1998 Ford Escort Dragging Brake

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Rodney - 02 Nov 2004 03:46 GMT

I know everyone is busy with worries about the election, but hopefully you
can help me help someone with an ailing blue oval.

I've got a 1998 Ford Escort LX with a dragging passenger side rear brake.
It's a drum brake. With the rear of the car in the air, I can easily spin
the driver's side wheel, but the passenger side wheel requires two hands
and significant effort to rotate.

I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area so I am hoping someone can
help me diagnose what has gone wrong. I am trying to help an unemployed
student friend get this car fixed as cheaply as possible. With my limited
knowledge, my diagnosis is that the right rear brake cylinder needs to be
replaced. Is replacing that likely to correct the problem? If not, what
should I check and how?

Rodney

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someone - 02 Nov 2004 16:33 GMT

first you need to remove the brake drum and see whats going on in there, its
possible that it just needs cleaning and re-greasing, the handbrake lever
which is connected to the rear brake shoe is probably siezed which means the
brake isnt freeing off correctly when you let the handbrake off.
you will need to remove the shoe to unsieze the lever,
while you have the drum off check the brake cylinders for leekage, this will
be evident under the rubber dust covers at each end of the cylinder. if you
see brake fluid then replace.
steve, oxford

> I know everyone is busy with worries about the election, but hopefully you
> can help me help someone with an ailing blue oval.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Rodney

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John Cairns - 08 Nov 2004 22:48 GMT

> I know everyone is busy with worries about the election, but hopefully you
> can help me help someone with an ailing blue oval.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Rodney

Had something similar happen to me some time ago, one of the hardware bits
from the adjuster wore out. IIRC it was also the passenger(handbrake side)
and it may have had something to do with the handbrake adjuster. The irony
was that I had the brakes done professionally a year previously, they didn't
bother to replace any of these parts though they did replace some seals and
other miscellaneous bits and charged me top dollar to boot. You will have to
remove the drum, if my diagnosis is correct the problem should be fairly
obvious immediately, those hardware bits are fairly inexpensive. I am
relying on my memory as this happened quite a while ago but the fix was
fairly easy, the only hard part was prying the drum off!
John Cairns

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