Parking or emergency Brake problem

Most people do not remove the rear rotors and inspect the Emergency Brake shoes. These often peel off the metal backing on the shoe and jam inside the interior Drum of the rotor. Some people will hear a rusty grinding noise after pulling away from a stop.

These brakes have the old "star-wheel" adjusters and may need to be adjusted more loosely to remove the rotor. Its a bad system in my opinion; the drum always rusts and corrodes and the Ebrake shoes are banana peel thin. With corrosion, the drum acts like a grinder and chews up the brake shoes. Some other configurations use a mechanical link on the caliper to make the service brakes act in an Emergency. It will override a hydraulic failure, but you still need good pads on the caliper.

Cable and linkages are likely seizedwith rust and/or ice. Remove bottom caliper bolt to remove caliper up and off rotor.Un-bolt caliper support to allow removal of rotor. Make sure parking brake eyelet protruding throuth backing plate isin the off position that is pointing to rear ofcar; secure with vice grips if necessary.Now proceed to tap rear face of rotor all arround on inside to remove Depending how badly it is corroded and internally seized,(also worn groove) ,rotor and internalparking brake shoes will have to be sacrifiiced and replaced. Purchase new hold - kit emergency brake shoes and rotors for both rear wheels

This is a big job for such a small part. I suggest you repair/replace rotors, pads, and anything else back there while you are at it. You will need to remove both wheels on both sides, as well as the axles (I think). See my earlier post on Rear Rotor removal to see how this is done.

You will need a large spindle nut to remove the axles.

DISASSEMBLY:
Once you have access to the parking brakes inside the rotor hat:
1. Lock out the parking brake w/a pair of Vise grips (on the parking brake cable under the cab)
2. Disengage teh park brake cable from behind the rotor assembly to allow easier disassembly of the parking brake shoes.
3. Disassemble the rear park brake shoes.

REASSEMBLY:
1. Reassemble the rear parking brake shoes. This is a typical, small brake drum configuration. Do one side at a time - so you can see how to reassemble each small part. Keep the springs and parts oriented the same: front to front and interior to interior, etc.
2. Release the parking brake cable
3. Install the disc brake rotor(s)
4. Install the disc brake caliper(s)
5. Install tire & wheel assembly
6. Lower the vehicle

How to replace the rear brake pads on a 1995 through 2001 Ford Explorer The system utilizes a drum-in-hat type rear brake rotor. The integral drum allows the use of a drum-and-shoe type parking brake system. All other components are similar to their front disc brake components Remove the two bolts on either side of the brake hose with the rubber boots. Do not remove the four bolts where the axle ties in. The two bolts to be removed require a 10mm socket/wrench. Loosen the pads from the caliper Rotor Removal In order to take the rotors off (replace with new or have them machined), it is best to loosen the emergency brake shoes. To do this, behind the rotors, in the back there is a rubber plug, remove that and you can use a screw driver to engage the teeth of the adjusting screw, turn it clockwise to loosen, usually 10-20 teeth. Usually this means turn it downward. After this, it may still be difficult to get the rotors off without tapping them. Use a rubber mallet and hit them from behind. Before really whacking the rotor, make sure you have loosened the adjusting screw enough. It may take heavy swings of the rubber hammer to do this. It will eventually break loose. Parking Brake You might want to check the parking brake while you are here. To remove:

• Remove the rear disc brake rotor.

• Remove the outboard return spring.

• Remove the adjusting screw spring.

• Remove the rear brake shoe hold-down spring and pin.

• Remove the brake shoe adjusting screw and nut.

• Remove the front brake shoe hold-down spring and pin.

• Remove both parking brake shoes and the inboard return spring.

• Check the parking brake lever for excessive wear and replace as necessary.

To install:

• Position the front parking brake shoe to the backing plate and install the hold-down pin and spring.

• Install the rear parking brake shoe with the inboard return spring.

• Position the brake shoe adjuster screw and nut on the shoes and install the rear shoe hold-down pin and spring.

• Install the brake shoe adjuster spring.

• Install the outboard return spring.

• Adjust the parking brake shoes and install the rotor, caliper and wheel.

• Lower the vehicle and tighten the wheel lug nuts to 100 ft. lbs. (135 Nm).

ADJUSTMENT

• Measure the inside of the drum portion of the rear brake rotor

• Remove the rear disc brake rotor.

• Using Brake Adjustment Gauge D81L-1103-A or equivalent, measure the inside diameter of the drum portion of the rear disc brake rotor.

• Subtract 0.020 in. (0.508mm) from the first measurement, adjust the brake shoes to that size

• Adjust the parking brake adjuster screw until the outside diameter of the parking brake shoes measures 0.020 in. (0.508mm) less than the drum measurement.

• Install the rear disc brake rotor.

Reassembly Reassembly is easy. Put new or machined rotors back on by sliding them over the lugs (they should slide on easily.) Loosen bleeder valve (having a catch bottle handy is good). Push calipers in slowly (using a c-clamp or large channel lock pliers), close bleeder valve. Put on pads. Lubricate metal clips with small amount of anti-seize. Re-adjust the emergency brake by turning the opposite direction from loosening. Refill the brake master cylinder

the emergency brake shoes have a star wheel adjuster that must be backed off to remove rotor

If you pull off the rear rotors you will find the e-brake shoes.

Parking brake is operated by a cable and not the caliper. Your car has disc brake pads for squeezing the rotor to stop, the parking brake has drum type brake shoes that push out on the inside of the rotor. Changing the disc pads only requires squeezing the piston back in like usual.

This car has regular shoes on the back not disc. Replace shoes and adjust cable. No parking brake is a sign of worn out shoes. Regals have rear disc on them for this year.

Hello;
The parking brake cables may be stretched and in need of adjustment. Follow the cables along to a nut. Then you can tighten the adjusters up on both sides until you have the proper tension. Also make certain none of the brackets are bent or broken that the cables ride through.
Thanks;
RPM Northwest

You can't remove the rotors because the emergency brake is tight on the inside of the rotors. Make sure it's not engaged when you are working on the rear brakes. Block the front tires for saftey. Then you have to remove the rear calipers from the mounting brackets, there are two bolts that hold the calipers on. Make sure you hang the calipers securily with some wire so you don't damage the rubber brake line hose. Then you need to adjust the emergency parking brake shoes in order to remove the rotors. Theres a rubber plug on the backside of the rear hubs, once you look at the back of the hub you'll see the plug. It's on the top. Once you take out the plug, you need to use a screw driver to turn the star spindel. You need to turn the star spindel counter-clockwise in order to give yourself enough clearance to remove the rotors. The beauty of this design is that ford incorporated a drum and caliper system together, but it's difficult to take off the rotors if the emergency brake shoes are to tight. The inside of the rotors acts as the drums for the emergency brake system. I've done this and it's not that hard, but, I did have to replace the emergency brake shoes because they were worn out and the shoes fell off the metal backing plates when I finally got the rotors to come off. They only glued these shoes onto the backing plates, they don't rivet them so take your time getting the rotors off or you can damage the emergency brake shoes, but if you do they are cheap at napa. My service guide says to install the new rotors, use a couple of lug nuts to hold it on, then adjust the star spindal for the emergency brake all the way clockwise until you can't turn it anymore, then you must back it off 8 clicks counter-clockwise. Make sure the emergency brake is not engaged when you are doing this, the 8 clicks backwards compensates for when you do engage the parking brake because the shoes expands outwards. This adjustment sets the emergency brakes so they work properly. Once the emergency brake is properly set you can't remove the rear rotors, which is what your initial problem is. Then install the rubber plug back in the hole, put on the new pads and calipers and you're good to go.