'94 rear drum brake stuck...

[magnetbox]

I recently tried to change a tire on my '94 Ranger (4.0L, 5 speed) and set the parking brake. Now the truck won't roll forward-- it's like the brake is stuck on.

The cable doesn't seem very taught when the lever's released, and I've tried tugging it to try to get it disengaged-- no luck. The weird thing is that the truck WILL roll in reverse! If the brake is stuck, why would that be?

Anyhow, I understand the sticky parking brake problem is pretty common. Short of taking off the drum and checking out the linkage, adjuster etc (and probably rebuilding them in the process) is there anything I should try? Would banging the drum with a hammer maybe release the stuck pads?

I don't have a good place to work on it (it's stuck in the street in front of my house) and it's real rainy this time of year, so I'm hoping to somehow get this solved without a big hassle.

Thanks!

 

[martin]

Sounds like a sticking brake. The reason the truck will roll back but not forward is because the brake design is what's called bendix self energising, in simple terms it creates sort of a cam effect that causes more effort to be applied in one direction than the other. Hammering on the drum will probably help to slacken them off but you will have to remove the wheels to get an effective hit, and use a decent hammer please, three to four pound lump should do and don't be shy the drums are pretty tough. Good luck.

 

[magnetbox]

Thanks for the reply. I'll go beat on it....

207k now, and the first 170k were spent in Wisconsin. It's a bit rusty!

 

[metalmacguyver]

You will probably have more luck trying to to force the parking brake cables back into the sheaths. You may need to disconnect it where the cable from the brake pedal comes back and splits to the two rear cables.

Good luck!

 

[Viva*the*Ranger]

Is it cold where your from? Mine does it when temps are freezing. A little moisture in the drum will do that. My truck did it a lot, I lightly applied the e-brake and drove a few miles to burn off the moisture in the pads and it hasn't done it since.

 

[magnetbox]

Okay, the truck is still stuck.

Here's some more info: one rear wheel (passenger side) will spin, and the other (driver's side) won't, no matter how much rocking I do.

So I took off the wheel that isn't moving and managed to pull the drum off without a lot of effort. Nothing seemed messed up inside-- looked just like in the Chilton manual. But here's a question: if a brake is engaged so much that it immobilizes the truck, wouldn't it be extremely difficult to remove the drum?

Seems like the problem couldn't be in the wheel that's spinning-- that's the one that's trying to make me roll. Could this be something larger, like a problem with my differential?

 

[snake]

Its possible. Try moving the axle with your hand. You should be able to as long as its in nuetral...

 

[magnetbox]

Would I need both wheels up on stands for the axle to turn freely?

It didn't seem to want to turn when I had the drivers side wheel off. That's the one that doesn't spin when I try to drive forward.

 

[DangeRanger302]

this problem very well could be in you diff. unless you have lsd or positraction, you have one drive wheel. try jacking up both wheels, turning the truck on, and "go". you won't actually go anywhere, but you can see if the wheels will spin. if it is a brake, it will not go, or heat up. if it's the differential, you will be able to shift easily, turn the wheels, but they won't be turned by the engine.

 

[Bryan22]

take the drum off and see if you can spin the wheel with the truck in neutral?

 

[magnetbox]

Ok, so what I've read the passenger side rear wheel is the drive wheel (2WD truck here, btw). So it must be the one that's caught up.

Looks like I've got another day of fumbling around in a slushy, dirty street...this time wrestling with the other drum.

 

[dogboy]

So, this whole problem came about when you parked it to take the tire off?
If so, then it is HIGHLY unlikely that it is something in the differential. The reason only one tire spins is becuase of the differential action (power goes to the tire with the least traction...), I'm not sure if you knew that or not.

My guess would be that there was moisture in the drum and when you set the brake, it froze, causing the e-brake to stick. This is exactly what mine did a week or so ago. I guess you could always take a hair dryer out there and just heat it up (with the wheel off) and hope it heats it up enough to unfreeze the parts in there.


My way of solving it, I know is not the smartest, but since I have a manual and 4wd, I put it in low range and just starting beating the thing forward and backwards untill it broke loose (I'm sure it abused the clutch and tranny), by somewhat dumping the clutch, I didn't dump it too hard though.



And another thing, has it ever done this before, and do you normally set your e-brake? Or, do the brakes ever grab hard the first time or two that you apply them in the morning? If the brakes grab hard the first couple times, then that would indicate that there is moisture in the shoes, which probably froze causing your current problem.

Hope that helps, most of it has been said before though.

 

[snake]

Would I need both wheels up on stands for the axle to turn freely?

It didn't seem to want to turn when I had the drivers side wheel off. That's the one that doesn't spin when I try to drive forward.

I'm thinking it would turn easier with both off of the ground, but should still turn with the one up off the ground. Just not as easy, but you should still be able to turn it by hand.

And no, read the thread closer. He has the one drum OFF so it cannot be frozen- of course, the other side might be...

I'd get it up off the ground (both sides) and see if both sides turn. If they do, grab the driveshaft and see if you can turn it by hand. If the driveshaft won't turn, its probably in the diff. (repeating some of the above poster's advice)

If the driveshaft doesn't turn, pull the diff cover off and see if you have ice in there- might have gotten water in the grease somehow. Or could even be the tranny if manual.

 

[magnetbox]

Thanks for the advice, both of you.

Here was my logic regarding the one-wheel-vs.-another thing: since one was not turning, I figured that must be the frozen one. But then I remembered that a differential (working properly) would also cause only one wheel to spin, so I figured that might be what was going on. Yeah, I know it seems unlikely that something much more major would fail when I'm trying to do something simple like change a tire...but it wouldn't be the first time that's happened, haha.

In regard to the weather: I'm in Portland Oregon, and it's been kinda cold lately, though definitely above freezing most days. Of course there's been a good amount of moisture in the last couple weeks.

 

[MUDDING B-3000]

i had the same problem a week ago i was stuck in a timmies parking lot, it turns out it was the passenger side e brake locking up cuz when i took the drums off the primary shoe was almost down to metal when every other pad still had about a 1/8 left, just take brake cleaner to everthing an just pry around on everything to get the ebrake lever to brake loose an that shuld do it, it worked for my an its been good ever since,
just DONT use ur ebrake till summer cuz its the moisture from the weather changing that locks the lever up.