Emergency brakes #$%^&!

[Opera House]

I was driving around yesterday in my 97 and suddenly started getting brake noise. Rubbing then howling. By the time I got to the parts store, it was locking up at every stop. Passenger rear was cooking so I bought new pads and a caliper. Got home and the pads and caliper seemed fine. Tried removing the disk/drum with gentile taps, prying and Kroil. It was really rusted on. Ended up driving a chisel betwen the disc and frame using force I don't like to use. Finally popped off. Drum surface was fine but all the friction material had delaminated from both shoes and was on the bottom in chunks. Back to the parts store. They say we don't have them in stock and we can't order them. That makes sense. Emergency brakes never wear out! I centered up the shoes and put it back together. At least I can drive it around till I get the parts from the dealer on Monday.

 

[Robert]

I walked in to Autozone and picked up my emergency brake shoes for $15.00. They keep them in stock. I don't know what Ford charges but it's got to be higher. Mine were in a similar condition as yours except one shoe still had the material left on it (although it was full of cracks). The other three shoes didn't have any material on them and there was not signs of the material left inside the rotors. The shoes are a ***** to replace. The correct procedure is to remove the axle which would give you lots more room. I chose the more difficult method and left my axles alone. It took a good half a day. Hopefully, I'll get another 100K out of the new shoes.

 

[dogfriend]

I bought the Ford ones (cause Napa didn't have them) and I think that they were around a hundred bucks from the dealer. Ill let you know later when I get home.

You could email Ford Parts Network to get a price from them.

Edit: List price in Mar 2001 was $99.07 but they did me a favor and let me have them for $84.21 plus tax

 

[Opera House]

I got mine today at NAPA

for $24, rebuilds at that. Autozone said they weren't offered. Then that's Autozone. I get different answers at different Autozone stores. Haven't done it yet, but it does look a little tight with the axel in place. I had filled up with gas 90 miles before removing the brake pieces. I was getting 17+ mpg just prior to that and the last 90 miles was about 10.5 mpg. That's a lot of drag. And yes, there wasn't much brake material that came out.

 

[dogfriend]

I was able to replace mine with the axle in place (no way was I going to pull it). Its tight, but it isn't that bad.

The only problem part is that you are suppose to use a special tool to set the shoe diameter at about .020 inches less than the drum diameter. I did not find any tool like the one pictured in the manual, so I used a set of trammel points (used to mark circles in woodworking) to measure the inside diameter of the drum(s) then transferred that distance minus .020 to an adjustable woodworking clamp (Quick Grip) so that I could slip that over the shoes to set the diameter.

 

[Robert]

That's pretty wierd about Autozone. I bought mine on July 30. They were the RAYBESTOS_PG_PLUS BRAKE PAD/SHOE - 701PG. I paid $17.99 for them. I can't find any referrence to them on their web-site anymore though. Must have been discontinued. When I adjusted mine, I did them the same way I have always done drum brakes. I put the adjuster all the way in and put the rotor on. I then adjusted the star wheel until I couldn't turn the tire. I then backed it off until the tire spun freely. My parking brake pedal activates them at about 1/2 way down.