The parking brake lever on my 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 has never worked. I unbolted it the other day to take a look at it. I noticed that non factory hardware was used to hold it together (found the original hardware under the carpet), and the entire mechanism was loose, so someone definitely messed with it before. Anyway, when I work the pedal, there is no movement on the cable. Any idea what could be wrong, or do I need to find another lever?

Pictures of the lever are attached. The rusty one is mine, and the other one is one I saw on Ebay.

 

The round spring isn't in place it looks like

 

Might need another lever mechanism, however, to be sure it will work properly, might want to check the cables going to the rear wheels to ensure they aren't rusted/seized up. I had to change both of my rear parking brake cables a while ago due to rust.

 

I had all the rear parking brake cables replaced last year, so I'm good there. This lever mechanism is the last piece of the puzzle.

Any way to get the spring back in place? Or is it better to just replace the whole lever?

 

Without looking at one I can't say. I would say it would be easier to get a new one