Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting E brake locked -stereotypical problem

I'm having the stereotypical e-brake problem. Rear disc brakes locked up today. Freezing temperatures after a couple of days of rain, have caused the emergency brake cables to freeze, I believe. Both discs were hot after a short drive home this evening. The e-brake handle is loose now, no resistance when pulling up on the handle.

My question is this, has anyone replaced these cables themselves? If so, what kind of time and cost commitment is required? Any special tools required? I'm a poor college student working with next to no money. Any experience here?

Thanks,

Jake

cable kits are around $40 to $50 IIRC, and it should take about an hours worth of time with simple hand tools

I am going to attempt the repair this weekend. In the meantime I disconnected the cable from each rear caliper, which allows you to drive the car without the rear brakes dragging. Just park on a relatively flat surface till its fixed.

I can tell you that the problem is usually in the two cables that go from the equalizer to the rear wheels, and that the cable from the lever to the equalizer is usually not the problem. That makes for an easier repair than having to replace the front section of the cable.

The repair involves supporting the rear of the vehicle on jackstands or ramps, you have to detach the rubber hangers that support the exhaust pipes and let them hang to create some room to work (using a jackstand to support the pipes), you also have to remove a heat shield to make room, and then remove the old cables and put the new ones in place.

The cables are available at aftermarket stores like Autozone for about $35. Ford has a specially designed replacement cable set for about $55. I got the one from Ford.

If you want, I can get the Ford or Autozone part # for you. I can also mail you the instructions from the Haynes Manual. I know what it's like to be in college, though sometimes I feel like a poor college graduate.

Thanks to both of you. I've got the Haynes Manual, but I just wasn't sure how involved what they tell you to do would be. I guess I'm going to be trying this repair this weekend as well. However, all the tools I'll be using are a 100 mile trip away in St. Louis. Can I do any harm by driving that far with the brakes dragging? (besides obvious pad wear?)

Thanks again,
Jake

yes, if the brakes are dragging you could cause bad wear on the rear tires, like the brake pad making them wear out faster then they should

to replace the cable just get the car up in the air. You only have to drop the heat sheild to get to the from of the rear cables. just use a punch to release the old cable, you will see how the clips work when you get new ones. start from the front and put the cable in, hook it to the equilizer bar, then run the cables and connect to the calipers, it pretty straight forward, the hardest part is getting the cable connected

if you like you could just cut the end off the cable at the caliper, when i got my 99 the one brake was dragging so we cut the one cable so it wouldn't drag, rear brakes were shot but at least the previous owner knew what was going on and wasn't using the paking brake, that will allow you to make the trip without unneeded wear on parts

You can either cut off the cable at each caliper, or just grab the ends with a strong plier and pull them off the levers. Either way will work. Just not a good idea to keep driving the car with the rear brakes dragging.

BTW, you can drive the car for some time with the e brake cables detached as long as you are not parking on a graded surface. I've been doing it for a couple of weeks and if it's too cold this weekend, I'll put it off another week.

When you do get it fixed, you will want to look at the condition of the rear rotors and pads. If this has been going on for awhile, they might have taken some severe wear.

Be sure to check out the TSB on this problem.

http://contour.org/FAQ/tsb/tsb.cgi?97-5-2

Also, check out this topic for some more information:

Click Here

when i raised my 98 svt up and spined the back wheels, brakes seemed to be dragging both of them, im still not sure if that causes vibration only at sertain speeds around 60mph, mostly from the side of the bad rim.
one of my rims was hit a little, im planning to balance it soon.

Vlad,

Detach your e brake cable at each rear caliper and see if the drag is gone. If the drag disappears, you'll know that you have bad cables.