Just one of those days

[RustNdust65]

Tonight was the first time in almost 3 weeks I had some free time to work on my truck. The only thing I got accomplished was unintentionally removing the rear axle and needless to say I'm very lucky I had the jack under it.

A few weeks ago I removed the u bolts and shocks in an attempt to prepare the rear suspension while I wait for all the little odds and ends for my front suspension. After removing these the rear axle was stuck to the leaf springs...I really mean stuck...I hit it with a sledge hammer in an attempt to free it up and nothing. Well noticed I still had to remove the parking brake cable

Fast forward to tonight.
First order of business I had to get that cable off. Well took off the drum hat and shined the light in and saw the cable wasn't attached to anything. Problem is it is completely stuck in the housing. In all honesty I don't have much experience with drum brakes so any suggestions on how to remove this would be great. Which brings me to the axle falling out the back haha. After I tried to get a screwdriver/pliers on the retaining clip inside the drum housing to push the cable back out the axle decided to free itself almost crushing my leg but luckily I had a jack under it, it was fully decompressed but the axle only dropped a few inches balancing perfectly on the jack. Shortly after that I gave up and made my 2nd attempt at making a patch panel for the most awkward hole ever. Failed at that too but I have a much better plan/pattern for my next go around.

All in all I got nothing accomplished except maybe knowledge of how not to do somethings.

Anyone else have some "how not to do things" stories or better yet how am I supposed to remove this broken parking cable?

[slick4x4]

I hate to hear stories about people getting hurt
Rebuilding a truck can be very rewarding... But there can
Defiantly be dangerous situations
Jacked up and not blocked securely would probably be a#1 danger....

I won't go into details about my learning process on propane power...
But the smell of burning hair is quite easy to remember

[Michelle]

Glad your alright. After the initial scare and you find yourself OK and you get your breath back, its a little easier to move on. I too have done less than stellar things in my life as well. I had a friend loose the end of his finger when he was trying to shake a rear axle loose while holding the jack stand with his other hand, unbeknown to him he had the tip of his finger on top of the jack stand.

[bruceandersson]

The parking brake cables have a prong on them that needs to be compressed to get them back through the backing plate. Easy install, they just snap in place. A little harder to get out.

[unibody madness]

I found getting a small hose clamp around the two prongs that hold it to the backing plate works great.
Tighten just enough to be able to clear backing plate lip.

Always, Always, Always, use jack stands on stable surface when under a vehicle that's been jacked up. Shortcuts lead to injury or worse

[orangeRcode]

Glad to hear all is well but remember SAFETY first!

The place I work has stressed this and accidents are way down due to that mind set. Use axle stands and blocks as suggested and as you are doing, ask a lot of questions. I know I do and I'm sure people get tired of them but for the most part, all are willing to help. Good luck on your project!

[RustNdust65]

Hey guys thank you all for the advice. For the record I do have the truck on jack stands and I did have a jack supporting the rear axle but apparently it leaked down about two inches hence the rear falling just a little and landing on the jack either way I agree I should of definetly double checked that one! Won't be doing that again!

Well I tossed and turned til about 2am last night couldn't sleep and this dang truck was on my mind. Not being one to give up so easy I got up got dressed and went back to the garage. After stairing at the brake cable for a little bit I kind of understood what needed to really happen. Just like Bruceanderson and Unibody madness said that stupid little prong needed to be collapsed. Since the rear was already free I couldn't put much torque on it with out it wabbling on the jack using a screwdriver so I did the hose clamp idea and it worked amazingly well!

Thanks Unibody Madness!! I would of never thought of that one!

Thank you everyone I would be dead in the water without you guys

[unibody madness]

Glad it worked out for you.. just so you know we all come up with aha moments in the wee hours. Not sure if that was one of mine or if someone on here came up with it. All I know is this solution works saving hours of bashing fingers and my head against the wall.