Back in March of 2005 my emergency brake failed under fairly normal use. Inspection of the system revieled that the driver's side cable had snapped somewhere on the approximate 4 foot length. After removing the tire, caliper, rotor, and emergency brake pads, I tugged on the cable, which broke under the stress. The break occured about six inches inside the protective rubber casing, and the likely cause was rust damage.

After 7 months of parking the car with the manual trans in drive and the wheels pointed towards the curb, it was time to order the parts and replace the cable. In addition, my transmission was not doing a great job of holding the vehicle on an incline. I ordered the part directly from Toyota at a cost of around $60.00 (cost will vary by dealer). Parts: Driver's side cable assembly - 46430-29035 Bolts with washers (2) - 90119-06315

The obvious start of the project is to put the car up on jacks or a lift, getting it as high as possible helps when working directly under the vehicle. Remove the wheel, caliper, rotor, and ebrake pads. Remove the bolds holding the cable assembly to the backing plate (or brake a bolt and remove one, as I did).

Under the vehicle the cable is attached to the body by about 3 mounting bolts and clamps which are easily removed. The two cable assemblies attach to a mounting clamp beneath the ebrake lever and above the exhaust routing. To reach this area, a heat shield must be removed, which is attached by three bolts. The mounting brackets on my vehicle twisted out of place when the bolts were removed, due to sticking bolts from rust and corrosion. These brackets were twisted back when reinstalling the heat shield.

The cable assembly must be removed from the bracket by rotating the cable to fit through a slot, and then pushing the end through the opposite hole. Liquid wrench was used to free the stuck cable (corrosion and rust again).

Once the cable has been removed, the process is reversed, and the new cable is attached, using old bolts and clamps (a new clamp was included with the cable assembly and I used that, along with the new bolts I ordered).

Put the head shield back on, and reinstall the emergency brake pads, rotor, and caliper.

The manual says to tighen down the emergency brake tensioner all the way, and then back it off 8 notches. I did this on both sides, and then adjusted the hand brake cable length so that it is within 4 - 7 clicks when pulled up (about 6 clicks). The manual then says to drive the vehicle at 30mph on a flat (safe) road and pull up on the ebrake with a medium amount of force for about .25 miles. Do this 3-4 times to bed down the brakes. Job done.

Old and new cable compairison: