Broken parking brake cable adjuster

Last night, I was trying to loosen my parking brake adjuster and it just wouldn't budge. Since the cable pivot mechanism is only held on by two bolts, I decided to just pull the entire thing so I could bring it to the workbench. I soaked the adjuster union with PB blaster and kept trying to loosen it. Eventually, the threaded end twisted off.

Is there a way to fix this short of buying a new cable set? It's basically just a turnbuckle with the threaded ends crimped on the cables. I'm not sure a) where I would get threaded crimp ends with the correct right/left handed threads and b) how to crimp it securely.

Thoughts?
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I made a new one when this happened. Even if you bought a new adjuster, it will now be too short because you broke most of the screw end off of the cable.

I used a piece of steel tube and welded in a correct size nut on each end. I welded a nut on one end first, then measured the correct length on the car and cut and welded the nut on the other side. I also added some knurling on my lathe, and painted the whole thing.

The result worked out fine.

 

I had to replace mine as well last year, got the stuff from:

http://www.ferraripart.co.uk/PagesEx...ContactUs.aspx

 

Hi Eric,

You may be able to just make up a whole new cable - West Marine (South Lake Union) has good stuff for boating applications....stainless steel, swage fittings of various types including reverse threads for turnbuckles, etc. Of course, you have to either buy or borrow the swaging tool (they usually have one hanging on a tail at the appropriate shelf in the store). Good luck!

 

Why worry about adjusting the emergency brake anyway. Leaving the car in first gear or a decent sized rock is more effective.

Jeff

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll either:

- buy a new cable set
- buy a turnbuckle set from Home Depot and weld it to the broken ends of my cables
- go to West Marine (good call Cliff) to see if I can get the pieces to crimp onto my cables

I really didn't think it would be a big deal until the other day when I was coming back into the shop. I didn't have my garage door opener with me so I had to stop the car, get out and open the door. Problem is that this section of my driveway has a slope and the car would have rolled into the garage door when I hopped out. I needed to turn off the engine and put it in gear before getting out.

btw Jeff, I love the color of your car.

 

Not to forget Porsche used this type of setup on their 914/4 & /6. Keep an eye on e-bay for the cable as well as salvage yards and maybe even a porsche dealer.
maybe something like this on ebay?

 

Be sure the parts from West Marine are metric.

 

My car came with that same problem and it had been welded back together. I just got two new cables and a new connector from GT Carparts.

 

Don't even consider buying a turnbuckle from Home Depot. Cliff's suggestion is best. Any yacht rigging shop can help you with this and will use decent parts

Good Luck!