emergency brake woes

i drive a 94 tracer 1.9 5 speed and for 2 years i never used my handbrake cause it never worked so 2 days ago i decided to tackle the problem myself and i thought i had fixed it. when i took the rear drums off and everything else in there i found out that the "adjusting quadrant" (as the haynes manual calles it) was frozen and wouldnt move. so i took them out and freed them up so they would move. after putting everything back together the brake held better but i could still push the car. i did the adjustment the manual calls for where you put it in reverse and seat the shoes then adjust the nut right next to the handbrake lever but it just makes the handbrake harder to pull up but doesn't help with back wheels holding. am i missing something? anything else to look for? any feedback would help. all my friend keeps telling me is to get a new car but for some reason i have grown attatched to my tracer...

Take the drums off again..give the linings a good sanding with 60 grit aluminimum oxide sandpaper.Take off some material.Take some cleaner..that evaporates..NOT varsol!,clean the drums and give them a light sanding with some light sandpaper..220 is ok.

This failing providing everything else is ok..turn the druns/replace the linings.

What PROBABLLY..almost guaranteed happenned..is that the egy' brake was left on..(probablly got "stuck" on because the adjuster was rusted)..the shoes dragged on the drum.Shoes are designed to work better when warmed up..the friction of the metal/lining creates the heat..BUT!!! they also have to cool too.With the linings dragging..they just get hotter and hotter..can't cool..and BEFORE they get a chance to wear much ..they glaze/harden..LOL..they ain't gonna wear much now.

Next question..OK THEN..why do the brakes work ok..just the emergency doesn't work eh?

1..The contact area is MUCH less when applying the egy for starters.
2.. This area being considerablly less doesn't rely on some heat build up for friction aid.It relys on the smaller contact area.This area in PARTICULAR could be glazed.
3.An understanding of the egy. brake mechanism shows that in NORMAL braking the shoes are pushed out from a central solid,HIGHLY leverged point..the wheel cylinders..with the egy almost ALWAYS 1 shoe is pushed out my a central mechanical lever..the OTHER shoe is pushed out WHEN the first shoe hits the drum..and is pushed back.
4 There is also a good chance that when the drums overheated they warped slightly.


LOL..I have been through this scenario PLENTY! of times..pretty baffling isn't it??..EVERYTHING looks ok..BUT the linings are simply heat hardened..in spots.Depending on how deep the hardening goes/is.I have fixed some with 2 seconds of sandpaper.Others..at the other end..new linings,drums.

thanks man...im going to try it out now..
appreciate the reply!

welli tried it and nothing happened. i took an even closer look at it and i think the spring that adjusts the adjusting quadrant simply is too and and rusty and there is hardly any tension on it. so im going to just replace all the springs and retaining clips

Hello.... I'm new to the forum and read your post.. I have a 95 escort. I have put about 130,000 miles on it in almost 3 years. My mechanic cousin works for a ford dealer, and every time I take my car to him, he automatically goes for the rear left tire.. because the dang quadrant "sticks". He works it loose, then greases it up and puts it back on. This does not affect my back brakes at all.... I don't even tell him that my egy. brake lever is loose... he just knows that the quadrant sticks on these escorts and no matter what work he's doing for me, it's one of the things on his list. He probably sees my car every three months. :)
I personally changed my drum brakes last weekend, and he hadn't ever replaced all my springs... but I did. The new spring on the quadrant made a difference with placing it in position w/the shoes in the drum.

cool, thanks for the info. my friend was showing me how a drum should fit on. it shouldnt go on as easy as mine did. its cause the quadrant spring doesnt hold as well as it should. i guess when i take it apart again to put in the new springs i'll grease it up more. i already put some graphite stuff on it and its as loose as it will ever be. thanks for re-assuring me!!! oh, and i looked at a friends escort and noticed the return spring that is on the outside of the drum is almost completely collapsed when the egy. brake is off. mine is stretched pretty far with the egy brake off and im hoping some new springs will be able to pull back farther. thanks for the info!!