Lincoln Versailles Parking Brake

tx65coupe

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Nov 29, 1999
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My 65 has a Versailles rear end. Last year I completely rebuilt the rear end and the brakes etc. I am having an issue with the parking brake not working for the last few months. It appears that the passenger side rear sort of works, but the driver side rear does not engage at all. Does anyone have on input?
 
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I didn't see your post.

More than likely it's because either the ball bearings in the lever-arm actuator segment are frozen up, or there's too much pad gap, so even if the lever arm moves, it doesn't do any good in terms of holding power.

Suggest you start with disconnecting the cable, see if you can move the arm by hand, if not it's likely froze up and maybe time for a new caliper. If you can, and it moves a lot (like more than about 20 degrees) you're going to have to play with "clocking" the piston to adjust the gab and arm play.

I'll try to scan the adjustment instructions later today and post.
 
I just remembered that Autozone has a fairly good schematic of the brake calipers and how they come apart. Just search for the vehicle (I can't remember, but you may have to look up 1980 Monarch instead of Versailles).
 
Hi! I got a Versailles rear end as well, the piston on the Versailles caliper are adjustable. You have to push them in all the way with a C clamp and screw them out until you get a good fit on your rotor. There are 2 holes in the caliper piston for this purpose, I adjusted mine with needle nose pliers.
 
Please could you post the solution to your problem, i`m very interested in that! :nice: Also you mentioned that you completely rebuild the rear end and the brakes. Did you buy the needed parts one for one or is there a rebuild kit anywhere aviable? :shrug:

thanks for you reply
Mario
 
I did rebuild the entire rear end and brakes last year. As far as I know there is not a complete kit that has everything. I did piece everything together and got all my parts from Rock Auto. I'll see if I can find the list of parts I got.

I think that the Versailles caliper hoses are still on some type of major backorder or might be discontinued. I had a hydraulic shop rebuilt mine.

As far as the solution to my problem goes, it was just the pad gap that needed adjustment.

Some additional information can be found in this thread.

Lincoln Versailles Parking Brake Adjustment - MustangForums.com
 
I struggled with the parking brake for years... finally swapped an 8" back in (Wifes car, no way she'd need a 9"). The Versailles currently resides in my project Coupe... definitely have to try this!!

big THANKS for the info!!
 
Thank you for the detailed answer! I read your post on the other forum with your question:
I also have a question about the use of the parking brake and the self adjustment of the caliper. For this to work properly, do I need to put my foot on the regular brake when releasing the parking brake? I read somewhere that that is the only way it works right.

Is there an answer to this question or an possibilty to check if the self adjustment is proberly working?
I will check on it later, first i will adjust the pad gap. Have the car on jacks this weekend and i could rotate the emergency brake lever almost 40 degrees. Way too much as i read on the post on mustangforums.
Unfortunately i was short on time to do the adjustment immediately, so it will have to wait for the next two weekends. :rolleyes:
 
I don't understand why the piston has to be pushed back in or bottomed out just to be adjusted back out again. Just move the parking brake lever again and again to move the piston out to take up all the gap? What am I missing here? I've got to make adjustments this weekend. Back brakes are not working much at all. Of course I don't have a E-brake setup on this car so that is why the rear brakes are not working, not getting adjusted by using the E-brake.