My parking brake will not hold sufficiently to pass the TX state inspection. So I blocked both front tires, raised both rear wheels, and put it in neutral with the intention of adjusting the star to tighten the parking brake shoes. With the parking brake engaged, I can just barely get both tires to spin. With the parking brake not engaged, I can still just barely get both tires to spin. I know the fronts spin freely from the last time I had the front jacked up.

So, are the rear wheels supposed to spin freely when in neutral or do I have a different problem that needs to be looked at?

Thanks,
-Chris

 

You should be able to spin them with one hand. They won't be totally loose, but when you move one, either the driveshaft or the other wheel will turn. You probably have seized pads or calipers. Time to dig in - what I would do at this point is pull the pads out from the disc so you can assess if the calipers are bound up. Once you get the pads not touching the discs at all, see if the hubs can rotate. You should get a little bit of free movement before the differential makes the other stuff need to turn, maybe a quarter inch of free rotation.