I just put a new Currie rear in the wife's 57 wagon. It has Explorer discs with emergency brake in the rotor hat. New Lokar cables. No matter how hard she pulls on the brake handle (stock) I can still turn the tires by hand when off the ground. Did they ever work? Do they require over-center leverage rather than hand brake pull? I have enough slack in the cable to relax the ear on the back of the rotor assembly but not so much that she's out of handle travel.
Have the same rear set-up in this old chevy truck we are building but we used the lokar handle. It is sporting a lot of leverage and you still have to crank on it pretty good to get it to hold.
There is a lever under the car that has the "T" handle cable and the one to the rear attached to it. Maybe you could change the location of the cable to the rear on the underbody lever and provide more leverage to the drums.
Make sure that the parking brake shoes are adjusted out far enough. It will only move the shoes out as far as the cables can pull. adjust the shoes all the way out till they are just dragging and then pull the cable. should be much improved.
Not sure if your wagon used one; but a lot of cars originally had a link bar underneath which increased leverage between the handle cable and the rear cables. Maybe need to add one if not there. Maybe the shoes need some wearing in to make full surface contact in the drum, my E-brake works a lot better after I had a few thousand miles on my regular rear drum brakes. Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yes, this car had a link bar. I moved the new set up to the driver side frame much like my late model Dodge truck and did not use a link bar. Maybe I need more leverage.
Can you pull down on the exposed part of the cable and lock up the park brake? They may be backed off so far that they can't put enough pressure on the drum area as Nailhead Jason suggested. Sent from my VS988 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yep most if not every car seems to have a multiplying lever before the rear wheels in the e-brake system. Original would be like in the image below. Need to add one in my Model A as I was foolish enough to hook both rear cables to my Lokar handle as many do. No way I can pull hard enough to even slow the car without the added leverage. Just need to check a factory bar to get the right ratio first.
Explorer parking brakes are drum brakes, inside the rotor hat. They have a star wheel adjuster, just like any other modern drum brake. You need to set shoe drag just the same as any other drum brake setup: You will find the common rubber plug in the backing plate, behind which is the adjuster:
If you are using a simple pull out and turn to release handle you have no leverage at all. Might as well be pulling on the cable with a pair of vice grips. You need a bar under the car to give you the required leverage.
I had the same issue. I'm using an original hand brake, and it just didn't have enough power. I tossed around the idea of an extra arm on the frame, but there wasn't a good way to do it on mine, plus I already had everything connected. My solution was to dis-assemble the parking brake mechanism inside the rotor, and make a new, longer cam arm where the cable attaches. This greatly increased the leverage. Worked out great and was simple to do.
Reading this the HAMB isn't the only place misinformation gets thrown around at times http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...-adjust-the-park-brake-or-rear-brakes.103432/ Since your shoes are probably new or should be I'd tighten the adjustment up until I couldn't turn the wheel and them back it off 5 clicks and see how it felt. Too much drag back it off a tad more. You want the shoes to have to move the least distance possible without causing extra drag on the brakes.
Yes, make sure the shoes are adjusted up, but likely leverage bar required. I made a small bar, that sat upright in the side channel of '40 frame to connect the rear cables off of the Versailles rear, to the stock 40 handbrake cable. Worked great.
The added bar multiplies leverage as much as necessary. The parking brake doesn't need much travel if it's adjusted correctly. There is no wear as the vehicle isn't supposed to move with the parking brake on.
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