Mustang 2000 Rear Disk Brake Repairs

[JerryR]

Hello there everyone. I'm hoping someone can help me with a maintenance question.

I'm trying to compress the rear disk brake slave cylinder on my 2000 Mustang GT in order to install new pads. The slave cylinder has a connection on it for the parking brake. However, prior to beginning work, I chocked the wheels and released the parking brake handle completely. Therefore, the parking brake tension should be relaxed.

However, when I try the ole C-clamp trick to compress the slave cylinder, I find that it does not compress far at all and since I don't want to break it, I do not put any real force into it. I am guessing that some component of the parking brake assembly is preventing the slave cylinder from compressing.

So, my question to you is, "does anyone know how to properly relax the parking brake and compress the slave cylinder on the rear disk brake so I can install the new pads (which are thicker than the old pads?).

Again, this is in reference to a 2000 Mustang GT.

Thanks in advance for any help!