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Frozen Brakes? Or 4WD Brain slow? (99 Ranger)

Thursday, it was very nice here. Warm; well above Zero (Celcius). Friday, it got mean, cold, nasty and miserable. Temp. dropped to about

-14 C.

I'd left my Ranger in front of the airport building Thursday afternoon. When I went to go home Friday late afternoon, I found that one wheel was locked up (rear wheel.) Because I have a manual transmission, I had gotten into the habit of using the parking brake.

One of the pilots told me to spray hell out of everything with the glycol they use to de-ice wings. This seemed to help - maybe 10 minutes later, I heard a very loud "SNAP", and things freed themselves up. Or at least, I could apply drive traction to both rear wheels...

When I sprayed hell out of everything, I got the emergency brake cable as well as the drum in the centre of the wheel. So if it was only the brake cable, I'm relatively comfortable that all should be OK. But what harm wound the glycol do to the drum brake pads, anyway? Should I replace these, or what? I've been driving a lot more timidly than normal, because I'm not certain how much brake I have if I need it.

Any help?

H.

Reply to
Rowbotth
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Change your rear brake shoes, Rangers are notorious for the rear brakes absorbing moisture and swelling, causing exactly what you experienced.

Reply to
Michael O

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 23:32:53 +0000, Michael O rearranged some electrons to form:

And don't use the parking brake in the winter. Leave it in gear instead, and don't park on a steep hill.

Reply to
David M

Why would this be? Don't they use the same material in the pads as everyone else?

H.

Reply to
Rowbotth

It's not likely that you actually got any liquid to the inside of the drum. It's also not likely that the glycol actually got inside the cables. I'd just replace the cables and inspect the shoes whilst you do it.

s

Reply to
Steve Barker

I'm not sure what they do differently, I just know they absorb ambient moisture. My '93 did it, my brother-in-law's '93 did it, my friends '98 does it, every Ranger I've seen does it (I spent 10 years as a Ford tech). Put some aftermarket shoes on, have your drums turned and be rid of the problem.

Reply to
Michael O

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