I am trying to replace my parking brake cables on my 02 F150 4 x 4 King Ranch. 139" WB. 4 wheel disc brakes. When I went to replace the cables, I was told at the local Ford dealer's parts dept, that the right rear cable had been revised from when the vehicle was made and is now 5" shorter. This is causing The drivers side cable to be too short to reach the equalizer (which the right side cable hooks to at the end of the sheath), by about 3". My original cable was around 132" long and the new cables are about 126" Long. I was also told that the accommodate this shorter cable the routing must be like a 2003 model. No matter where it is routed, the cable is real tight to the rear wheel, however, there is no way that the new left side cable will reach the equalizer. Anyone have any experience with this or an answer as to how to make them fit?

 

When I did the cables on my 03 I know I had to adjust the e-brake on the drivers side all the way down and I used a pair of pliers to pull the cable and hook it into the equalizer. It took several tries to get it in there. Once it was in I adjusted the e-brake and it works fine.

Has the scissor activator (I can't recall the actual name. The cable connects to the back of it behind the dust plate and it spreads the e-brake shoes apart) in the e-brake rusted solid not allowing movement? Mine were rusted together so I had to get new ones from Ford.

 

I will let you know tomorrow. I bought a cable for a 2003-4 that is supposed to be 4" longer than the one for the 02, when measuring it against the old pass side cable, cable, it is only a little bit shorter so will see.

 

Nope, it was 3-4" short too. The parts man at NAPA is ordering me cables for an 06 that are supposed to be 136" long so we will try those and see if they fit.

 

Hey LJK,
Any updates on the situation? I just discovered that the passenger side e-brake cable is shot on my 02 F150 4x4 too.

 

I ended up getting a cable for the passenger side that was from an 07 F150 4x4. This cable was about 3" longer than the one that was on it originally. Of course it was too long but I was fed up with it so I cut the cable and shortened it to the proper length with cable clamps and now it works fine. I have about had it with ford. When I took it to the dealer, they could not help either.