[Mongo53]

You need to slack the cable up front at the parking brake pedal. It's a ratchet assembly that automatically takes up slack ... you can unwind it by rotating it in the opposite direction and pin it in the unwound position with a cotter pin.
Be careful. It's an easy way to lose a finger or two

Thank You, ureka, I know exactly what you're talking about and already dealt with removing the old cable and installing the new on the parking brake pedal/lever. Of course I buttoned those panels all up already and will need to pull them again. I jammed a screwdriver in the gears to hold the tensioner in place and take off the tension.

 

[Mongo53]

Thanks Crosshairs!

I had all my screwdrivers stuck in my parking brakes parts, the auto-tensioner on the parking brake pedal/lever, in each shoes pushing them away from the activator/lever....
New cables that haven't stretched yet.... ...but I finally was able to just get the cable end into the tensioner....

And since there was some rust around this area, and I don't want these parts rusting out either...
I wire brushed the rust and cleaned it with brake cleaner, then coated it with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer...
This primer/paint has fish oil mixed in it, which treats the rust and stops it....

 

[Mongo53]

I started a new thread for my CV half-shaft woes.....
Still kicking myself, if I had only put a wet towel over my CV boot before burning out the oil cable, I wouldn't be in this mess...

I did drill out the old broken ABS sensor, that I broke trying to remove it to change the CV half-shaft... ...the new one should be in tomorrow... ...but it's going to be raining and I just have my motorcycle to drive to the parts store to pick it up.....

 

[Mongo53]

Son of a B!tch!
F! Raybestos....

Their new parking brake cable from the parking brake pedal to the two rear cables just broke only after a week of use.....
The inner sheathing pulled through the anchor at the parking brake pedal....
So now the parking brake pedal doesn't pull the cable, it pulls the inner sheathing, resulting in absolutely no parking brake pressure, so its just as broken as before I started....

But wait, it gets worse, the tensioner between the two cables results in it pulling one of the parking brake shoes cable, applying the parking brake to one rear wheel, vibrating as I drive...

The only silver lining, I had delayed in re-installing the rear seats as I catch up on other repairs and to do a thorough cleaning of the seats and carpets while they are out... ...so that saves me a little time....

I'm going to disconnect the rear cables from the main cable and see if that changes anything, hopefully frees up the rear parking brakes so I can continue to drive while waiting for the new cable to come, which will not be another Raybestos!

 

[Mongo53]

So RockAuto only offers the Raybestos and an AC Delco for the front cable...
Intriguing, AC Delco two rear cable have metal anchor ends, seeing how much trouble the plastic anchors proved to be removing the cables, I would have gone with them if doing the rear cables again... ...But the AC Delco front cable has a plastic anchor, just like the Raybestos that failed right at that point, in fact the photos appear to be the same photo, so I gotta wonder if this one factory making the same thing for multiple brands....

I searched for the Mopar OEM part, Amazon sells it but I won't arrive for nearly two weeks, and the photo appears to be the same photo as the Raybestos and AC Delco.... ....Amazon can get me the AC Delco in two days for $30 less than the OEM, so I went with it....

 

[BradWK2]

Mongo what location did your original cable rust through and break at, in the area where the spring is at in your above picture?

 

[LouC]

It’s really quite astounding how they can make formerly trouble free components a nightmare! I feel for you I really do. Meanwhile these stories make me doubt the wisdom of moving on from my old 2007.

 

[Mongo53]

Mongo what location did your original cable rust through and break at, in the area where the spring is at in your above picture?

The original rusted and snapped at the cable for the driver side rear wheel, so the cable on the left in the photo, left of the center "equalizer" that is attached to the front cable going to the front of the vehicle. It snapped just left of the equalizer, The equalizer was so rusted as well, I could not get the cable end out of the other side and I had no confidence in what was left of the equalizer, so I replaced all the cables.

So an UPDATE:
I disconnected all the cables and the shoes have seem to pull back and not engage. I went for a long drive and no sign of the parking brake engaging on one wheel while drive, like before.

So there is a less in this, a cable snaps or fail, you really need to disconnect all the cables for the parking brake on the WK2. This is probably from the "equalizer" on the end of the front cable. The benefit of this new cable arrangement, is that it's an auto-tensioner for the individual cables to the wheels and it activates the individual brakes by pulling the cables together. So even if you have the brakes adjusted differently it produces the same amount of braking at each wheel.

No better example than what happened when my original cable snapped. Go back through the photos, as I was fixing this, I discovered on the passenger side parking brake, the one the cable was still good and stayed attached to the "equalizer". When I pulled the rotor, I found the shoes lining shattered in pieces all at the bottom and bare metal shoes, and appeared to me the shoes must have been engaging while moving and overheated or just shattered from the stress.

So you get a broken cable, even a cable that didn't snapped, but can't hold the proper tension, like my new cable that failed, you've got to disconnect all the cable from the equalizer, otherwise, tension could be pulled on of the cables to the parking brakes and have the brake engaging while your moving.

 

[MJ4Mark]

That's my resistance to buying a newer Jeep product.
The un-needed and un-requested complexity gets worse with every re-design.
What I like about our old ZJ---crude but very simple, some tough spots yes but any repair I have had to do, is far easier than on my '07 WK-1.
I have been seriously considering taking a trip out west and bringing back an un-rusted XJ and ZJ, buying a bunch of spare parts and saying Adios, to modern Jeeps and the nonsense foisted on their customers.
I tried to get a V8 WK-2 without the Air suspension that I don't need, but no can do

Tru that!
That is the overall attraction, for me at least, of the old cars. Relatively easy to work on. And, if Biden gets his way with electric cars dominating the roads, there will be a groundrush to buy running older vehicles--especially utility vehicles. No grand restorations needed here just things that can pass inspection and start most every day.

 

[LouC]

Let’s hope that does not happen. It has to be stopped; the effects on the economy and infrastructure will be disastrous.

 

[Mongo53]

So replaced the new cable that broke with an AC-Delco Cable this time....

The inner sheath pulled out of the cable, notice the accordioned up outer sheath below the anchor head...

Comparing the cables, the old OEM, the Raybestos and the new AC Delco.... ....looks like the bolt down anchors on the aftermarket cables are off from OEM cable, AC Delco is closer, but still not dead on...

And I think that is where the Raybestos cable went wrong, not only was the cable farther off than in the photo of the AC-Delco, I forced it to go over the stud and tightened it down. This put a pretty big bow in the cable that got forced down by the covers and trim. I did notice some binding of the cable and thought at first it might have just been the parking brake pedal was worn, or the cable needed to break in. The parking brake pedal didn't always return to the full up position, sometime I had to pull it up. As well as the resistance as pressing the pedal down.

So with the AC-Delco I didn't force it this time, I got a fender washer and tighten the nut down on that to overlap the anchor and holds it down some.

Once again, to install it, I removed the parking brake pedal, its just easier and faster that way. But this time around I connect the rear of the main cable (the equalizer) to the two rear cables to the rear brakes, then connected the front cable to the parking brake cable, much faster and easier than the first time around.

And now my parking brake is working and i don't notice any binding, the pedal goes down smoother and easier.
I didn't want to pull the rear rotors all over again, I did lift the rear and spin the rear tires looking for the parking brake grabbing, it didn't.

First drive though I did get some vibration, like the parking brake was grabbing a bit... ...I had gone to the store, so I parked and let the brakes cool, on the way home, no vibration, so if it was grabbing it must have worn the shoe down enough to clear.

 

[LouC]

What a challenge all because aftermarket parts don’t work as well as we like in addition to more complex designs used on modern vehicles. How’s that CV boot working out?

 

[Mongo53]

What a challenge all because aftermarket parts don’t work as well as we like in addition to more complex designs used on modern vehicles. How’s that CV boot working out?

Doing just fine, no leaks, no loosening, seems to be a good fix.

AFA aftermarket parts, hmmm, yea and no, there are more than a few aftermarket parts that are just trash and there are a few OEM parts that fall short themselves. Usually OEM is better, but sometimes at too great a price, when a good quality aftermarket could serve you just as well. In this case, yea, its pretty clear the aftermarket isn't making the cable right.

 

[ismaydave8]

Thanks Crosshairs!

I had all my screwdrivers stuck in my parking brakes parts, the auto-tensioner on the parking brake pedal/lever, in each shoes pushing them away from the activator/lever....
New cables that haven't stretched yet.... ...but I finally was able to just get the cable end into the tensioner....

View attachment 254263

And since there was some rust around this area, and I don't want these parts rusting out either...
I wire brushed the rust and cleaned it with brake cleaner, then coated it with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer...
This primer/paint has fish oil mixed in it, which treats the rust and stops it....
View attachment 254264

I started a new thread as my wk2 is sitting with new rear cables and a good front cable with the same 1 inch gap between the nipple and the equaliser!
My mechanic left me to sort the problem having adjusted the shoes before trying to make the connection
He is now on vacation in Turkey and I am stuck.
Can you please somehow summarise what you did to make that last connection
Cheers
Dave

 

[Mongo53]

The 2nd time I did it, I waited to last to connect the cable to the parking brake pedal. The pedal has a pre-tensioner in it, and that is what you're fighting when you try to connect the cables at other points.

The 1st time, I had already connected the cable to the pedal. I had the rear drum-in-hat rotors off, screw drivers stuck in the shoes and anchors, and then I pulled the cable at the pedal to unwind the pretensioner and put a screw driver in the gears to hold it at the unwind position, keeping the tension off the main cable.