Parking Brake Fails w/ Manual Trans

[Jeff Powers]

My 2000 XLT with manual transmission has nearly no parking brake left. Even with the parking brake tromped to the floor and in gear I slowly coast downhill. Brake pads and shoes are in good shape. Dealer tells me there is little he can do because the rear brake pads are just too small for an SUV (odd Ford didn't think of this beforehand).

Get this. The dealer actually recommended that I block the rear wheels to keep it from slipping down my driveway (which is on an incline).

Anybody else experience rear parking brake weakness with a standard transmission Explorer? What did you do?

This seems like a reoccuring problem for some others. The temporary solution I have read elsewhere is to rebuild the entire brake system for serious $$$ and hope it doesn't reappear in a year or two. This seems like an accident waiting to happen, but I haven't heard that Ford is recognizing the problem.

 

[HappyGilmore]

yeah mine some times doesnt work. the brakes dont slip, it just doesnt actually engage, period. but then i release it and reset it and it works fine.

i really dont use the Parking brake, just throw it in 1st.

 

[gijoecam]

Simple solution: adjust the parking brake. The parking brake on a '00 with 4 wheel disc is not self-adjusting. The dealership obviously didn't have a clue. Pull the rubber plug out of the backing plate and use a screwdriver (or the proper tool which would be a brake spoon) to adjust the star wheel. The I like to adjust it until they just barely begin to drag, then back it off a couple of clicks.

For the 1st gens, the parking brake uses the brake shoes. It IS self-adjusting. If it doesn't self-adjust, either the cables are stretched beyond repair, or the rear brakes need to be rebuilt because they're not doing their jub normally anyways.

-Joe

 

[CDW6212R]

The 2nd gen. arking brake pads are extremely thin when brand new. They are very small, so they have little holding power. Do as suggested, adjust them to fit better. They are about $22 at O'Reilly's. Good luck,

 

[Jeff Powers]

Thanks for the info. I'll give this a try and see if your simple solution does the trick.

 

[boominXplorer]

yeah they can be adjusted. I completely SCREWED all the stuff on my one side of the e-brake and I can hold my truck on a hill with only one side E-brake