OK, I can't figure out why but 2 weeks ago we jumped in her 01 Expedition EB ( that had been sitting in the garage for probably a month) and the rear brakes grabbed and stopped us within 1 turn of the wheels. They wouldn't let go until I changed to reverse then they went a turn or two and locked up again. After a few times of doing this everything was fine & we drove it roughly 60 miles without incident. The next day I pulled the rear wheels to check them out and nothing looked out of the ordinary, so I put the wheels back on and parked it. Today I got in it to see if it would do it again or if I had imagined it and the same thing happened, rear tires stop the vehicle before my foot even touches the go pedal. Remember now this happens at very slow speed, right after initial start up WITHOUT touching the brake pedal or the gas because it was still in the garage.
We use the vehicle very rarely now and so far these symptoms only happen after long periods (weeks) of sitting, but it could be that if we drove it daily the problem might go away. Winter is coming and the wife will be driving it more often, I don't want it locking up on her so I'm asking for some input. We have owned it since 03, the pads have lots of life left, the rotors aren't rusty and I'm not making this up.
BTW I remember that the first time it did it 5 or 6 times and if I gave it gas instead of reversing direction, it made a rather loud bang and let go.
I searched for this and all that seemed close was people who had problems with rusty rear drums locking up under light braking, I don't touch the brake pedal and the rears lock up. Gonna need some help on this one.

 

On my 99 the emergency brake is a small drum built into the rear disk. I would exercise the emergency brake to see if one of the cables may be hanging up. Pull the rear disks to check the mini drum and shoe condition.

 

I'll second that, the problem is likely due to the parking brake shoes grabbing.

 

Could be that something such as broken hardware in Ebrake drums had this happen to my now gone 97

 

Yep, I tore out all the Ebrake components. Take them out see if it quits. You can always figure out why and repair them later.

 

Sounds like a great idea. I'm not a brake guy, so how do you disassemble the e brake? I disassembled the left ebrake cable because that is the brake that is locked up. Ebrake is stuck in place and I can't even budge the mechanism on the back of the wheel to get the ebrake to move. Ideas? I have a 2000 expy

 

You could loosen the adjuster star wheel and that should retract the brake shoes and free up the wheel.

 

Someone in my family, and nobody knows who, drove with the parking brake partially engaaged for a short distance before they realized what they did, and the result was that the lining separated from the shoe and caused similar problems. Check your e-brake by pulling the rear calipers and rotors for inspection.

 

I pulled the caliper off and at first I couldn't get the wheel to turn because the ebrake was engaged. After some pounding with the hammer I was able to get the ebrake free (partially), but I can't get the rotor off to look at the ebrake. the ebrake is still dragging and the cable will not budge. Its totally froze. ideas on how to get either the rotor off or free up the ebrake? I have seen some things about the star brake adjuster, but I don't know anything about this other than the slot on the rear of the rotor. Can't seem to figure what I'm supposed to do with the the adjuster. Any help is appreciated.

 

You have to reach into the slot with a brake spoon or a screwdriver and turn it several revolutions. This will allow the shoes to come together and away from the drum/rotor.

 

Got it loose. After I finally got the rotor off (great ideas on the other posts - using bolts in the caliper mounts against the rotor and then a BFH) I realized there was nothing wrong with the Ebrake. Turns out the parking brake cable had been impinged on and over time the moisture had rusted the interior of the cable and locked the cable. New cable from the stealership ($44) and walla, its working better than ever. Bought the rig 5,000 miles ago and it turns out the cable on the left rear brake has never worked since I bought it.

This whole experience has been great. I have never worked on brakes before and I learned a lot taking them apart and reading everyones advice. Thanks to all for your help.

 

My 01 expedition rears brakes or e brake lcked up this weekend. after pulling my 6x16 ft tailer with a small desk on it. what could cause this

 

My problem turned out to be the park brake shoes were old and separated, the friction shoe came loose from the metal part. Then it rattled around in there until it got wedged between the other shoe and the drum. Both sides were bad and I'm glad I replaced them.
On a side note it seems to me that brakes go bad with age because the brakes on my 02 tonner were coming apart and I'm talking the disc brakes in this case, don't want to lose them. So what I need to learn from this is I need to be harder on my brakes so that they wear out faster and don't have a chance to come apart from age.