# Front e-brake cable on '98 ford contour

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/front-e-brake-cable-on-98-ford-contour/8548>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [December 21, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/front-e-brake-cable-on-98-ford-contour/8548 "2007-12-21T05:29:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![meanjoe75fan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/meanjoe75fan/32/552_2.png) [@meanjoe75fan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/meanjoe75fan)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/front-e-brake-cable-on-98-ford-contour/8548/1 "2007-12-21T05:29:29Z")

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Perhaps someone could save me $40…  
  
  
  
 Recently, I snapped the front e-brake cable. I was shown where it failed; it was at the very end, where it connected to a metal plate from which the two rear cables start out.  
  
  
  
 The shop wanted $200+ for an entire assembly(!); the auto-parts store wanted $40 for the replacement cable. I thought I’d just loosen the adjustment all the way, run the loose end through the aforementioned plate and through a bolt with a drilled shaft, keeping it in place.  
  
  
  
 Haynes, alas, tells me the e-brake picks up the slack automatically and cannot be adjusted. But clearly it must be adjusted all the way down when the cable’s initially installed, right? Can anyone think of a way to save the cost of a new cable that won’t entail more than an afternoon’s fiddling with the car?

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**Author:** ![Beadsandbeads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Beadsandbeads](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beadsandbeads)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/front-e-brake-cable-on-98-ford-contour/8548/2 "2007-12-21T19:16:42Z")

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There are probably some better cable clamps that you can find that would work better than your drilled bolt.

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**Author:** ![Roadrunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Roadrunner](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Roadrunner)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/front-e-brake-cable-on-98-ford-contour/8548/3 "2007-12-22T02:24:32Z")

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You can probably buy the same type and sized cable at a hardware store and clamp the plate end at the needed length. Won’t cost much to find out eh?

Whether you do it or someone else does, it will still take a little time to repair.