need help removing parking brake cable

[watermellon]

I have a '93 Festiva with a broken cable near the passenger's side rear wheel. Its a short cable that joins with the longer one that goes to the driver's side rear wheel. I tried just taking the shorter one off but had no luck. So I unbolted and disconnected the whole brake cable under the car.
Inside the car I remove the carpet and all bolts and such except for the cable right at the hand lever. I cannot get the cable off. I tried turning the brass colored nut (adjusting nut?) at the very end of the cable. It just goes round and round ... nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong? Without getting the cable off the lever, I can't get the cable through that hole near the back seat.

Help!

Also, getting back to the shorter cable near the passenger's side wheel...can that be removed by itself OR is it just part of the whole brake cable and isn't meant to be removed by itself?

[Hot_Wheels]

if i remember correctly the brass adjusting nut is just hooked in the handle, by unscrewing it, you should have made enough slack where you can push up and it will pop out.

[Damkid]

Did you unbolt the entire ebrake handle from the floor? That's about the best way to get the cable off the handle

[watermellon]

yes, I did unbolt the entire handle from the floor. Even so, I can't get the cable free. I even tried using vice grips by clamping on the adjusting nut and pulling on it. Maybe the nut is stripped or like hotwheels said its hooked in the handle. I dunno? The car I was trying to get the cable off is at the autowreckers. I worked on the cable for a couple of hours and gave up. I then posted on this site to see if I was doing anything wrong. When I go back next time, I'll search to see if it's hooked in somehow. thanks. If anyone else has any ideas please feel free to respond.

[Bert]

The handbrake nut (it's long and has a steel keeper (clip?) to keep it from spinning free) tends to also spin the cable. The cable is easiest to get loose if you remove the handbrake assembly from the floor. The cable does a 90 degree inside a radius piece of steel under the handbrake and often this is pinching the cable.

[Damkid]

the adjustment nut needs to come completely off the cable in order for the cable to be released