Parking Brake Problems

[Fordhearter]

I have a 99 EB 4x4 that I am about to rip the rear brakes apart for the like the 10th time. For some reason my rear brakes kept getting hot and dragging. I started with the parking brake and gave it a quick clean and grease job and adjustment. Seemed to work for 1-2 weeks. Happened again so I adjusted them so they were a little bit loose. Again worked for like a week or so and happened again. Then I thought the calipers were somewhat hard to push the piston in, (just replaced front caliper) so I replaced both rear calipers which fixed the problem for about 2-3 weeks. Mind you while I had everything apart this last time I cleaned all the rust from the parking brake scissors that the e-brake cable pulls on. Cleaned and greased adjuster screws and set them to as lose as I could. Everything was awesome until today I could feel the truck dragging again and when I got home the drum part of the disc/rotor was super hot when I touched it. I literally don’t know what to do, I’ve never had this many problems with rear brakes/ parking brakes. Anyone got any ideas?

Also side note isn’t there supposed to be a small metal bracket on the adjustment screw that holds it(clicks when you adjust them)? I didn’t have any and my Haynes manual doesn’t show one in the picture.

 

[Plati]

2003 XLT
Had that (or something very similar) last fall.
The shop said it was the (ebrake) short cable in the back.
Replaced that and fine.

On mine I think its the spring that holds that adjusting gear from turning.

 

[1955moose]

2 items, 1, replace all three cables, they rust out and stick, you can try removing each one from ebrake drum_ flooding the cables with cable lube and a clamp on motorcycle type lubing tool. And 2, I looked up your hardware kit online, picture shows 4 springs, but no self adjusting plate. One last thing, make sure you don't have the larger 14 mm stud drum/ rotor, if your wheel stud is 12mm. It could be rocking side to side, and sticking, highly unlikely, but eliminate all possibilities. Report if and when you fix it, I'm betting stuck cables.

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[Fordhearter]

So I had a look at the brakes today. I can’t see it being the cables as they move freely and leave about a 1/4” play before pulling on the scissors. The rotors have a slight movement in them on the hub like they are not exactly huh centric. Maybe they are the wrong rotors? Also it looks like the springs on mine hold the adjustment screw but doesn’t look like it holds it well. I will have to go to the parts store and see what the difference is between the rotors.

 

[1955moose]

As far as the rotors its obvious, if you have 14 mm stud rotors mounted over 12 mm studs, their rocking when you move them left/right. As far as the springs, they only hook up one way on shoes. You can't stretch the wrong spring, to the right shoe. I don't know what else to tell you, if your leaving the e brake adjustment loose, somethings binding up. It's a very simple system, with 4 shoes, 4 springs, and 3 cables. Your missing something simple. If it were me, even though cables seem to release, I'd pull shoes from both sides of cables, flood them with cable lube, from motorcycle shop, stuff works great on cables. Also make sure drum shoe backing plates aren't scored or chewed up. Your going to find as usual, it will be something silly when you figure it out. You'll get it! Keep in touch Moose.

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[Fordhearter]

Today I put new rotors on and the ones I got were the 12mm rotors. I forgot to compare them in the store to the 14mm ones. But I compared them to the ones on the truck and they were exactly the same except the old ones I could move them left/right and up/down a little bit and the new ones barely moved. So maybe the old ones were just off enough it was giving me issues. I also replaced the parking brake hardware while I was in there just in case. Took it for a test drive and so far so good. I will let y’all know in like 2 weeks or so if it’s still good. Thanks for the help.

 

[1955moose]

Keep your fingers crossed! Oh yea, one thing you'll want to keep away from is dont use ebrake after brakes are hot, like a long trip. Makes them stuck to drum. Hope it works this time.

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[rjdelp7]

"Drum in hat" E-brake is a lousy design and not used by Ford anymore. Mine will work, but passenger side will not fully release. I replaced cables and had it apart. My regular shop has a long pipe/tool handy, for releasing stuck brakes. During the State inspection, they check it. My right side has to be manually pounded off. This year, I asked how much to fix it right. They told me these are prone to have problems and not to bother. This year, I don't think they even checked it. I did experience it mysteriously, getting stuck on once. It was on super tight, the right brake was smoking and rotor would not come off. The pedal was never touched and the cable was all the way forward.

 

[1955moose]

What always amazes me is how can a company like Ford, who has been producing cars with drum brakes since their inception in 1903, can't build a simple cable brake, small shoe drum brake that works! Hell they didn't stop all that great, but the Model T, at least didn't stick, well not to my knowledge. I'm old, but not that old! Sure seems like such a simplistic setup, why so many issues. On mine I rarely use the Ebrake, I don't want to wait for my little hat to release. I go up over highway 1 here in Pacifica, pushing 5800 pounds is tough enough, without having my brakes dragging.

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[Plati]

"Drum in hat" E-brake is a lousy design and not used by Ford anymore. Mine will work, but passenger side will not fully release. I replaced cables and had it apart. My regular shop has a long pipe/tool handy, for releasing stuck brakes. During the State inspection, they check it. My right side has to be manually pounded off. This year, I asked how much to fix it right. They told me these are prone to have problems and not to bother. This year, I don't think they even checked it. I did experience it mysteriously, getting stuck on once. It was on super tight, the right brake was smoking and rotor would not come off. The pedal was never touched and the cable was all the way forward.

Just me, I'm risk averse ... but I pay whatever it costs to keep my ebrake functional (2003 XLT) which is some kind of cost almost every year now. I want a way to slow down when all else fails. Supposed to be required (to an un-attainable standard IMHO) for NYS inspection but your local shop can look the other way pretty easily.