So I was headed home on new years eve and I heard a loud clunk coming from the rear of the truck. I feel it was maybe the rear brakes thinking they might just need to be changed. I limped home I was a few miles away and parked the Truck in the driveway. I didn't look at it on Sunday. But on Monday I went out to thtruck and put it in the garage and got the rear end up and took off the Rear passenger wheel. I felt around for anything loose and didnt feel anything right away I worked the caliper back with a pair of channel locks and noticed the caliper was floating. This was strange to me on all of my other cars the calipers didnt move with the pats so it was interesting to me until I figured out that this was how it was suposed to be. I loosened the bolts holding the caliper and got it loose. Then all the sudden a spring from behind the rotor fell. Dirty word... The parking break! I finally work the caliper out and take the rotor off and the rest of the parking brake falls to my garage floor. It was all beat up. It looked like the break was not disengaging all the way and it was all warped and the "pad" on parking brake was all worn away.

So since I still need to get to work I just took the majority of the parking brake componets out/off the hub and buttoned it up with out it.

Is this a really bad thing? I mean I know I dont have a parking break but is there anything elae I have to worry about?

 

What it means is that you are trusting the parking pawl 100% (not really a good thing) to hold the vehicle. Other than that, it shouldn't "hurt" anything- but I'd sure fix it anyway.

 

Thanks......

 

My parking brake had to be completely overhauled this summer due to rear axle seal (common) failure: I would check for leaks on that seal while you are in there. Had to also end up replacing the rear disc brakes too, but that was regular wear anyway. But, you might want to check that seal. My parking brake was completely saturated.