Matt Mc_Carthy wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 MMC> 06 Nov 2003, 12:05, Roy J. Tellason (1:270/615), wrote to Matt
 MMC> Mc_Carthy: 

 MMC> Hi Roy.

 RJT>  and I need that done and to work on the parking brake 
 RJT> (frozen cable) 

 MMC> When you get around to trying to unfreeze it, pour alcohol over
 MMC> it, in it, around it, etc. 

I wasn't planning to do anything but replace it...

 MMC> Alcohol soaks right _through_ rust and loosens things fast.  Oil 
 MMC> products sit on top of the rust and can't penetrate it, 
 MMC> regardless of what the label says, especially a salt mix of rust 
 MMC> which is what you probably have.  Plain old rubbing alcohol works 
 MMC> great and doesn't evaporate too fast.

Hmm.

 MMC> Once it's broken loose, hose it thoroughly with water to rinse out
 MMC> all the dissolved rust and salt, the water won't hurt any brake
 MMC> parts.  Then oil it carefully so no excess oil runs down the cable
 MMC> onto the shoes.

Any particular kind of oil?

 MMC> The last frozen one I had was a bit disappointing.  After I got it
 MMC> loose I pulled the cable back through the brake plate and found
 MMC> only ONE strand of cable was left holding the thing together. 
 MMC> Ended up replacing it.   :-(( 

This thing will probably need to be replaced.  The truck sat up on the side
of a mountain for several years after I got it,  before I could get to the
point where I had funds to put it together.  During that time it
"silted in" to the point where the axles were sitting on the
ground.  We used a tractor to pull it out of the holes!  There were a
couple of parts in the front that attached the sway bar,  and both of those
snapped off and were replaced.  So I'll probably end up replacing those
cables,  both of them.

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