well, I finally tackled the rotting leaf spring brackets and schackles on my sons 97 b2300, but idiot me I didn't take a photo of how the emergency brake cable goes back together before I disconnected it at the front driver side next to the spring bracket ( next to the gas tank). Would anyone be able to snap a photo of this so I can be confident of how it routes and reconnects? I especially want to make sure I have the springs going back to the right holes...

Thanks,
Ron

 

I looked for Ford Ranger (=Mazda B series) on Google and came up with this here:


If it does not help i may be able to take an actual picture when the rain stops.

This happens to be of a Ford F 150. http://www.fordf150.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53607

 

Thanks Tan...that looks a little different than what I have - I don't have any bracket - just the main cable and the cable for the other side and a connecting tang. It has two springs, a large one and a small one. I'm pretty sure the small one just keeps the cable suspended and I believe the large one adds tension, but for the life of me I can't remember how it goes back together and the parking brake just goes to the floor :-(

I knew I should have taken a photo but was to much in a hurry. That's never a good idea. I'll see if I can get a photo of what I have and uploaded in the hopes that somebody can say "put that spring there".

Thanks,
Ron

 

o.k.
I have checked the Haynes manual and it is useless in this regard. Then i googled for "Ranger parking brake equalizer" and found this picture with 2 springs: a large one and a small one. the small one is only partially visible.
Parking brake installation problems - Ford Ranger Forum

 

You nailed it - thats it! It looks to me like that cable on the right goes through a hole in the leaf spring bracket - I don't recall there being a bracket there but the thing was such a mess when i removed it I may have missed it. If there was, I have the new leaf spring on and don't want to remove it, so I may have to rig a bracket that I weld on or something. Thanks for all your help - I was really pulling my hair out on this one...

Ron

 

Update: So I figured out that if I put a lever under the frame and press down on the spring, I can get the front leaf spring bolt out w/o taking the entire thing apart. Given this, I figured I'd order the correct part (#2530 - Parking brake cable bracket rear) to hold that cable. Had a dickens of a time finding it, and ended up paying nearly $40 without a lot of confidence that I'll actually get the part, so we'll see. If that doesn't work, I'm going to take 1/8 steel and fab something that will bolt up there. It doesn't look like it needs to be that complex. I'm a little surprised at how hard it was to find - it's pretty hard to take that flange off w/o destroying that bracket, and I know a bunch of guys have had to replace the flange, so what did they do? (I wonder to myself...)

 

Well, I am glad I could help and hope I will never have to do this on my son's B2300.

Post a picture when you have it done.

 

ok, so it seems like the cable support bracket is not/will never be available, so off to Lowes I go for some 1/8 steel bar stock. And here's the result:



It bends just a bit more than I'd like, so I'm going to reinforce it with another bar screwed to the frame, but it works really well (and cheap too!)

 

Unfortunately, the link to your picture does not work for me.

UseYourNoggin detailed how to upload pictures here:

https://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/new...cs-post-30904/

 

Ok, here we go....