My parking brake is REALLY weak!

I thought I would adjust it I crawled under and saw this:

The picture was taken with the parking brake off. The cable at the top is the cable to the passenger side wheel. I know the equalizer is supposed to even the pull on the cables to each rear wheel but is it supposed to be that unequal.

Here is what it looks like with the parking brake set:


It is still not quite even. I did adjust it some. It improved the parking brake a little but it is still pretty pathetic.

Is this normal? I think I might be able to shorten the cable to the passenger side to reduce the difference between the two cables.

So what is the opinions?

 

The side that is not retracted is either frozen, broken or disconnected...thus only 1 side is grabbing

 

Pull both drums and start looking around for busted,rusted, missing,worn component. New cables probably won't hurt.

 

Thanks for the responses. Both cables have similar tension from the spring when retracted. Both cables move smoothly. I inspected the brakes and have plenty of brake lining. Braking with the brake pedal is normal.

I decided I needed to continue tightening the adjuster. A did some more adjusting of the parking brake and I got the parking brake so that it applies the parking brake when the handle is about 1/2 way up. If the handle is pulled up really hard it can be pulled to the end of the travel.

The braking action is MUCH better. It is still pretty pathetic but it is as good as it has ever been since I got the Jeep 120K miles ago. The parking brake is pretty ineffective if the vehicle is going backwards. Not too bad when the vehicle is going forward.

As side note, when inspecting the brake cables I noted the passenger side cable had damage to the outer rubber coating. I may change it next spring before I start the summer playing season.

 

plus look at the springs and compare to pictures of what and where they should be. The smaller springs have been known to dissolve away.

Once all that is either fixed or replaced then you adjust the brake shoes until the shoes barley touch the drum, then you adjust your parking brake. I pull the handle up and then adjust until the wheel won't turn....then release the parking brake and adjust unit the wheel turns with the brake shoes barely touching the drums.

hope this helps

 

I kept adjusting the parking brake adjuster until I could feel it engage when the handle was about 1/2 way up. The parking brake now works, but not very well. I think I have a job over the winter. I checked the rear shoes and they are not completely worn out but worn enough that replacing them is probably a good idea. I will investigate the parking brake issue while I have it disassembled.

Thanks for the help.