Ebrake cable too short now, lost 1/2" can't connect ???
 

Well, I have a strange dilemma here: I had my Ebrake cable disconnected from both sides in the rear for a while do to excess drag. I was told by a mechanic to lube up actuators and most like it will release all the way and everything would be fine. So I lubed up left side and it moved freely and so did cable, put together seems fine.

PROBLEM: After cleaning up right side cable is 1/2” too short and causes actuator to be activated. I measured full through of cable on both sides, left = 4” right 3 ½”. The only thing I can think of is where the cable goes from one to two something is hung up, taking my 1/2”. Any ideas on this? I never adjusted the cable and it was not tight like this before removal. I can’t connect it on the right as it locks up brake tight!

How do I get at the point where one cable goes in to two?

Any help apprecaited .........

you need to clamp the rear brakes then it will work, i mean if u take off the wheel u should see where it connects to the brakes

Perhaps I did not explain well. I know were the cable connects on the caliper. If I do connect it, it is tight (short 1/2") and causes that caliper to be locked. It was not this way before I took it appart. Where did that 1/2" go?

How do you get a replacing the cables, perhaps I can look in there.

hmmmm thats werid i know theres a way to adjust it but i cant really remember right now, but i do understand what u are talkin bout.

You adjust it at the Ebrake handle with a nut. But I did not change anything why would it be short?

How do you change these cables?

Some one must have replaced the Ebrake cable in the past. Can you tell me how to get at the spot where the one cable goes to two? Do you access this under the console inside the car or under the bottom of the car? I looked under the car and can't see where it is cuz of the exhaust is in the way.

I already been through all those post, not my problem.

It is in the haynes manual.

Haynes manuals are trash, I only buy Nissan shop manuals, guess I will go shopping if no one can tell my how to do this process.

Well, the "trash" tells you how to replace the cable. If you only use shop manuals then that implies that you have one so just look there.

The equalizer is underneath the car.... there are 3 cables that make up the parking brake mechanism..

1. Single cable from the parking brake lever to just under the car (ends in the equalizer).
2. Right side cable from the equalizer to the right caliper
3. Left side cable from the equalizer to the left caliper

The parking brake cables are run in the exhause cavity - you'll have to pull all the heat-shields off to see it. I have replaced both my parking brake cables and had no problems with them being too short.

I don't know what you measured as 3.5 or 4 inches - the actual cable is probably ~4 feet long - runs from each caliper to just under the car (under the center console).

Now that's more like it. This forum is great when someone post something of value, thanks.

I measured from the holding arm on the caliper (for cable) to the end of the cable while it was pulled all the way out. Used this just as a reference to see if I was crazy or not.

Okay, I saw the shield over the resonator when I was looking for the equalizer, does it come off fairly easy?

I swear something has to be out of place at the equalizer to cause this shortage of 1/2", you think that is possible?

Thanks

If you live in the snow belt, the shield will not come off easily (assuming easily implies not shearing the bolts)... the whole cable replacement (both sides) job took me almost 3 hours (including jacking up the car, etc)... most of the time was spent trying to baby the heat shields off... I also removed my center console to make some adjustments after the installation was complete.

Did you check to make sure that the mount near the trailing arm is not bent/pinching the cable - this is a common problem on the maximas - happens when the car is put on a lift/hoist if the operator isn't careful.

PS: even though the haynes is not always accurate - it does have some useful info for $15.. at least pictures etc. to show you the basics.

I know of the problem your talking about, not sure it applies here. On the other hand I just had 4 tires and an alignment done, everything looked okay though from my view and I think my measurement excludes that possibility.

Since you have been at the point of the equalizer, can you understand my thought on somenthing being twised, hung up or caught to cause this cable to be short a 1/2"? I saw a picture of this point, but I'm not sure if this could really happen or not, damn I don't need to spend three hours onder this thing, that's for sure.

From what I remember, there isn't anything at the equalizer that would hold the cable back - I can imagine that the cable when undone came undone at the equalizer and is not longer seated where it should be... if you aren't replacing the cable (yet) it shouldn't take too long just to get that one heat shield off... (other than getting the car off the ground)... if you are handy with a drill/tap - you can probably drill out any sheared bolts etc - it will probably be faster than trying to get them out intact. If I had to do it again - it would probably take me the same amount of time - just because it does take a finite amount of time to get the car off the ground, wheels off, tools assembled etc. etc. the actual work might be 1 hr, but the whole effort is definitely several hours - but thats IF you have to replace the cables... if you are just taking a look - it won't take that long.

I think you're going to have to bite the bullet and trace the cable back to the equalizer... also compare each right and left side braket to make sure they are not bent - i.e. you might think its not bent, but it still might be (I'm not trying to undermine your ability) - so that all the obvious things are accounted for....

One last thing comes to mind.. I know that I couldn't get my e-brake cable back onto the caliper with the e-brake cable bracket closest to the caliper still fastened to the frame... so I had to undo that braket, secure the cable to the caliper and then fasten the bracket back to the body... the caliper did not bind though... so you might want to do that (although you might have already done that, since you stated earlier that when you do get the cable onto the caliper the caliper binds)...

Thanks for the advise, I think I need to get in there, cuz my measurement eliminates a bent arm I think, and yes I had to remove that clamp you mention to get the end of the cable over the actuator arm on the right side, but as I said, it locks up the caliper when in position.

I'll try doing this this week and let you know if I'm crazy or the problem ends up being at the equalizer.

Well, got under the car last night and managed to remove cat sheild, only broke one bolt, used a lot of wd40. Looking at the equallizer I don't see how either side could slip out of its position (chuck my theory) anyways I noticed the equalizer not to be straight pulling on one side. The only thing I could think of is back off on Ebrake adjuster, this fixed the problem, no more drag and ebrake works fine. I don't understand, perhaps it was just too tight all along.