• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Front caliper retaining springs and replacing rear drum shoes

H

HerronScott

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 24, 2009
Messages
51
Hi,

Just replaced the front rotors and pads on our 1996 Contour Sport. I had already done this one around 75,000 miles and we just hit 161,000 miles and it needed it again. I've been reading about a front caliper retaining spring but ours didn't have anything like the couple of pictures I've seen. Did all Contours have these? Note that we've owned the car since 1999 adn it only had 24,000 miles on it to begin with so I don't think the brakes had been worked on before I did it the first time.

Second question is regarding replacing the rear drum shoes. I started looking at this a few months ago, but ran into issues getting the old shoes off and if I recall correctly, the issue was related to the emergency brake cable. Note that these are the 8 inch drums and shoes. Any tips on replacing these as I plan on tackling them again this weekend?

Scott
 
yes all contours have the springs on the front calipers.

what was your issue with the rear brakes? the e-brake cable just slides off the arm on the one shoe. pull the spring back to help. otherwise its pretty much like any rear drum brake setup.
 
Really strange that the springs have been missing. Of course it was the local tire shop (Merchant's Tire who I hate except for the convenient weekend and late evening hours) who told me I needed front brake pads at 75,000 during a state inspection and wanted to replace the front calipers due to the pads wearing unevenly so maybe they pulled them off and didn't put them back. I of course went home and replaced the pads, rotors and cleaned up/lubricated the calipers and the pads/rotors lasted 81,000 miles this time before needing replacement. Should I get replacement springs from the dealer or are the Autozone/Advance Auto ones good enough?

I'm going to tackle it again this weekend so I'm sure that I'll be able to let you know what the issue was. I thought that had some kind of bind in either getting the springs or the emergency brake cable loose from the rear shoe. I'll take pics this time!

Using this work to get my 16 year old some experience in working on cars. Had him do the front rotors and pads with me this past weekend. :)

Scott
 
you may have a hard time finding those springs/clips if you ask for them for a contour. I believe someone on here had to go to NAPA and get them for a Ford Escape.
 
imnotacop420 said:
you may have a hard time finding those springs/clips if you ask for them for a contour. I believe someone on here had to go to NAPA and get them for a Ford Escape.
Click to expand...

Autozone and Advance list them and the local Autozone claims to have them in stock.

Scott
 
Front brake caliper springs have been replaced. I still find it interesting that we went 85,000 miles without them.

Now I'm back to replacing the rear brake shoe problem. I've determined that with rear 8" brakes it does not appear there is any way to get the emergency brake cable loose from the rear shoe without pulling the wheel cylinder. You have to rotate the cable or shoe close to 90 degrees to do so and you can't do that as the adjusting arm is still attached at the top of the brake shoe. The Haynes manual shows 9" rear brakes where they are able to get the adjuster out as there is enough clearance between the wheel cylinder and hub to do so but that's not the case with the 8" rear brakes. I've tried pulling the spring off to release the adjusting arm but it too appear to have to rotate to get out of the slot in the brake shoe.

I was contemplating doing a pre-emptive replacement of the rear wheel cylinders anyway given they're 15 years old but if anyone has any ideas on doing this I'd love to hear them!

Scott
 
to get the cable off the shoe you have to dissassemble the brakes. The cable is first installed, last removed.
 
So I see, only problem with that would be getting the adjustor arm/bracket off the top of the rear shoe given that you can't get it out from under the wheel cylinder and I couldn't get enough twist to get the little spring loose due to the angles required on each to release it.

Scott
 
As he says, it only takes seconds to make a pile of parts with only shoe attached to cable remaining. I yank all springs and it just falls apart.
 
My problem on the driver side was getting the little top spring on the rear shoe and adjuster loose. I ended up replacing the wheel cylinder which allowed me to get the adjuster arm and rear shoe out far enough to twist it and get things loose and then I reassembled in the reverse order with the wheel cylinder going in after I had the rear shoe and adjuster arm in place. The passenger side went much faster and I found I was able to get enough twist to get that little spring and the adjuster arm fastened even with the wheel cylinder in place. I wasn't planning on replacing the hoses as the driver side looked in great shape, but I found the passenger side brake hose had been cut into by the strut despite the rubber buffers. It had to be very close to breaking/leaking.

Not really sure why I had so many problems with the driver side, but thanks for the help. Just need to get the drums turned and installed now and get the brakes bled!

Scott
 
I had the same problem Scott, car had no retaining clips on the front calipers. Only found out they were missing cause a member on here pointed it out to me :). I drove the car for a year without them. Got some new ones today from my local Ford Garage, Only cost me £5 for both (About $3) Have noticed a big difference in the braking response of the car.
 
The front caliper wire form spring holds the caliper flat so it doesn't try and lift and cause uneven pad wear
 
I put mine back on and could see where the pads were not making contact witht he inside of the rotor. Glad I put them back on. But I need new brakes right now anyway.
 
I know this is an old thread, but ive been working on my car all day, installed the NPG front upgrade kit, along with new lower arms cause my bushings and BJ's were shot at 182K miles, also installed ES sway bar bushings front and rear and the ES bushings in the rear trailing arms, but not the stock rear knuckles, i i will be doing a rear disk conversion in a few weeks when i get the NPG rear upgrade kit and ditching the stock drums.

My car had the caliper spring on the passenger side but the drivers side was missing, and for the life of me i cant figure out how the dam things go back on, and body got a link to a diagram on how they go on? or some pointers? Without the springs on there, and with my 16" SVT E1 wheels the caliper is hitting the wheel, so thats obviously a no go situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top