Rear brake woes, need to get back on the road ASAP!

[Sbeghan]

Hi guys, I picked up a beater to do some towing with. I ran into a major issue today around town taking it for a spin to look for issues - I started smelling burning something, and I think my brakes were dragging. I parked for a bit to go to the store and when I came back I nearly wrecked it since there were no brakes, or not enough to stop me in time - thankfully its a manual and I dumped it into 5th just in time.

I got it home and decided the first thing to do was a brake fluid flush (its disgusting, might have NEVER been changed its that bad). The right rear brake is the issue. I already managed to round off the bleed nipple since its frozen on there (all the others worked fine). There was a broken cable inside the drum from the parking brake (I have a manual, so I need the parking brake working), and the brake cylinder is leaking fluid.

Here's a pic. What parts do I need and where can I get them ASAP (locally preferred)?

I found a reference to these parts so far:

The wheel cylinders on ours are a Wagner WC122406 or Dorman W37856 ($10/ea).
I used Wagner PAB169R Thermoquiet brakes shoes ($25).

Sorry to make one of my first posts a please help me post, but I need this fixed asap and I'm not having much luck with search, especially on the cable issue.

ps, I would post a photo but I can't figure out how.

 

[Anime]

You should be able to get the wheel cylinders and brake cables pretty easily locally, if Advance/Autozone or other popular parts stores don't have the parts, they can probably have them in the next few days, otherwise try NAPA, they can usually get whatever they don't already have the following day.

You might save a bunch if you order from Rockauto.com though, they have a ton of their Explorer drum brake parts on clearance/closeout and you can probably replace EVERYTHING, maybe even the drums themselves, for not a lot of money. There's also a 5% off coupon code that makes the shipping cost negligible, and of course no tax.

http://www.rockauto.com/RSS/vehiclefeeds.php?carcode=1119608&m=wc&l=en&html=true


The rear brakes not working shouldn't have much to do with the vehicle not stopping, the front discs do 70-90% of the stopping, the rear brakes are just to keep the back end of a vehicle from sliding around.

If the brakes don't stop the vehicle, you will probably need to check out the brake booster or master cylinder, especially if the brake pedal is soft/squishy even with new fluid in there and the system bled correctly.

 

[Sbeghan]

Thanks for the link Anime. I'll probably order parts for the other brakes to redo them all. For now I managed to get the parts at my local autoparts store(s). Trying to figure out the best way to reassemble everything now!

I've never seen a car as neglected as this that still drove this well...

 

[Sbeghan]

I rebuilt the leaking rear drum brake, flushed the whole system, and that still didn't fix the soft pedal. I replaced (and bench bled) the master cylinder, and then bled all the brakes again. Still no change.

With the car off the pedal is firm. With the car on the pedal is soft, it will stop the car (with less power) and very easily sink to the floor with constant resistance.

Could it be a bad vacuum hose, or brake booster? There is, as far as I can tell, no ABS on this (or at least, the hoses coming off the master cylinder do not appear to enter any ABS pump that I can see).

 

[murkinstock]

I would recommend these for your rear brake:
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...5005317_2516&keyword=brake&pt=01271&ppt=C0064

One of these kits are for the right and the other is for the left. Make sure you do both!:
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...5005317_2516&keyword=brake&pt=01312&ppt=C0064

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...5005317_2516&keyword=brake&pt=01312&ppt=C0064

I am using all these parts and they're working great! One of the cables in my brake were snapped too, And I didn't want to reuse all those rusted parts.

Good luck with your main issue though. I kind of had the same problem after I replaced my calipers but I could still stop pretty quick (It would sink to the floor like you said) After about a week though they built pressure and now I can stop as quick as possible! I wouldn't recommend driving on it like I did though!!! Especially if you're towing stuff.