So a few days back, I came home from work, pulled into the driveway and pulled up on the e-brake. I heard a "ping" and the handle pulled up without any resistance at all. The first thing I thought was "the cable broke". It was dark out so I didn't think anything else of it. I would get up early before work and pull out one of the spare cables I had in the shed and replace it, no big deal...
The next morning I lifted the car off the ground to get to the task of cable replacement. After crawling under the car, I quickly realized that the cable didn't break at all! The bracket the cable wraps around and connects to the e-brake handle on, fell off and hit the ground. The "ping" I heard the night before was it hitting the drive shaft before landing onto the driveway.
I figured the cable was stretched to much, and I already had to pull the e-brake handle all the way up to get the car to stay put on a slanted surface. I went and replaced the cable with the shortest of my spare cables, and all was good...for a little while...
The next morning I disengaged the e-brake, backed out of the driveway, and slowly started to drive down the street when once again, the ping! Yes, the bracket fell off AGAIN, with the cable intact!
So there is the adjustment rod for the e-brake, with the S shaped bend at the end which the e-brake cable bracket is connected/supported by. One thing I can think of, is that the "S" bend in the rod is worn, or the bracket's hole that the rod goes into has elongated and it can't be held on well enough with the wear. I have spare hardware for this in my parts collection, but I have a feeling it won't make a difference.
The other thought, is that something is binding in the drums, not letting the brakes release completely and the cable(s) get stuck in the "engaged" position. When the e-brake handle is lowered, the cable is still pulled forwards enough to clear the bracket and the bracket just falls off from lost tension.
And the last thought, maybe the wheel cylinders in the drums are sticking. The pistons are getting stuck, out, and the cable is "tricked" into staying pulled. If that's the case, arnt the cable return springs in the drum strong enough to push everything back out? And, could it be old/worn brake fluid, and a flush and bleed fix it?