E-brake / Caliper problems?

[Kneale Brownson]

A really rusty cable could snap.

You should be able to manipulate the e-brake activator arm against the 
spring with thumb pressure, and the spring should push it right back to 
rest position.  Where did your remanned calipers come from?  I've read 
where some rebuilders will just clean up the piston and cylinder and 
replace the rubber boots without ever getting into the e-brake's inner 
workings.

Did you completely flush your brake fluid when you put on the rebuilt 
calipers?  Have you flushed it in the last year and a half?




At 05:55 PM 10/15/2001 -0400, Andrew Sitzer wrote:

>Hey All,
>   I finally got down to long island to have a look at the emergency brake
>on my 86 5ks..  Sure enough, one of the cables was snapped.
>   Anyways, I brought it into a trusted (but not all too bright) mechanic
>and he believes the reason the ebrake cable snapped is because of a bad
>caliper.
>   I replaced the calipers about 18 months ago with rebuilts -- so I tend
>to find this hard to believe.  Anyways, I pulled the wheel off and could
>not really move the cam/spring that the cable activates easily..  However,
>I was afraid to put too much pressure on it.
>   So here is the questions:  1)  How easy is it supposed to be to move
>that spring?  2)  He insisted that if I got a new cable it would snap also
>-- how true is this? (Or would I just not be able to easily engage the
>emergency brake) <Note:  The old cable was VERY rusted.. probably the
>original.>
>
>Thanks!
>-Andrew S.