My parking break cable is tight. The pads are adjusted ok. But when you pull on the parking break the bell crank does not move at all. And the parking break does not hold at all.

The cable itself moves freely and seems fine. But when it pulls on the bell crank it just does not move at all.

I have a 99 4Runner Limited.

 

You need to remove the bellcrank assembly, and clean and lube it (or replace it if it's really bad).

Take your drum off, there are two bolts holding the bellcrank on. Remove them, and remove the two cables that connect to the bellcrank (one inside the drum and one outside the drum). Once you have the bellcrank off, you can totally disassemble it (remove the boot, pound out the pivot pin, and remove the bellcrank arm from the rest of the bellcrank assembly.)

I then like to use a mini-grinder with a wire wheel on it to clean the arm down to bare metal. You can use a screwdriver to scrape out any dirt/rust from inside the bellcrank assembly (the slot that the arm goes through). I then coat everything with never-seize and put it back together. Good as new for another 80,000 - 100,000 miles.