E-brake cables

I have 51 Ford F1 with a 9"Ford rear. The e-brake cables are much too long to hook up to the original pivot lever. Is there way to modify the current cables or...............?

Thanks
ditz

 

I dunno 'bout modifying the oiginals, I ordered my cables from
wwwcontrolcables.com

Vance

 

I just bit the bullet and ordered a set that were the right length from Lokar... There is only one thing I don't skimp on - ever - and that is brakes. And an e-brake is even more important than your hydraulic brakes because they are your last resort...

 

i just bought ebrake cables from speedway.. they were 20 bucks cheaper (or more) and when they showed up they were LOKAR cables..

I've done both the "make work" cables and the lokar cables. this is one place where its money or time..

fwiw

speedway got me for 80 bucks for a pair of cables..
the stock cables for the rear I am running were 25.00 a side (50 total) and I still needed an intermediate cable and still needed to figure out how to hook to my brake handle

 

Lokar! They were a breeze to put in and looks to be super strong! They do the trick!

 

Another way of doing it is if you have a friendly local parts store that will let you look at their catalog. Measure how long you need and go through their catalog looking by size.

 

Thanks for your inputs. I looked at the lokar but just balked at the price. Looks like that is the way to go. I sure agree that brakes are no place to skimp. My T has all new brakes. Nothing is used. If it goes good it should stop good.

 

The cable can be shortened. What I have done to a couple of cars is once I find the length I need, I make a ball out of braze at the point that it would connect to the emergency brake actuator arm inside the drum. I final shape with a Dremel. At the point where you want the ball, separate the metal strands a little so the brass will flow into the cable. Don't cut the cable untill you are finished with the brazing. Go easy with the torch so you don't burn up the cable strands. One I did has lasted twenty years. Most likely, the original 51 cable will fit the 9 inch rear. These didn't change much over the years. I put a 9 inch in my 54, the 54 cables fit the 9 inch exactly.

 

As a stop-gap, if you're going to replace the cables anyway, tie knots in them until they're short enough to work.

 

I cut mine down and made up new crimp collars from aluminum. The collars were an inch long and crimped with a set of bolt cutter style industrial crimpers. The same set up as used in overhead roller doors, just thinner cable.

Flatman

 

Braze and then cut . That's the part I've been doing wrong. Thanks.