Parking Brake Shoe Replacement

power1 · July 15, 2005

The parking brakes don't release reliably on my 99 GMC Sierra 4wd. As a result, the shoes are down to bare metal. The GMC service manual for this vehicle says to pull the axle to replace the shoe. Is pulling the axle really required?? Since I have a limited slip axle, this job is way beyond my skills so it would be good to know before I do something stupid.

Guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

GM-Tech · July 15, 2005

Odd, we've never removed an axle shaft to replace the rear parking brake shoes, but I just looked in service information for your truck and it does say to remove the axle shaft on both the 1500 and 2500 series.

I don't know if there's something different on 4WD and we just never did one or what.

power1 · August 8, 2005

Odd, we've never removed an axle shaft to replace the rear parking brake shoes, but I just looked in service information for your truck and it does say to remove the axle shaft on both the 1500 and 2500 series.

I don't know if there's something different on 4WD and we just never did one or what.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My guess is that you never had to pull the axle. I have completed my fix and I was able to work the shoes off and on without removing the axles -- it was tight and the shoe had to be at the exact right angle. The root cause of the problem was corroded brake cables that would not allow the parking brake to release. The whole assembly was in pretty bad shape. Guess GM just doesn't account for all the salt and snow in the frozen north.