Hi All,

I have a 96 Exp 2 door sport - 4.0L engine 4x4

I see a small rubber hose that is hanging down under the rear axle - the one end is connected to the top part of a fitting on the axle, about 1/2 way between the drivers side rear wheel and the Diff

the other end is just hanging loose....

Where is that supposed to connect too? seems too long to just be a breather tube... but is that what it does? I didn't see/feel any fluid there...

anyone on this one?

Thanks

 

My recall is that is the vent tube and it normally hangs from a clip attached above the rear axle. Sounds like it came loose from the clip.

While you are down there, you might as well remove the nipple that is threaded in to the axle and make sure it is not plugged. Those have a tendency to plug up which defeats the purpose of the vent and may contribute to leaking seals. That makes a mess of the rear parking brake shoes.

-Rod

 

Hi Rod,

Thanks - I'll do that tomorrow. so, it's strickly a vent tube? cool - was gonna just use a couple of zip ties, but that might pinch the hose too... any ideas of how to re-mount it up there?

could this by why I had my parking brakes done not too long ago, but the barely hold the car in drive? - no problem when it's in reverse... is that adjustible somewhere?

Thanks

 

Well, if the hanger is no longer on the vehicle (broken or rusted) I guess you could make one out of some mechanic's wire or cable ties. I'd spend a few minutes looking for it though, maybe it's there. If you use cable ties you should be able to just snug it up to the hose without pinching it.

If the parking brake shoes were damaged due to leaking axle seals and the seals weren't fixed, that could explain why they don't hold well. The parking brake shows are very small and not intended to keep your vehicle from moving when in drive and applying power. The gear ratio for 1st gear is lower than for reverse so that might be why they appear to hold better in reverse. However if you mean that with the vehicle in neutral it rolls forward easier than it rolls backward, the installer may have installed the shoes incorrectly. I don't recall if the parking brake shoes use a short and long shoe or not (it's been awhile since I did mine). The short shoe would be the leading shoe (towards the front of the vehicle) and the longer in the rear. There is a brake adjusting screw (starwheel adjuster) used to adjust the parking brake shoes. I also don't recall if there is an access plug so you can adjust this without removing the rotors.

-Rod