Hi again folks,

I'm about to (again) adjust my rear drum brake shoes.

The last time I did them (2017), I replaced the rear (short) handbrake cables with genuine Ford 1335046 due to one of them being almost down to one thread.

I remember the genuine new ones being 'unfit for purpose' in my humble opinion.

I seem to remember that the 'collar' comes out of the hole in the drum housing when the handbrake is released.

They were held in place by useless plastic 'wings'.

Please could anybody with experience of this issue advise me on a trustworthy aftermarket alternative?

The 'Holy grail' in my opinion would be cables with a locknut/fastener on the inside of the drum housing.

Informed advice will/would be much appreciated.

Best regards,

H..

                                   

The plastic wings are common on many genuine and aftermarket cables I'm afraid, I think you would be lucky to find anything different if the original Ford ones use plastic. 

36 minutes ago, stef123 said:

The plastic wings are common on many genuine and aftermarket cables I'm afraid, I think you would be lucky to find anything different if the original Ford ones use plastic.

Aftermarket are generally the same as o.e 

Thanks Stef/Ian,

Appreciated.

I might have a look at improvising an adaptor to enable a better fastening for these blighters.

Whatever I do, I'll post my result.

Might take a while 'cause I'm just too busy with allsorts at the mo'

H..

stef/ian,

You were of course right in that the aftermarket cables are all a direct copy of the oem cables

I got the rear brake set up sorted and must admit that my understanding of the mechanism of the rear brake drums was somewhat wanting

The job was not my 'finest hour'

I 'faffed' about with it for far too long

However, along the way I realised that if the handbrake is too far out of sync with the shoes, then it compresses the return spring more than enough to pop the crap plastic wing anchor back through the hole in the drum mounting.  I again cleaned/lubed the 'self adjusters' and Grindied off the lip on the inside of the drum to help me adjust the shoes more accurately

Next was my foot on the brake pedal, hoping to hear the adjusters clicking

Of course they did for now but they won't for long when they're covered in brake dust again

Two clicks on the handbrake now hold the car steady and there's no binding on the drums

I know I'll be re-visiting this job again when the said 'self adjusters' are seized again!

Best regards,

H..

 

Hi again folks,

I'm now on with replacing the intermediate handbrake cable/s and have again started to curse the crap mk6 short rear cables

I have seen that the cables were modified for the mk7 and given a metal retaining clip instead of the useless plastic clips on the mk6

I'm wondering if the mk7 will fit the mk6?

Might anybody have a spare/old mk7 cable and be good enough to compare the dimensions with the mk6 one?

Better still, has anybody a definitive answer as to whether they'll fit?

Regards,

H..

 

The mk7 cables are 160mm

The mk6 are 175mm

I've made do with the existing ones again

Sorry for forgetting to post my resolution to this problem,

After spending far too much time messing with the rear drum brake set-up, my brother (thanks bruv 😉) found the cause;

When I/we started to replace the intermediate handbrake cable, he noticed that the plastic coating at the ends of the inner cables (on the old intermediate cable assembly) had became frayed and were often sticking at the end of the outer cables. This explains the complete inconsistency of the symptoms I'd seen in past attempts.

Rear brakes/handbrake have been 'spot on' ever since.

Regards,

H