2012 E350 how do I remove parking brake cable at hub

[Barreti]

Hi all.

My 2012 E350 failed its MOT on the parking brake (and corroded front brake pipes, but that's another story)

I've got the rear brakes apart - calipers off, brake rotors off, shoes off - so I can fit all new, and found the metal thing on the hub end of the brake cable which has a kind of scissor action is seized on one side. I've drowned it in PlusGas but it still won't shift so I want to get it to the bench but I can't figure out how it comes off the end of the brake cable.

I've read loads, found some great photos and watched countless YouTube vids but can't find out how the parking brake comes off the hub.
Can anyone advise the trick for getting this thing off.

The plan is to take off the good one so I can work it out, then see if I can wrestle the seized one off. I'm hoping sorting this out will make the brake work, though from what I've been reading this parking brake is a damned liability.

Thanks
IanB

[Stegel]

I’ve no experience with your car but Mercedes tend to stick with the same design for ages on things like handbrakes, and every one I’ve taken to pieces - 211, 129 and 124 - has been the same. The cable ends in a steel yoke, and the arm of the mechanism you describe sits between the yoke with a steel dowel - c6mm dia and about the same length - passing through the yoke and arm. It just presses out - I’m not sure how it stays in place, as it is plain ended and a loose fit.

[Barreti]

Thanks for the response Stegel.

I think we might be on the same page but to be sure it is what is being talked about at 13:42 in this video.
I have one side which works nicely and one side which is seized solid and can't figure out how to free it

He is also greasing it at 16:11 which again shows it moving. Do you know what this white grease is?
If its just white lithium grease I have some in a spray can so I guess I need some in tin because the spray blasts it everywhere


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpNCNZbRBxc

Edited by Barreti on Sunday 10th April 10:04

[Stegel]

I think it is lithium grease, but I would only use it on the pivot arm that moves the shoes and the star adjuster mechanism - the shoes don’t move that much and spreading it over the back plate risks it getting on the shoes.

I have only removed the mechanism completely once to date, on a 211, and that may have been made easier by the cables being disconnected at the other end (getting those hooked back on was not fun, given the tension in them and the location if the mechanism above the propshaft). I had to disconnect it as I was dropping the subframe. Because the cables were disconnected, I could pull the mechanism out quite easily to allow the dowel to be just slid out with a small pick. This photo shows the arm pulled outwards, but I don’t have a shot of the dowel.

[Barreti]

Thanks for your help Stegel. I didn't figure out how to get the bit off the end of the cable but I did unseize it after a lot of wiggling and copious amounts of plusgas.
Now to put everything back together again!

Thank you