I tried this. Initially my cables were not even inserted into my drums, and when I broke them down, I was completely missing my passenger side brake lever, and tried just fixing the driver's side, hehe.

Hope that helps, and hope it was clear enough.

BillyBobJoe

Here are the pics. My parking break isnt installed cuz my car is basically stripped bare at the moment plus im upgrading to disc brakes in the rear. Either way, here is how it looks.
first pic is the whole layout. 2nd pic is the pedal assembly. 3rd pic is the threaded end of the first cable that i was talking about. The nut isnt shown but that little piece of medal is how the cable is attached. 4th pic is where the longer rear cable attaches to the shorter rear cable via a simple little coupling. Hopefully these pics with Ridiculon's guide should help. good luck

Toddman0025

Can anyone ID these parts? I wasn't sure if this was the adjuster bar or lever that I was searching for. They're off a 67 mustang...