Hello,

I have a '89 F-350 N/A 7.3IDI 4x4 Automatic DUALLY. I was driving a few places today, and I usually put my parking brake on every time I am about to leave the truck no matter how much time. I finished up at my last stop, and when I got in the truck, I started the truck, and noticed that the PARKING BRAKE light was not ON (RED) like it usually was, for some reason, I did not investigate further, and figured I must've turned the parking brake off already. My next stop was home which was about 15 minutes, and throughout the drive, I did not notice anything out of the ordinary other than the fact that up a specific hill it was harder than usual, and the EGT climbed more than usual, and it felt like we were on a somewhat bumpy road. Outside of that though, there were no signs that something was immediately wrong. When I got to the top of the hill I wanted to pull over and see what was up, but there was no reasonable space to do so unfortunately.

I get home, and I go to put the parking brake on before I temporarily exit the vehicle on a hill, and see that the parking brake is already engaged (light still off). I realize what I have done. I get out, and I can see and smell the parking brake smoking. It continues to smoke out for maybe 2-3 more minutes, more on the driver's side than the passenger side.

After I let it cool down for a bit, I start the truck again to move it into its parking spot. I notice that it feels like the parking brake is holding the wheel while it is not engaged (or me holding the brake pedal). So when I am in Drive, the truck doesn't move freely unless I give it gas, and after rolling into the spot, it immediately stops after I let up on the gas. As if the parking brake is still engaged (but it's not).

At this point I feel like an actual idiot, I don't know why I didn't check the parking brake regardless. I did some digging to see if someone has experienced something similar:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...tuck-help.html

In this thread, I read https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post9033785 and https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post9034414

Do you think the resources I linked are enough to resolve the parking brake issue? I am wondering if there are any additional steps I should take for safety after trying those fixes (should I get new pads or something?), or if I have screwed up pretty badly and will need assistance from a shop. I understand the parking brake and brake pedal brakes are different (right?) so if I temporarily fix the parking brake I should be safe to drive it, but once again I am just seeking guidance on this situation on what I should do. I don't want to jeopardize anyone or my safety.

Reading "my better half driving 50kms home with the parking brake on" makes me feel a little better, but I still feel very unsmart for what I did. Hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

so you probably toasted your rear drum linings, first off. Sadly of course. however, when it comes to them not releasing, that could be because of multiple things. first id say is the adjustment systems of the rear brake cables probably are no longer in good order.
Im not sure if your cables are OE, it may be a time for new ones if you got the rear hot enough to maybe melt the sheath of the cables at the ends. Or at least weaken whats there.

The pedal, i would get down on yoru floor and confirm its not distorted or bent from any of what happened, it shouldnt from the sounds of it.

To be clear, you have rear parking brake not a transmission tail housing unit?

 

I am not sure if my cables are OEM, but replacement sounds like a given. As for the pedal, I will have a closer look at it tomorrow but there was nothing I noticed that seemed different, besides maybe there being no "gear" noise when you press the parking brake pedal anymore however I'll have to confirm it tomorrow and make sure I am not just imagining it not being there anymore.

As for the "transmission tail housing unit", I am not sure, but I am 99% sure I don't have one and I do have a parking brake. I hope at least. I only ever saw smoke coming from the brake assembly circle and no smoke from the transmission from what I have seen at least. I have an "Automatic with O/D" transmission with the Gear Vendor Overdrive kit on it, in my owners manual the E4OD is circled. Hopefully that helps.

So I am screwed pretty bad then? Is the truck capable of driving or would you recommend against it. Would it be fine to drive it 35-40 minutes to the shop to get it fixed? Man this sucks lol

 

i wouldnt drive it until confirming the brakes arnet dragging, jack up one wheel and chock the truck and put the E4OD in neutral. in neutral, see how much drag the wheel has. if its a lot, you can now do one of a few things. 1) You can try to adjust your shoes away from the drum by going in the back of the backing plate with a brake spoon or a screw driver and adjusting them inward. if this reduces the issue you probably can safely drive it but id just be easy on the brakes and keep your nose open for smell.


if you cant get it to free up, if youre going to replace the cables anyway, next trick is to take a bolt cutters and cut the cable. Thats only helpful if that line is somehow stuck and its applying pressure on your brakes. If its not, it will just cut the cable lol. But you only have to do it to one side to know if it works or not. if you are going to replace cables, its not a bad idea.

But do you have any mechanical know-how to do any of the work or would it just be a shop doing it? because shops love to take advantage of such situations and claim you need everything under the sun replaced etc.

 

Ok, I think I'll try what's said here https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post9034414 to make sure that it's not the cable that's just pulling it somehow. I hope it is but I doubt it would be, but the parking brake light being off gives me some hope it's just something stupid like that. If that fixes it then yay, but if not, I'll try and test the drag myself and adjust the shoes like you said so I can at least try and make it to a shop

I don't have enough know-how to do anything related to the brake assembly, especially since I would rather have the confidence it's done properly and safely. I go to a specific diesel truck shop where I have done some major repairs and feel comfortable with taking this there again, but if you have any tips on what to say / anything that can help that is always appreciated. It'll probably be a little bit before I gather up some cash and bite the bullet. And I just started enjoying the truck again with no issues. Stupid parking brake.

I greatly appreciate your help and responses. Be sure to let me know if anything else comes to mind

 

 

the light being off most likely means the bulb in the dash burned out.
or the switch on the pedal assembly went bad.
when you pull the handle to release the parking brake, does the pedal come all the way back up, or do you have to pull it all the way up with your hand?
with the pedal all the way up, do the brakes still drag?

 

I think you might be putting the cart before the horse. As said in the previous post, the switch on the parking brake pedal might have been bumped or the pedal wasn’t depressed far enough to trigger the switch or gone bad which is why the light didn’t come on. The only way to know for sure if the cables are bad is to pull the drums and look while the pedal is pressed down and released. Chances are good that you only overheated the shoes which is an easy repair that you could do in your driveway.

 

Ok so I am in the truck now. I don’t have enough time to get the resources to jack it up and check the wheel spin but here’s what I’ve done so far:

I pressed in the parking brake and the gear noise is still there when I press, and it still holds just fine (no light still). I pull the release, and the pedal releases just fine all the way back up with no issues.

I found where the two cables meet up, put my camera under it, and pushed on the parking brake. In the video I can see the cable being pulled (can send if needed). So I think this confirms the cable isn’t holding it or something.

I put it in reverse and I can tell the brakes are still holding it pretty hard. So with the parking brake up completely (even while pulling the release) I try to reverse and it’s holding it.

I notice that my normal brake pedal is making some sort of like air-y noise when I press it but I can’t confirm that didn’t happen beforehand, and may just be because the brakes are already being held?

Should my next step be to get a look at the drums so I can get a better glance at what may be causing it to hold?
Let me know 👍

 

personally, yes, i would pull them off or at least get up to one side and inspect whats going on

 

ok your minimal diagnosis today makes me thing something in the rear brakes broke and is keeping the brakes applied.

 

Ok. Yeah I didn't have much time but Monday I should be able to mess around and take a closer look into it, I will reply here with some images and descriptions of what I have found. Thanks again

 

So I am trying to adjust the adjusting screw gear thing from the adjustment hole slot with the flat head screw driver (following a video on YT titled How to adjust your drum brakes by bleepinjeep) and it just does not want to budge at all when I’m trying to do the tightening motion, because I cannot find the latch to push that would let me turn the gear the other way to loosen it. It probably can’t be tightened anymore than it already is, but I still can’t find the latch to loosen it

I don’t have the right socket for my dually rear wheels in order to remove them, and I’d also have to go out and buy a jack + stand so I can lift off one wheel at a time and check out the brake assembly.

So it’s either I go buy the right socket and jack/stand and I remove the wheel myself and take a closer look at the whole thing or I try and find a mobile mechanic that can come take a look at it with all the stuff already. Only bad part about the latter is I don’t exactly know what the problem is so I wouldn’t know what to tell him besides hey I need you to take the wheel off so we can look.

Ill probably just try and do it on my own but that’s where I’m at rn.

 

i use a dental pick hook to grad the adjuster lock and pull it out toward the backing plate to loosen the adjuster wheel.
provided the adjuster is not siezed

 

Hello, sorry for the late response. Didn’t have time to get to this until today.

here’s what’s up:
I jacked up the truck. I went to put it in neutral, and as I am crossing from park -> reverse -> neutral, when it goes In reverse the wheels just start continually spinning. I don’t know what that means. (While the truck was on)

And when I put it in drive (no gas) it just starts spinning forward the back wheels (not really the passenger side one though)



When I step the brakes the wheels would stop (this is only the driver side wheel. It turns out the passenger side rear wheel was not spinning at all during this time when I would give it gas, it would seem like it’s trying to budge. so I’m going to take off the driver side wheel right now and see. So the driver side wheel is spinning when in reverse and drive but not the passenger side.



I took off the first part of the wheel on passenger side (it’s a dually) (so the first tire of 2) off and the other one was literally glued on. NEVERMIND I GOT IT OFF.



I took off the complete wheel on the drivers side and the cover doesn’t look like ANY of the videos I’ve seen online. So I have no idea how I’m gonna take it off to get a better look at the brake assembly.



I have both wheels completely off. But now I am stumped. I have never seen this break assembly cover thing anywhere and I have no idea how I’ll get to it. I’m going to be pissed if I have to take the axels out cause I already have no idea what I’m doing. Any tips? I’ll add the pictures.