HELP. 69 c10

[olguy]

Hello all. New to group. I just put new trailing arms on my 69 c10 short bed step side. 12 bolt rear-end. I the arms are from POL. I now have purchased new parking break cables, the longest I could find at 42.3/8 inches (cable its self) sheath is 31.5 They DO NOT FIT. Too short. If I remove one side from the mounting bracket on arm, It fits with room for movement. The POL company says their bracket is where it should be according to originals.
Any suggestions here? I really need HELP.... This has been a 3 week ordeal and keeping me from moving on with my restore. I am tired of taking apart the drum brakes to get to the cable connection area on the bottom side of lever in drums. PLEASE, any info????? I know.....same dummy asking dum questions .. sorry guys.....

[NewType72]

It's really hard to say, are you using anything like lowering blocks to possibly make the rear end further away from the bracket than it should be? Most new arms should be perfect as I just put a set of early classic arms on my truck and the cables reach just fine there. Let us know

[olguy]

I do have 4" drop springs, but that does not cause any issue with the point of connection on the arms. What does is that since the bracket for connection is closer to the rearend, it causes a Loop in the cable. Another wards, the cable sheath to look like the letter U from the point of brake connection to where it connects to the bracket. That's all I can figure. That causes more of the actual cable to be used in the sheath loop. I called the makers of the arms (POL) and they gave inches as 22.5 from the center of the connection to the front anti-squat brackets. I measured the new legs and they are 24.5 back. My originals are 23.5 ???? Thinking on a E brake fix kit or removing the bracket and re establishing it a the right workable location. ??????? All I know at this point. THANKS for your response....

[NewType72]

Oh wow, those are definitely off for sure. Somewhere along the line they weren't marked correctly and it just sucks that you got the one off pair for sure.. hopefully there's an easy fix without a ton of work added for you, keep us posted

[olguy]

YEA, I think they screwed up on the arms as well. What I finally did was purchased a Dorman E brake repair kit, $6.00. Has 10 ft of cable with multiple connectors and also with connectors attached at both ends. I cut off end on new installed cable on driver side, I cut off 1 end of new repair cable, installed it into sheath of cable on truck. I then connected to cable from peddle, installed spring on to brake drum side after removing brake shoes. I then pulled it tight without engaging brake on driver side rear. I then slid on ball connector onto the new cable that comes in kit and used my map gas, flux and solder to connect. Worked great. I spent about $70.00 first ordering different size cables until got longest last time. This DORMAN fix kit is a life saver. Wish I had found it first. That's my advise to anyone having this issue. Returning the arms is NOT an option based on they already had been installed and they(companies) will deny on that bases. Thanks for the interactions.

Dave
1969 C10, 4 inch dropped, 383, 495 HP. Hulk 350 trans