1996 explorer brakes
New User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
From: USA
Strange parking brake setup
After doing brake jobs for years on a number of different makes/models, perhaps I was just naive, but I had never seen a drum parking brake built into a rear disk brake system. I had no parking brakes and had to tear into mine.
Just a bit of insight in case you have not seen it. Not too hard, just different.
Just a bit of insight in case you have not seen it. Not too hard, just different.
Elder User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 508
Likes: 0
From: Webster, NY
I am pretty certain that the rotors on the 96 AWD are the same as the 97 AWD. In that case the fronts are easily removed (once you get the caliper mounting braket loose) and replaced. The rears are a little more difficult in that the disc, as pointed out by EXPL4X4, has a built in hub for the parking brake. Those are a little more diffucult to do (since I was not patient I had those done for me, but did the front's myself) as the hardware that is on the parking brake also has a tendency to rust up in there.
The bearings on these vehicles in the front are integral to the hub so just hope you don't need to do those as that gets expensive.
The bearings on these vehicles in the front are integral to the hub so just hope you don't need to do those as that gets expensive.
New User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
My 96 explorer 4WD was the first brake job I ever did and to be honest with you the backs were alot easier than the front! Maybe I got lucky?
The fronts were harder in that I couldn't get the caliper mounts to come off because the 2 bolts holding them on were so hard to get off that I stripped them and had to cut them off with a Zip cut grinding wheel.
With the backs you don't need to take the mount off, you just undo the calipers and pull the disk off. Like I said maybe I got lucky with that backs!...or it felt easier because of the problems I had with the front!
Good luck
The fronts were harder in that I couldn't get the caliper mounts to come off because the 2 bolts holding them on were so hard to get off that I stripped them and had to cut them off with a Zip cut grinding wheel.
With the backs you don't need to take the mount off, you just undo the calipers and pull the disk off. Like I said maybe I got lucky with that backs!...or it felt easier because of the problems I had with the front!
Good luck
