I recently replaced my rear drum brake hardware but forgot to take a picture before disassembling everything. Can someone confirm if this is how the parking brake lever is supposed to be installed? I’m also not entirely sure how the lever functions in the mechanism. It looks like it might not be mounted correctly — should the lever sit on the right side of the cog wheel? When I place it there, it seems to keep slipping off toward the left side. Any clarification or reference photo would really help.

This is the drivers side of the car

It looks about right. If you pull on the lever that the cable attaches to you'll see how it works. Each time you pull the parking brake lever that arm over the notched/toothed wheel moves over the teeth. As the brake shoes wear eventually the end of the arm catches one of the teeth and rotates the tightening mechanism, making it longer. When it's assembled correctly the end of the arm sits right on the teeth.

An illustration of your picture is in the Brakes chapter.

Edited October 4Oct 4 by Zed Head

You should never disassemble both sides at the same time! That way you have an assembled one to look at. If you didn't keep the parts well sorted then the auto adjust might not work. The sides are handed I believe

Thanks for the info. The drivers side does not have that plastic piece. Assuming it broke off at some point in time. Is that going to be an issue. The passenger side seems intact.

Which plastic piece?

Need as many pics as possible at this point.

Looks like a travel stop?

On 10/9/2025 at 11:50 AM, gotham22 said:

Thanks for the info. The drivers side does not have that plastic piece. Assuming it broke off at some point in time. Is that going to be an issue. The passenger side seems intact.

Yes, that plastic piece is a travel stop, and you should really have one in there. If that stop is missing, the lever travel could be too much and the rear adjustment system may not work properly.

Two things:

1) Is there a place to get a replacement mechanism? I can only find the cable. And when you buy a brake kit it doesnt include the parking brake hardware.

2)I used to have to pull the hand brake almost all the way up to the ceiling to get it to hold, so I replaced the cable. Now I can’t get both parking brake cables connected at the same time — it’s always one side or the other. If I force it to connect, the tension is so high that the brake stays engaged constantly. I must be missing something, because no matter what I try, I can’t close the gap enough to attach both sides. I figured the new cable might just need to stretch a little, so I tried pulling on it, but nothing gives me the clearance I need to make it work. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?

320 In the tunnel there is a threaded rod that attaches the cable yoke to the handle. There are actually two threaded connections if you need it. You need to thread it out to get enough slack. Then you can adjust it to where it holds in about 5 or 6 clicks

Datsun Z Hand Brake & Hand Brake Cable

#20 and #11 both have threads and locknuts

I’ve seen this mentioned here before on the cable length. Reverse left to right will give you more cable length. You will have to do some engineering on the hangers.