Need Help With Sticking E-brake

[Tommy R]

Hey y'all,

 

Background: 1999 K2500 Suburban, 14 bolt rear, drum brakes (older body style)

 

Yesterday I left a parking lot and after driving through traffic of varying speeds for about 15 minutes I realized my parking brake was on! Admittedly I was mentally sidetracked at the moment, but glare also obscured my view of the dash light. Anyway, I immediately pulled the e-brake lever to release it and just hoped for the best. When I parked at my next desintation all I could do was a visual check and nothing was out of the ordinary. Sure smelled like burned brake pads, too. A few hours later I drove home on the hwy. It seemed rather sluggish and long story short, my rear brakes (or e-brake) seems to be dragging fairly heavily. I haven't yet dug into the brakes yet, but at least it's home now where I've got tools. ;)

 

So I'm beginning to wonder what may be the issue here. I'm wondering if a return spring may have overheated and lost its tension allowing the pads to drag? Are there any other likely scenarios here that could cause the drums to drag like this after stupidly leaving the e-brake on for awhile when driving? It was causing some bad hopping/vibration last night on the way home. There's definitely something going on back there.

 

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. If possible I'd like to go get the parts I'll need before cracking it open. I'm used to disc brakes. Working on drums is one thing I've not done very much of....yet.

 

Thanks in advance!

Tommy

[The Factory Man]

<br />Hey y'all,<br /><br />Background: 1999 K2500 Suburban, 14 bolt rear, drum brakes (older body style)<br /><br />Yesterday I left a parking lot and after driving through traffic of varying speeds for about 15 minutes I realized my parking brake was on! Admittedly I was mentally sidetracked at the moment, but glare also obscured my view of the dash light. Anyway, I immediately pulled the e-brake lever to release it and just hoped for the best. When I parked at my next desintation all I could do was a visual check and nothing was out of the ordinary. Sure smelled like burned brake pads, too. A few hours later I drove home on the hwy. It seemed rather sluggish and long story short, my rear brakes (or e-brake) seems to be dragging fairly heavily. I haven't yet dug into the brakes yet, but at least it's home now where I've got tools. ;) <br /><br />So I'm beginning to wonder what may be the issue here. I'm wondering if a return spring may have overheated and lost its tension allowing the pads to drag? Are there any other likely scenarios here that could cause the drums to drag like this after stupidly leaving the e-brake on for awhile when driving? It was causing some bad hopping/vibration last night on the way home. There's definitely something going on back there.<br /><br />If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. If possible I'd like to go get the parts I'll need before cracking it open. I'm used to disc brakes. Working on drums is one thing I've not done very much of....yet. <img src="style_emoticons/default/sigh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="sigh.gif" /> <br /><br />Thanks in advance!<br />Tommy<br />

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Do you make it a habit of using your PARKING brake? (It's not an emergency brake) If not, the cables may be rusted up and not releasing fully when the brake is released. Sometimes you can lube the cables up and save them but replacement may be necessary. As for damage to the rear brakes, you will have to pull the drums off to evaluate them. Was smoke coming from the rear brakes? They may have survived. Have a look and let us know.

[Tommy R]

Do you make it a habit of using your PARKING brake? (It's not an emergency brake) If not, the cables may be rusted up and not releasing fully when the brake is released. Sometimes you can lube the cables up and save them but replacement may be necessary. As for damage to the rear brakes, you will have to pull the drums off to evaluate them. Was smoke coming from the rear brakes? They may have survived. Have a look and let us know.

 

Yeah, I know it's a parking brake, but I've always called it an e-brake. Habit. Anyhoo, no, I don't usually use it. I've not driven the truck since this instance (it's just the tow rig) so it's still just sitting in the driveway. I'm hoping to get some time to check it out in a couple days.

 

Oh, but no I didn't see any smoke at all after either time I parked it. Hot, yes. Smoke, no. Thanks for the heads up and I'll let you (and everyone else) know what I find out...

 

Tommy

[tleck]

Being a tow vechical, Personaly i think thats the best time to use it... Its pretty damn frustrating when you have got everything all lined up and then you put it in park and the truck roles just that little bit till the parking prawl locks in... But thats a whole other story... Hey, make it a habit every to use it all the time, acctualy in all your automobiles.... Can't Hurt.... Take care, hope everything turns out well...

[KidHauler]

I had almost the same problem. Of course, I had already done the brakes, but the right side kept popping up and rubbing.

 

We finally figured out that the brake cable for the right side was frozen up. $50 at the parts store.

 

The rear drums are pretty substantial; so checking for wear on the shoes and a ridge on the drum is the only way to know for sure. Pop out the low, rear plug on the backing plate and run the star adjuster back to get the drum off. All that heat tends to tighten things up.

 

Good luck,

 

D

[Tommy R]

tleck, yeah, I use the e-brake all the time when I've got the trailered hooked up or am hooking it up. Learned that lesson long ago!

 

D, thanks for the suggestion. See below (copied) from another forum I posted to:

 

Well, tonight I did a very quick analysis. First I backed the truck around in the cul-de-sac (in case reverse would help re-seat the drums) and then I checked the e-brake cables and they were as slack as I would expect.

 

I jacked the rear tires off the ground and with the tranny in neutral the driver's side rear wheel rotated pretty easily by hand. There was some drag, but that would be expected with the driveshaft spinning. The passenger side wheel, however, was not spinning at all when I did this, but I'm not too familiar with the acuation of a Gov-lock diff, so I went to the passenger side and it was bound up. I could get it to spin, but it took a LOT of effort. Clearly the passenger side drums are dragging....badly. Or something is bound up in there.

 

It was at this point I wanted to yank off the wheels and try to pull the drums, but it was also at this point when I realized my air hose was 2' too short to get to the lugs. It was getting dark so I opted to put off any more effort 'til I have more time.

 

So now I'm wondering just how much tension should be felt on the cable. The cable sleeve up to the backside of the drum seemed fairly free, but I supposed the cable within it could still be super tight? Things seemed fine along the framerail where the cable splits to two. Hopefully on Friday I'll have more time to dig into it...

 

Tommy