ford 8.8 axle swap. help with parking brake
 

Hi everyone. I have swapped in a ford 8.8 rear axle into my yj and am rebuilding my parking brake for safety. I was able to determine that this axle was from an explorer so I have all the proper parts except I am missing the actual parking brake lever to complete the system. I am going to the wreckers to try and find these pieces and my question is does anyone know if the whole axle shaft has to come out to remove/replace the parking brake lever?? It appears that you do have to remove the exle to get at this component but I wanted to ask first before taking my axle apart. And where would a person find this part new?? Non of the parts stores I tried can get this single piece at all. If anyone has worked on this type of axle and knows some tricks please let me know?? Thanks all