Improving e-brak on the Teraflex rear disc brake conversion kit

[lordoeuf]

This is an item I've let go for over 15 years and thought I'd address it. After installing the Teraflex rear disc brake conversion kit on my '99 XJ, I noticed the e-brake was rather lousy, even after reinforcing the cantilever in the e-brake handle and getting the shorter mountain offroad cables.

I've also found that no amount of spider wheel adjustment or e-brake cable adjustment will correct the issue of the weak e-brake. Well, you could adjust it so tight that the shoes drag considerably while driving, but that really isn't ideal. Right now it is adjusted to the point where it just barely doesn't drag.

The problem appears to be with the metal bracket assembly for the drum. This bracket bends with repeated hard pulls of the e-brake handle. If I take apart both side drums and straighten the steel bracket, the e-brake works great again. But after a few hard pulls, it bends and the e-brake becomes crummy again, especially when trying to park the vehicle in a downward roll.

Have you folks run into this problem and how did you fix it? My temp. solution was to get a brake lock (aka line lock) for the rear discs, but as you probably know, this will loose pressure over time and shouldn't be used as a parking brake or emergency brake. I only use it for a quick jump in and out of the Jeep.

Thanks!

 

[lordoeuf]

Nobody running these rear Teraflex disc kits? They are identical to the Ford Explorer rear disc brakes if that helps.

 

[Anak]

This has everything to do with why I don't like rear discs.

I don't have a solution for you, and I won't be surprised if no one does. So many people run slushboxes anymore and they don't care about a parking brake. Put it in "park" and you are good to go, right? Not so good if you drive a stick. So I am running rear drums and have no plans to ever change that.

 

[4x4JeePmaNthINg]

I dont run tera, but I pieced mine together. It wasnt until after install that I had heard input from folks here that this is common for the ebrake to be shitty. Its not often you read this on the threads about the conversion.
However, drums or discs Ive always adjust my E brakes to Have drag while the tires are jacked up. Ill adjust parking brake shoes until the tire spins no more than about one and a half revolutions by hand and then stops, and this is by grabbing it a throwing a spin into it. Its served me very well.

Start there and see where you like the feel of them. Mine will hold my vehicle parked on a slant just fine. Are they stellar, no, but they work fine for their purpose.

 

[lordoeuf]

4x4JeePmaNthIng: Does your e-brake hold the Jeep in a downward roll without the car in gear or park? The difference between how you've adjusted the spider wheel and how I have adjusted it is only about a single notch turn on the wheel. After 100 km of driving how you have adjusted your shoes, it should wear the shoes to be exactly how I've adjusted mine.

Anak: I drive a stick and have no "Park". In my 20's I thought a stick was the thing to have. In my 40's I'm stick of it and wish I had an automatic. Everytime I want to put the car in "park" I have to shut the engine off and put the shifter into Reverse. It is a pain. This is why I use the brake line lock, but only for up to a few minutes out of the car - just so that I don't have to turn the engine off. On a steep incline with 3 kids and the wife in the car, I'd probably still turn the engine off, put it in Reverse, engage the line lock, and engage the crummy e-brake.

When I still had rear drums, I was comfortable leaving the car on a steep hill incline or even decline without the shifter engaged.

I did find that after installing the Teraflex conversion kit that I needed to remove the o-ring from the proportioning valve to get more braking pressure to the rears. 4x4JeePmaNthIng, did you also find this to be the case? Even with the o-ring removed, I wear out the front pads much faster than the rears.

 

[lordoeuf]

I can't seem to find an EDIT button for my posts, so I'll have to reply again. I forgot to mention that the rear disc brakes did help a lot with overall braking performance. I don't want to bag on the system too much because the enhanced braking performance still outweighs the lousy e-brake performance in my opinion. My wife disagrees though. Though she didn't drive the car when it had the rear drums.

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

Nobody running these rear Teraflex disc kits? They are identical to the Ford Explorer rear disc brakes if that helps.

I’ve got the explorer rear with discs on a 5speed.

I’m running the black magic flip kit on the e Brake cables. It’s not great but better than it was without them. It will hold the Jeep on my driveway with a slight incline in neutral

 

[Evan03]

Eldorado parking brake calipers.

 

[RCP Phx]

I went thru this when I did my WJ/KJ swap. First I had to realize that they are "parking" brakes only, with my drum brakes I used to pre-load the rears on steep grades just to get a better pedal. With the disc's there is very little lining to make contact so any glazing of the lining is "bad". The fitment is also critical and all shoes are not created "equal" and they do sell different lining grades, I also went as far as to polish the "cam assembly" and keep it very well lubed to reduce drag in the "actuator" mechanism. Make sure the drum is not glazed and/not worn and actually check the shoe fitment. I can't say their the greatest but it will hold on a fairly steep incline on it's own if you stop completely before applying the park brake.

 

[freggie]

Is there an adjuster from the hand brake to the two e-brake cables? This might take out any slack in the lines any possibly put some pre-load on the system? I don't know if you can do it this way but if you can then don't forget to back off the starwheel...

 

[4x4JeePmaNthINg]

Yes the brake holds in neutral if im backing down a hill. Im on 35s and adjusted the "e/parking" break to allow one revolution of the wheel.

I have not changed the proportioning valve, nor do I plan to.

 

[lordoeuf]

I've heard using the Cadillac calipers (Eldorado) is a newbie mistake. I don't recall the reason why, sorry. But people tend to eventually take them off.

freggie: noted in the OP, even properly adjusted hand brake cables don't correct the e-brake performance. I have always pre-loaded the spider wheel, then backed off a smidge so as to not glaze the shoes. For glazed shoes, I use 600 grit sand paper to deglaze them.

RCP Phx: Yes, they are no longer emergency stopping brakes! I got over that real quick. I suppose if you really wanted the e-brake to park the car, one could do as you say - that is, put the car in gear to hold it, go under the car with a flathead and adjust the spider wheel to pre-load, then yank up the e-brake handle. When finished parking, go back under and back off the spider wheel. It's a lot of work though just to park on a slope.

Concerning fitment: Are you saying that perhaps the radius of curvature of the shoes doesn't quite match that of the drum housing, so not nearly enough surface area is making contact, thus the holding power is weak? I can see that being a probable cause. Are there any replacement shoes you can recommend? I have a Rock Auto order pending that I'd like to finalise this weekend. I think replacement shoes would be for a '99 Ford Explorer.

Concerning "cam assembly": Does this refer to those heavy gauge metal brackets that ultimately grab the pull cable? I've also properly cleaned mine and lubed them with white lithium grease. I also put RTV around where the cable meets the metal bracket to prevent water getting in and rusting it. Did you find that the bracket gets bent over the years? I've had to hammer mine straight again twice. I found it difficult to get back together, but not impossible. If you haven't reinforced the cantilever in your e-brake handle, it is possible that you aren't able to bend the heavy gauge bracket in the rear brakes: your stock e-brake cantilever will bend first.

 

[RCP Phx]

Concerning fitment: Are you saying that perhaps the radius of curvature of the shoes doesn't quite match that of the drum housing, so not nearly enough surface area is making contact, thus the holding power is weak? I can see that being a probable cause. Are there any replacement shoes you can recommend? I have a Rock Auto order pending that I'd like to finalise this weekend. I think replacement shoes would be for a '99 Ford Explorer.

Concerning "cam assembly": Does this refer to those heavy gauge metal brackets that ultimately grab the pull cable? I've also properly cleaned mine and lubed them with white lithium grease. I also put RTV around where the cable meets the metal bracket to prevent water getting in and rusting it. Did you find that the bracket gets bent over the years? I've had to hammer mine straight again twice. I found it difficult to get back together, but not impossible. If you haven't reinforced the cantilever in your e-brake handle, it is possible that you aren't able to bend the heavy gauge bracket in the rear brakes: your stock e-brake cantilever will bend first.

Yes, the fitment of the shoe radius to drum radius.

I don't have any other mods done. Here's the cam linkage I'm talking about.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=11171985&cc=1434760&jsn=8

 

[lordoeuf]

Thank you. That cam linkage is what I was calling a "heavy gauge bracket".

Is that rock auto link a direct replacement for these rear Ford Explorer (Teraflex) brakes? If so, I'll probably order a pair to service the brakes. It would be nice to find some with less ductile metal.

 

[RCP Phx]

No that pic is of my KJ brake set-up.

 

[lordoeuf]

I spent a good 40 minutes trying to find these Ford Explorer parking brake lever kits, but struck out. To my disappointment, the parking brake hardware kits don't come with these levers, nor do they come with the boot that seals the region the lever sticks out. The e-brake design must have been so bad that manufacturers realised it was a lost cause.

Best I could find was half of the lever system for the passenger side only. From my memory, there should be another heavy gauge metal lever that attaches to the one in this photo:
https://www.carid.com/genuine/parki...2a637-aa.html?singleid=2506729366&url=3135173

Guess I'll just get the Raybestos hardware kit. Am debating between Bosh or Raybestos for the brake shoes and think I'll go with Bosh.

 

[lordoeuf]

Since I cannot find those Ford explorer rear parking brake cam levers, I will need to hammer the existing ones flat again. Does anyone know the best home recipe to anneal these levers to relieve stress and increase toughness?

Here's a link to the Teraflex Ford Explorer rear disc kit. It much cheaper in 2004. Photo doesn't really show the levers. https://teraflex.com/shop_items/yj-87-90-84-88-xj-rear-disc-brake-conversion-kit

 

[Jim Malcolm]

According to a post on an Exploder forum, Dorman 924-741 work on the Exploders even though they are only listed for the F150s. They appear to be the same, may be worth a look. Otherwise I'd personally go to a JY and get an OEM set. I've ripped on mine way harder than I should have and have never bent it, maybe the Teraflex parts just aren't up to par.

Only other tip I've seen is to use OEM pads; people have reported being able to gouge the pad with their fingernail. Certainly not a place for "lifetime replacement" pads but Ford is super proud of these pads.

After multiple rounds of adjusting both the cable and the pads, mine has been working pretty well all summer. It seems that the time between adjustments is getting longer and longer, which makes sense as the cables finish stretching and the pads wear into the "drums". I think we're all just used to drum brakes where the pads wear in as part of normal operation; with these drum inside disc setups, the parking brake shoes may never fully "wear in" to the drums. I've been adjusting mine with a little bit of drag to help speed up the process...

As a warning to all who may read this, about a month ago I had to hook up to a friends Exploder and "take the weight off" from it sitting on a hill so that it could be shifted out of park. It wasn't the safety lock-out, the parking pawl was straight up stuck. Fix? Complete tear down. Cause? Not using the parking brake on hills, allowing the pawl and related surfaces to wear. Haven't heard of any issues with an AW4 but technically speaking, the proper procedure for parking on a hill is to apply the parking brake and let that "catch" the vehicle and then shift it into park. Who knew...

 

[RCP Phx]

As a warning to all who may read this, about a month ago I had to hook up to a friends Exploder and "take the weight off" from it sitting on a hill so that it could be shifted out of park. It wasn't the safety lock-out, the parking pawl was straight up stuck. Fix? Complete tear down. Cause? Not using the parking brake on hills, allowing the pawl and related surfaces to wear. Haven't heard of any issues with an AW4 but technically speaking, the proper procedure for parking on a hill is to apply the parking brake and let that "catch" the vehicle and then shift it into park. Who knew...

That can't be correct because the pawl only engages about every 10* of rotation, so if your brakes any good, it might not engage the pawl(which is fairly substantial on a AW4).

 

[Jim Malcolm]

I don't know how official of a source for this your going to find but when researching the issue with the Exploder, everthing said the same thing, apply the parking brake before putting it into park, including

https://blog.firestonecompleteautocare.com/brakes/when-to-use-parking-brake/