Ran into an annoying issue today... 2011 F-150

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Preface: for the past couple months, it's seemed like every job I do has hit some sort of unforeseen speed bump that completely derails whatever task I may be trying to accomplish. The Chevrolet Avalanche I worked on this afternoon is a perfect example: it had an UD crank pulley installed which made finding the correct belt a complete pain. However, this F-150 was even more annoying.

I was trying to replace the 3 emergency brake cables, from the pedal to each rear wheel. 3 cables total: Front, RR and LR. Everything was going fine until I got the e-brake pedal assembly removed in order to replace the front cable. The way the pedal is assembled, there's absolutely no way to detach the cable end from the pedal assembly. The entire thing it riveted together... there's no physical way to remove the cable from the pedal assembly without destroying the pedal and bracket. Why Ford sells just the cable is beyond me.

I looked up the part diagram and discovered that although they sell just the cable, if you order the pedal it comes with the cable pre-installed. It's only a few dollars more than the cable alone. Why on earth do they sell the cable separately, knowing it's not serviceable? I have no idea.

/rant
 
What does the WSM say about it?
I actually looked it up, and it's very vague. All it mentions is having to bend back a tab, which I had already seen. After that, it more or less just says "remove cable from parking brake control assy". Sounds easy, however once you get it in your hands you quickly realize that the laws of physics in no way allow you to move the two parts in such a way that allows the cable to be removed from the pedal without massive disassembly.

I totally understand the reason they designed it the way they did, it's put together in such a way that there is no chance the force put on the cable would ever dislodge it from its guide. Therein lies the problem: by making it mostly fail proof, they also made it repair proof.
 
I looked up the part diagram and discovered that although they sell just the cable, if you order the pedal it comes with the cable pre-installed. It's only a few dollars more than the cable alone. Why on earth do they sell the cable separately, knowing it's not serviceable? I have no idea.

/rant
Sounds like a question for @bdcardinal.
 
Sounds like a question for @bdcardinal.
The other interesting thing: the new pedal assembly is a different design, and it's cable can indeed be removed. Looks like they updated the service information after a running change was made and didn't put a breakdown in to warn the tech.
 
The other interesting thing: the new pedal assembly is a different design, and it's cable can indeed be removed. Looks like they updated the service information after a running change was made and didn't put a breakdown in to warn the tech.
That makes a lot of sense to me. I mean, you could drill out the rivets, but regular aluminum rivets wouldn’t be up to the task. And depending on the pedal assy, drilling the rivets could cause other carnage.

I haven’t had to replace rusted ebrake cables in a while. Remembering doing it, however, gives me a vote in favor of electric e-brakes.
 
That makes a lot of sense to me. I mean, you could drill out the rivets, but regular aluminum rivets wouldn’t be up to the task. And depending on the pedal assy, drilling the rivets could cause other carnage.

I haven’t had to replace rusted ebrake cables in a while. Remembering doing it, however, gives me a vote in favor of electric e-brakes.

Electric parking brakes are no better than cable operated. Heck, some of them still USE cables, they just substitute the lever/pedal for a motor.

I've had countless issues with electric calipers. From finding the "maintenance mode" to the VW's that need to be kept ignition on while on a battery charger to prevent the control module from frying. Personally, I much prefer the old system.
 
I ran into this on my Ranger. From Ford, the cable was only available with the pedal assembly and it was I think a couple hundred dollars and had to be ordered. The cable had broken when parking the truck at work and was on the ground so I wanted to fix it now. I found a Dorman cable at NAPA, and to remove the old one and install it I did have to bend back the lip of the ferrule or whatever a good bit. Once I got the end of the cable in place, I bent the lip back in place as well as I could and reinstalled the assembly. There's definitely no way to put a new cable on with the assembly still installed. Six years later the Dorman cable is doing good, knock on wood. Not a horrible job, but not that much fun either.
 
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