4 Wheel Drive/SUVs: Rear drum brake problem, rear drum brakes, ford explorer xlt


Question
Dan, I have a '92 Ford Explorer XLT woth 4WD, auto trans, front disk brakes and rear drum brakes with rear only ABS. Sometimes, it feels like the rear brakes are dragging. When this has happened in the past, I have felt the drums and found that the right rear drum is very hot compared to the left one. What I did next was to remove the drum- it was stuck tight and I had to hammer it off- and then found that the adjuster was way too tight. Next I loosened the adjuster, and this would seem to fix the problem for a few hundred miles, then the problem would start up again, gradually getting bad enough for me to re- adjust the adjuster. This has happened a few times in the past six months. Any ideas? Also, the parking brake will not "hold" in position when depressed- no clicking or anything is heard. The brake does work if you try it when the car is moving, it just won't stay engaged. This has been broken for a few years. Thank you for volunteering your time and expertise. You and your fellow volunteers are greatly appreciated!  

Answer
The parking brake is the problem, when it quit working the cable let up on it's tension. When working corectly you can go slow in reverse and work the E-brake up and down, this will adjust the back brakes tightening them. You will have to pull the brake system apart and replace the hardware in the back and for the parking/E-brake.