I recently started a parking brake cable replacement and rear brake replacement for my 1983 firbird which has drum brakes. The problem that i have run into is that it seems the rear right parking brake cable I purchased is too short. There are grooves that the previous cable sat in to hold in place, but this cable does not even reach to there. The brake cable for the left rear seems to fit fine and looks to sit in the same spot that the original cable sat in. The cable I bought was a DORMAN C93215 from Rock auto as that was the only cable online that explicitly stated to be for drum brakes (Brake Cable Link). I was wondering if anyone else has ran into this issue before or if there is a better part to buy with a correct length. I am pretty new to working on cars and have never dealt with drum brakes before. I will attatch the image showing how short the cable is to this post. There is a spring on the end of the cable that attatches to the brake and I can pull a little bit more but it becomes very tight which I assume is not wanted.

 

Looks perfectly fine to me. Not sure what you're thinking it should do instead, butt, looks well within the normal range of things, in an overall general sort of way. So here's the procedure.

Step 0: Adjust the brake shoes ON BOTH SIDES, using the adjuster star-wheel things and all that – all that stuff that's inside the drums – until you can JUST BARELY get the drums back on. Both sides.

Step 0.1: Once you've got the drums back on (both sides), drive the car around the block. Jack it back up. Take the drums off (both sides). Adjust them back up again (both sides) until you can JUST BARELY get the drums (both sides) back on again.

Step 0.2: Repeat until no further adjustment can be made that still allows the drums (both sides) to be put back on. Lather, rinse, repeat, until the condition described above is satisfied (both sides).

Step 1: The shoe assemblies are now properly adjusted. You may now begin adjusting the parking brake actuator. Back the lock nut off. Reconnect the cable back into the "equalizer". If you have to remove the equalizer from the car to make this happen, then so be it. All we're worried about here is, put the parts back together. Reinstall the equalizer to the car if you had to remove it.

Step 2: Tighten the lock nut up until all the slack is taken up.

Step 3: Check that both sides of the parking brakes contact the drums at approximately the same time when operating the parking brake.

Step 4: Adjust the lock nut until you can only pull the parking brake handle up about 10 - 12 clicks before it's too tight to move.

Step 5: Enjoy.

Step 5.1: The drum brakes are "self adjusting". This is somewhat of a misnomer. What it ACTUALLY means is, as long as THE DRIVER behaves correctly, THE OWNER does not have to adjust them, very often. The way THE DRIVER accomplishes this is, backing the car up, and stopping the car with the brakes, using a short sharp shock [pink_floyd] although it isn't necessary to slide the tires or anything, a good backing out of the driveway and sudden stop at the end every few hundred miles is usually sufficient. The act of backing the car up and using the drum brakes causes the shoes to rotate in the direction opposite to their usual, and in so doing, "*****" the self-adjuster mechanism, with the "adjuster" pulling up some distance around the star wheel. If the "adjustment" need (brake shoe wear) is sufficient, the self-adjuster will clear a tooth on the star wheel, and when the brakes are released, it will turn the adjuster in the "up" direction, one click. By instructing your driver to perform this simple step, the brakes will be maintained in proper adjustment, until either the shoes wear to the point that their lining is gone, or, if your driver fails to do this simple task, the shoes go so far out of adjustment due to their wear, that they can no longer generate enough braking torque to "****" the adjust mechanism.

Step 6: Enjoy even more. Welcome to the 1960s. (actually, late 1950s... let's say, 55 or so, up... I had 50s cars back in the day that incorporated this "modern technology" on both the front and the rear)