1998 Ford Windstar

Good Morning All!

My husband has been doing brake work on a '98 Windstar. Upon replacing
the drums, rotor, brake pads, emergency brake cables (front and rear),
and a new hub(passanger side only for the new hub) on the rear brakes
we still have a problem with the emergency brake!

He also inspected the emergency brake handle in the vehicle to see if
that is adjusted properly (it is). When he goes engages the emergency
brake and hits the gas pedal the car still goes as if the emergency
brake isn't even on. However, when he engages the emergency brake and
tries to go in reverse it works perfectly.

Any ideas what we should try next? His last thought was to replace the
adjuster...

Thanks for your help,
Heather

Heather wrote:
> Good Morning All!
>
> My husband has been doing brake work on a '98 Windstar. Upon replacing
> the drums, rotor, brake pads, emergency brake cables (front and rear),
> and a new hub(passanger side only for the new hub) on the rear brakes
> we still have a problem with the emergency brake!
>
> He also inspected the emergency brake handle in the vehicle to see if
> that is adjusted properly (it is). When he goes engages the emergency
> brake and hits the gas pedal the car still goes as if the emergency
> brake isn't even on. However, when he engages the emergency brake and
> tries to go in reverse it works perfectly.
>
> Any ideas what we should try next? His last thought was to replace the
> adjuster...
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Heather
>

First, it's a Parking Brake. The term Emergency brake went out many years ago.
The parking brake will not prevent the vehicle from moving under engine load. It
should offer quite a bit of resistance, though.
The first thing to check is to make sure the rear brake shoes are properly
installed. The shoe with the shorter lining goes toward the front of the vehicle.
They also need to be adjusted up until a slight drag is felt when turning the wheel.