Hi everyone! How can I stop my rear brakes from freezing to the drums when I leave my truck parked with the e-brake on? Other than not using the e-brake, which is basically what I've resorted to. It's a 91 2.9l.

Thanks!
Allan

 

try taking the drums off & clean them spraying them down with brakekleen & clean them this might help!

 

Brake shoes run tight tolerances (near dragging) to the drum. This causes a bit of friction, which in turn creates heat. If you're driving around at this time of year, and insist on using the e-brake, you're going to have to give your truck a cool down period before applying it. Essentially, when you first come to a stop, any snow/water you've driven through is still in water form inside the drum. You apply the e-brake, things cool off, and now it's frozen together. Backing up will sometimes free this up, other times it won't. Check and see if your e-brake cables are the source of the problem as well. As time goes by, the nylon coating on the cable inside the sleeve wears off, and it will rust and bind inside the cable sleeving. There is no cure for that, other than replacement.

 

I've had this exact same problem on my 97 SC several times. The first time was about three years ago, when the truck was about 3-4 years old. Turned out that one of the return springs inside the drum had broken; that was a simple fix. The second time about a year later I had a siezed cable; again a simple fix.

Most recently, however, it wasn't so simple. It got cold here in Guelph one night and the next day I let the brake off and the truck wouldn't roll. I almost stalled it trying to break it loose. Anyway, drove it to the dealer, they took it apart, found nothing broken, cleaned, lube & reassembled. That lasted about a week. This time took it the dealer, fastlane portion, they couldn't find anything wrong - put me on my way no charge. Coldest night to date last night, and sure enough seized up again. Drove to Toronto this morning for a meeting, had an infrared thermometer in the truck; 185 deg F at the backing plate after 1 hour of driving. Took it back to fastlane, showed the guy the temp readings and left it. Long story short, they found corrosion in the cables & replaced with new. They might look okay on the outside, but it's worth taking them off and just checking them out - you might find they occasionally hang on you.

 

Thanks for the suggestions! The rear brakes are only a year old as are the brake cables. It must just be the snow getting in there and freezing! I guess I just won't use the e-brake when it's really cold! Backing up always got me free.

 

Good winter driving practices involve not using the parking brake. All sorts of cars/trucks will freeze and getting the thing thawed can be a real bugger. If you keep this up, one day you may find yourself stranded somewhere and trying to get your hands on a propane torch.

 

How can you tell if the shoes are frozen on to the drum? I had simular problem, except it was the brake cable getting stuck and I bet thats what it is.


P.S.

wyseilmykkar you are from Guelph? me too. Nice to know there are some Guelph on this forum.

 

Brakes commonly freeze to the drum when the e-brake is applied. When I drove big rigs professionally, more often than not, you sat in your rig, with only the park brake applied(front axle of the truck only) and waited for about 20 minutes to make sure things cooled off before applying the trailer brakes. If you didn't, you found yourself underneath the trailer with a tiger torch and a BFH trying to get them loose in the morning. The other thing to worry about at that time, was to park breifly, let the tires cool down a bit, and then roll forward, or you'd also find yourself parked in ruts from the heat of the tires melting into the snow/ice in the pull-off, parking lot, or truck stop. That leads to 18 wheels not rolling, very quickly.

 

I guess I'm not the only one having this problem.
A few days ago, I drove home from work in the rain. Parked the truck with the parking brake on as usual. Forgot that it was getting below freezing at night now. Got up the next morning and the truck wouldn't move when I put it in gear and popped the parking brake. A little touch of gas and the shoes popped loose. At first I thought maybe the tranny was acting up, but when I saw the frozen water in the bed of the truck, I figured it out.

Just have to get in the habit of not using the parking brake when it's wet and freezing out. Anything with drum brakes will have this problem in the winter time.

I remember one time a few years ago, some some guy in a front wheel drive car was driving down a snow covered street (without a clue) dragging the rear wheels along. Dragging, as in not turning. Either he forgot to release the parking brake or the shoes had frozen to the drums.

 

LOL... good story. I have had the same thing happen to me in years past. One time the brakes were stuck so bad that I could not move it in 2wd period. After it stalled like 3 times, i finally but it in 4wd low and managed to break them free. I'm sure this wasn't good for it, but I had to get going. Anyway, that pretty much got me to quit using the e-brake unless it was really neccesary

 

In the ranger I used to own ('00 to be exact), it was not the brakes that froze, but the parking brake cable would get moisture inside it and would bind up.