<!-- from fixya rte -->How to adjust slack on rear end on a 08 f350 - 2008 Ford F-350

I hate to tell you this, but you’re supposed to hook the front end up first(@ the parking brake lever or pedal assembly) and work your way toward the back ultimately ending up at the hub where it hooks to the rear brake assembly.

There should be an adjustment in the middle area of the cable to get some extra length one way or the other and that may be enough to allow you to hook it up to the pedal/lever assembly. This varies from vehicle to vehicle but there’s usually an adjustment in the central area if the cable, usually halfway between the front and rear of the vehicle along the frame rail or somewhere close routed with some other cables/lines, etc.

You may be able to do this without starting over, that’ll depend on the adjustment you find(if any but there should be) and how much extra cable(or “slack”) you can get.


Try to unhook it totally from the rear brakes and pull the cable itself from the front(near handbrake or pedal), pull the inner metal cable itself while holding the black insulated part that is visible. The cable just slides inside of an insert that’s inside of the black outer cable that runs from front to back. There may very well be enough slack on each end to get a bit More cable so it’ll stretch to where you need to get it to hook it up.

If that doesn’t work, you can try the following, but I’d strongly recommend unhooking it at the rear and starting over from the front and work toward the back- it’s designed to work this way and if it’s not long enough you need to make sure it’s routed exactly as it should be, there’s not much margin for error or adjustment in most cases, it’s gonna be tight, but that’s the way they all are, unfortunately.

I'm assuming you've been replacing the brake shoes in the hand brake. Rear drum brakes are designed to automatically adjust for slack as they wear. You will have to wind back the adjusters in both rear drums and the threaded adjuster on the lever end of the cable. This should give you enough slack to reconnect it.
**Chock the wheels or put the vehicle on axle stands BEFORE you do this.**
Wind the lever end adjuster back to approximately half way. Pull the lever to the correct 'On' position. Rewind BOTH rear drum adjusters back into a position where they grip the drum firmly but spins freely when the hand brake is released. With the hand brake off spin the drum. You should be able to hear a very faint noise as the drum skims the shoes.

star wheel is shoe adjuster to adjust cable look under vehicle around driver side seat will see a single cable with two cables going towards the rear of vehicle undue nut and that will slack the cables and visa versa

This depends on which cable is hanging down. There are several cables in the assembly. One cable comes from the parking brake assembly under the Drivers' dash. It joins the rear cable assembly that goes to each rear wheel. Some cars have 2 separate rear wheel cables and others have a Y assembly that has to be replaced as 1 part.

There can be an adjustment rod where the front cable meets the rear assembly. Some of the parking brake reels under the dash are suppose to reel in extra slack.

Often if the rear Emergency brakes are worn out, there will be slack in the assembly.

The brake shoes need adjusting. Disengage the parking brake.
Before fitting new shoes you should slack off the parking brake cable completely. Locate the adjuster(just follow the parking brake cable. Undo the locknut and slack off the cable.
Remove the rear wheels and drums again. You will find a screw-in type adjuster between the shoes. Turn the adjuster to increase the distance between the shoes. The left and right wheel's adjusters turn in opposite directions to achieve the same result. Fit the drum to see if it slides over the pads easily. Do so until you start having diffyculty sliding the drum over the shoes. Fit the drum and rotate it. You should not hear any scraping or have any resistance on the drum when it is rotated. Refit the wheels. Test the parking brake. If it is still too slack adjust the cable under the car until you when you engage the parking brake it engages fully after 3-5 clicks.

if your talking about turning the driveshaft both ways and feeling that slack,no that is just wear and tear on the pinion gear and ring gear.

FIRST adjust rear brake starwheel while spinning tire FOWARD. then alongside drivers side of car find emergency brake cable adjustment (long threaded rod with nut) . hold one end of rod with vise-grips and turn nut until emer. brake cable has less slack in it. now go inside car and apply e-brake.you dont want the pedal to stop right away but u also dont want too much"travel" in the pedal.so about halfway is IDEAL. IMPORTANT- once the brake cable is adjusted and the car wont roll foward in gear with the brake on and applying a little "gas"-make sure with brake OFF that rear wheels turn freely. hope this helps.

Well it could be that you need to have the steering box properly adjusted tightened up a bit when you put the new steering box on it has to be adjusted by someone that knows how to adjust it properly or you might need to put a stabilizer shock on the front end or if it has one already replace it.

there should be a cable that runs off the throttle body