I went outside this morning to go to church and my parking brake was stuck. It wont release. The release handle appears to be functioning properly. The wire behind the parking brake seems to be properly tensioned. I think something is wrong with a catch. Any ideas? I cant get my other truck out from in front of it to even go anywhere.

 

I had the same problem with mine once. This is what I figured out.

The first picture below shows the parking brake release cable, taken from the rear. When you pull the release lever, this cable should pull the lever it is attached to towards you.

The second picture shows the other side of that lever, from the passenger side, facing the driver side. The blue circle is where the release cable is attached and that part of the lever should pull forward when the handle is pulled, pulling the other part of this lever down. The tab on the back part of that lever (red circle) should come down and make contact with the spring rod (yellow circle). That spring rod is what releases the parking brake.

The third picture shows the lever when the release handle is pulled, the lever has moved down and the spring rod has been moved.

On my truck, that spring rod had somehow bent or moved, away from the camera in the second and third pictures, or to the left if looking at it from the back. The lever was not making contact with the spring rod and the brake was not releasing. You can try reaching in there with your hand. It's a bit hard to get to. Catch that release rod with your finger and pull down on it. If the parking brake releases, then this may be your problem.

I was able to simply pull that spring rod out (to the right) to bend it a little until the release lever caught and moved it like it was supposed to.

 

Excellent accurate reply. Another thing that might help: put some pressure on the pedal while tripping the release.

 

Great pics and info David. Reps to you!

 

I appreciate it man. I still cant get it undone. It looks like in your picture you were able to take the plastic trim piece off around it and the pedal is pegged against it. Im gonna try again tommorow but im thinking im gonna have to cut the wire under the truck.

 

Mine didn't have any trim or a panel there when I bought it. It never even occurred to me that there should be trim there. That makes me think that this problem probably occurred to the previous owner also and he removed the trim and didn't replace it.

If it were me, I'd be figuring out how to remove the trim, even if I had to break or cut it. It'd be a lot easier to find another piece of trim to replace it, than it would be to replace the brake wire.

Even if you cut the brake wire, you're still going to have the parking brake pedal down and no way to release it.

 

part of the problem is getting to the pedal without my arm or face being in the path of pedal if i were to get it released. a cable only cost like 16 bucks. but i hadnt thought about the pedal. You dont think it will release when i cut the wire?

 

No, I doubt it will. The pedal is held down by a latch pushed into a ratchet. Releasing the cable will still not release the spring tension on the latch.

 

i feel really stupid about this brake. all you gotta do is bend a bracket out of the way the and get something long and skinny and nail the catch all the way in the back.

 

I've had the same problem with my '02...(first time it happened, it was pooring rain and I was blocking the drive to my daughter's school). After the second and third time, we decided that the parking brake was off limits and we would park in the street. Now the HOA is cracking down on street parking, PITA!

Anyone ever replaced the above mentioned spring?...It appears that mine is worn out. I have reset it and tried to rehab it,...but no dice. Anyone?