I had to remove my parking brake return springs and had a hard time re-installing them. I did a lot of searching the web and couldn't find a solution, so finally came up with my own which worked pretty well. Hope this helps some other poor slob who has the misfortune to remove them.
Here's the procedure I used:
One end of the spring goes in a groove of a bolt sticking down, and the other end goes in a slot on the tensioner mechanism. First, I wrapped safety wire around the spring on each end to form a collar. This collar has to be far enough away from the connection points so that it doesnt interfere. For the end that goes on the bolt this needs to be about 1/2 in from the sharp bend where the bolt will be. The other end can be closer - about 1/4 in from the bend.
This safety wire must be wrapped tightly so that it wont slip later. I wrapped it around about 5 times and left the ends long so I could later unwrap with my fingers easily later after its installed on the car. You then twist the safety wire to secure it.
With both ends of the spring wrapped I clamped 2 rods in a vise, one over the other. The upper rod is goes through the loop of the spring and the lower is to keep the bolt end of the spring from turning. A couple screwdrivers would work, or if you have a clutch handle off a diesel irrigation pump that would work too. I then used vise grips on the slot end to bend the spring until the ends are close as possible. Then you need some way to hold the vise grips - a tie down strap is what I used, hooked to the end of the vise grips and down to the leg of my workbench.
With the spring ends close together you need to wrap safety wire from end to end, just behind the collars, about 5 times. Make sure its very tight as you wrap, the springs are very strong.
Once you twist this wire you can remove from the vise and install on the car. You might pull the p-brake to take up the slack and help lock into place, or use pliers to hold in place while you cut the safety wire. The spring will pop in. Then you just need to remove all the safety wire. Took me about an hour to do first one with some trial and error. 2nd one took 10 min.
Hope this helps somebody.
Here's the procedure I used:
One end of the spring goes in a groove of a bolt sticking down, and the other end goes in a slot on the tensioner mechanism. First, I wrapped safety wire around the spring on each end to form a collar. This collar has to be far enough away from the connection points so that it doesnt interfere. For the end that goes on the bolt this needs to be about 1/2 in from the sharp bend where the bolt will be. The other end can be closer - about 1/4 in from the bend.
This safety wire must be wrapped tightly so that it wont slip later. I wrapped it around about 5 times and left the ends long so I could later unwrap with my fingers easily later after its installed on the car. You then twist the safety wire to secure it.
With both ends of the spring wrapped I clamped 2 rods in a vise, one over the other. The upper rod is goes through the loop of the spring and the lower is to keep the bolt end of the spring from turning. A couple screwdrivers would work, or if you have a clutch handle off a diesel irrigation pump that would work too. I then used vise grips on the slot end to bend the spring until the ends are close as possible. Then you need some way to hold the vise grips - a tie down strap is what I used, hooked to the end of the vise grips and down to the leg of my workbench.
With the spring ends close together you need to wrap safety wire from end to end, just behind the collars, about 5 times. Make sure its very tight as you wrap, the springs are very strong.
Once you twist this wire you can remove from the vise and install on the car. You might pull the p-brake to take up the slack and help lock into place, or use pliers to hold in place while you cut the safety wire. The spring will pop in. Then you just need to remove all the safety wire. Took me about an hour to do first one with some trial and error. 2nd one took 10 min.
Hope this helps somebody.
