Howdy - -

I have a recurring problem with the hand brake on my 1995 Aerostar: it keeps tightening up to the point where the rear brakes start burning up. I've had it serviced over and over again, and the mechanics don't seem to know what to do about this problem.

My understanding is that there is a third self-adjuster (in addition to the star wheel adjusters) that keeps the tension on the hand brake cable, and that this is what keeps tightening the cable up too far.

Has anyone else seen this problem before?

- - Herb

 

93 Aerostar, 2WD, short body.

I'm beginning to have the same problem with my hand brake, even though it's not as serious as yours. Hopefully, someone here will post a solution to this problem. It could be a worn out brake cable. My bad side seems to be on the passenger side.

 

It's gotten to where they've redone the brake job enough that I was told to take to a dealer, after which my original costs would be refunded.

They even replaced the brake handle (where the self-adjuster resides) to no avail: still tightens up. There's really nothing left to replace!

Now, the Ford dealership is frightening me because they are telling me that there is no self-adjuster on the hand brake cable; rather, that there is a good old fashioned adjustment screw. I think they're wrong about that.

Does anyone know the correct answer?

- - Herb

 

According to the Haynes and Chilton books, the adjustment is handled by the mech at the bottom of the handle. From there the cable goes to the equalizer bracket, from this to the rear wheels. So the only thing that can cause BOTH rear brakes to seize is the so-called `control assembly', the ratchet deal on the bottom of the handle. It has to be jamming.

 

I don't know about jamming -- it seems to be working too well. It keeps ratcheting up the tension.

How is it that a Ford dealership doesn't know about this design?

 

the problem is at some time the emergency brake cable was tightened to much to make it work when the brakes and the self adjusters were not working properly. the rear brakes got replaced but the emergency brake cable never got loosen back up. the rear brakes were never really at home possition and now when the self adjusters tighten up the brakes it pulls harder and harder on the emergency brake cable . the fix is to loosen up emergency brake so that it is very loose, manualy adjust brake shoes up to the drums and then back them off slightly and then go back and adjust emergency brake cable.

 

Thanks Lasher. One dumb question though! How do you adjust the hand brake on the Aerostar? I could see no adjustment points and the Haynes manual didn't say anything about it.

 

Nice try, lasher, but the whole shebang was redone in the rear. All the adjusters backed off: star wheels, and hand brake. The thing was fine for a few weeks -- nice and loose -- and then the hand brake adjustment crept up again.

copper_90680 - There is no adjustment. One must disengage the ratchet pawl somehow is my guess. This seems to be a real case of bad over-design.

- - Herb

 

Do you use the parking brake a lot?

 

No, I don't use the hand brake a lot.

I just got under the van and disconnected the cables. Then, I pulled the entire handle assembly out. I wanted to understand the mechanism. Now, I understand how it works: there is a long spring pushing rearwards against the "T" bar that holds the two cables to the one from the handle. This spring, it is clear, is essential to providing the balancing backpressure against the forward pressure from the handle spring. The brake shoe springs alone are not sufficient. When the series of brake jobs were done, this spring (quite rusty and rotten) was not replaced. This, in turn, caused there to be insufficient balance against the brake handle spring, allowing the handle to ratchet up the tension to where the brakes were constantly applied.

This is a serious case of stupid over-design! It just adds needlessly to the initial cost of the vehicle.

On top of that a local Ford dealership doesn't even know how this thing works.

- - Herb

 

good to know, If you find parts to replace that spring will you put the numbers up here? If your ford dealership didnt know how it worked I wonder how hard it is to find parts.

 

Very good to know indeed. My Aerostar (91 AWD 4L) does not have a sping there, (should it?), and the parking brake is one of the small group of things that work. Looking at the Haynes manual, section 9-10 tp 9-11, there is no sign of a spring there, and it is not mentioned in the text. Are there two different designs?

 

jkorreck - -

I can only assume that, if auto parts places don't have the spring, then a Ford dealership should. If I'm wrong, it'll be a bitch to find a spring to put in there with the right length, diameter, and energy-per-unit-length. We'll see.

I will post part numbers, should I be successful in finding them.

BarryFS - -

I am, by no means, an expert on these vehicles. This is the first Ford I've ever owned. I am going by what I observed under the car. Yours is '91 and mine is '95, so they're probably a bit different. I haven't checked my Haynes manual as to whether or not it addresses itself to this spring. Frankly, I'm very disappointed in this Haynes manual: it's garbage. I used to own Fiats (128 sedan and 124 Sport Coupe). I had Haynes manuals for both of them. I had the Haynes manual for my girl friend's VW Beetle convertible. I had the Haynes manual for my Toyota Supra (1982?). Great manuals, but not the Aerostar manual. Haynes has been sliding, I think.

To wit: One day, after having changed my oil (Aerostar), I was slapping everything back together, whereupon I noticed that my serpentine belt had popped off. Well, "No problem!", I thought to myself. I'll just open the book and take a look at the belt path. No such luck. It showed something like "Typical Serpentine Belt Path". It had nothing to do with my engine. Having never changed the belt before on this engine, it took me a good hour to figure out the belt path, and I needed to be on the road, fast. Grrr.

There's my Haynes rant.

- - Herb

 

Agreed about the Haynes. Most of the diagrams show the 4 banger layouts, while there can be very few of them in existance.

 

Thanks for the info Herbray. Couple of questions though. What "T" bar are you talking about? Is that what they call the "equilizer" bar, where the front cable meets the two rear cables? If that's the case, is the spring you are talking about part of the front cable assembly?