How do you adjust parking brake on 1997 Mercury Mountaineer?

Answer 1

You need to adjust the parking brake shoes by taking the rubber plug off the back and adjusting them like regular brake shoes.

On my 1997 Mercury Mountaineer I adjusted the brake shoes, but it didn't work. The parking brake wouldn't hold, so I replaced the drums, and shoes and it still didn't hold. Next I replaced all the brake cables, since there didn't seem to be a cable adjustment. The problem ended up being the parking brake assembly. The coil spring inside somehow came loose and uncoiled about one revolution. This spring "Is the parking brake cable adjustment", it provides pre-tension to the brake cable, so when you push on the parking brake pedal it starts applying the parking brake after about 2-3 clicks. I when to "Pick a Part" junkyard and bought one for about $13.00 and that fixed the problem.

FYI: Just because you feel tension and hear clicking when pushing the parking brake down and the pedal comes back up when released, does not mean the pedal assembly is working. Check the cable tension when release and check the end of the coil spring to see if it is hooked over a metal tab (my broken unit, spring was up against the end of the brake cable and wasn't providing pre-tension)

If you replace the rear brake shoes and the parking brake doesn't hold, don't just also replace all the brake cables like I did, because it still didn't work.

If you can push the brake pedal all-the-way to the floor and it still won't hold, do the following:

- Release the parking brake and look under the car on the drivers side and inspect the parking brake cable and cable tension.

- The cable should not be loose when released, and the cable should be centered in the holes in the frame.

- If the cable is loose when released, the problem is the "Brake Pedal Assembly" under the dash on left side.