I have a 97 Expedition, and I noticed that lately my parking brake won't stop it from rolling when I put it in neutral. I know on some Fords, the brake can be adjusted. How do I adjust the parking brake on my X-Pa?

 

same thing started on my wife's 97 expy. trying to find out also.

 

My Chiltons manual just says the brake is "self adjusting". That's a big help, huh?

PbFoot

 

Expedition's have a parking brake system similiar to that of a 1965 - '82 Corvette, i.e., a specially-shaped disc brake rotor that surrounds a small brake drum (which is the parking brake). According to my 1999 Ford Expedition Workshop Manual, the parking brake is NOT self-adjusting. In order to correct misadjusted brake shoes, the adjuster screw, located at the bottom of the shoes, has to be manually adjusted.

The Chilton's manual probably also contains info on the F-150 pickup, which was offered with rear drum service brakes that are self-adjusting.

 

Paul's right - it's not self adjusting. It's got a standard adjuster screw in there.

Is the problem relatively new? You might want to inspect the cable and make sure everything's in order.

XXL

 

I just did mine again, so here's the poop!

Parking brake adjustment instructions:

Turn off air suspension if you have it.
Block front wheels.
Make sure parking brake is released fully.
Crank engine, place tranny in 2wd mode, shift to neutral. Turn off engine.
Jack up vehicle until both wheels are off ground, support by jack stands.
Under vehicle remove 1" long rubber plug from bottom of brake backing plate under axle.
Insert short, flat blade screw driver to engage grooves in star wheel of adjuster.
Turn star wheel upward with screw driver tip until vehicle wheel will not rotate by hand even slightly.
Back off (turn star wheel down) five or six screw driver swings.
If Wheel soes not not rotate by hand, back off more, one swing at a time. When wheel moves. Replace rubber plug and do same on other side.
Check parking brake travel. It should be much improved.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanx to all for the insight. Found out what happened to the parking brake. Didn't have the time to do it myself, so I took it to a brake place( George Foreman's people), and came to find out that the whole assembly for the parking brake system was shattered and floating inside the rotor. Don't ask me how, but the guy said he has seen it before on the 97 Expe's. Had to put that assembly on first, couldnt put the rotor or wheel on until that was done. I still cant believe it.

 

I seem to recall a problem with Expy's that were accidently driven in Reverse while in 4Lo with the parking brake on. This would damage the parking brake system.

 

Excellent Instructions tsdrallyer!

Thanks for sharing the knowledge...


Yanks, two down and two to go!

 

I second the motion!!!!

PbFoot

 

You are right. Chiltons does have a section on the F-150 brakes. Apparently Chilton editors didn't do their homework. This is not the first time I have encountered an error in Chiltons. Thanks for giving us the straight scoop!!

PbFoot

 

So what you are saying is ford designed a parking brake system that needs to be adjusted by crawling underneath?

I don't buy it......mine had the same problem but it was just too far out of adjustment on one side..........once i adjusted it everything was cool and that was over a year ago and i use it everyday(park on steep driveway).......and haven't touched it since and pedal height is still way up at top................i would think there's gonna be wear after all there's friction involved and i put it in drive to make sure it's still holding since my light doesn't work(stoppped working at 36k) and don't want all the weight on the parking pin.............my slightly experienced un-educated guess is that it adjusts when you use it.........and IF you don't use it all the time don't use it at all


but i could be wrong

 

Dalejarretfan,
If a driver uses the brakes hard in reverse everyday, they should be self adjusting. I don't do that, so mine were never given enough torque to self adjust. This is common with most drivers so that is why there is a manual advance mechanism. Also, this method allows for releasing the tension for servicing the rear brakes, removing rotor, etc.

Hope this helps clarify.

 

the parking brake design with the shoes inside the rotor do not adjust by rolling back on it..they adjust by using it........backing up on your rear calipers is not going to do anyhting but waste lining......backing up on the parking brake isn't a good thing either it will shatter the shoe linings.....if they are adjusted at all......way out they won't adjust either

 

Very true. Think about it. The primary use of the parking brake is to hold the brake drum in place AFTER the vehicle has come to a complete stop. Under those circumstances, how would the star adjusting mechanism commonly used on drum service brakes ever come into play?