[vagrantviking]

Has anyone had their park brake stick? Just had the rear brakes not release and they were dragging really badly trying to get a couple blocks home.

The handle is loose and it looks like the cables themselves aren't sticking though I haven't got anyone to pull the handle while I'm watching to be sure.

Its a few degrees below freezing but not too bad so I'm thinking that might be at least a part of the issue so I'm going to try and warm them up but I would have thought the heat from dragging them would have warmed up the calipers if thats where the problem is.

Any thoughts or insights?

Thanks.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Location: Alberta - my best guess is that water is in the parking brake cables or is on the parking brake lever on the caliper and is frozen or has rusted the line or both. Try knocking the lever with a hammer to loosen up the cable. It's a pretty simple mechanism.

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/forum/f9/how-rear-caliper-self-adjuster-screw-piston-works-3962/ read this for some more on how it works.

 

[vagrantviking]

Yes it must be water in the works as it came free after finding a heater to put under it in the garage.

The boots at the wheel end of the cables are torn up so its quite possible that there is some water in there. Would take very little water to freeze pretty solid in the cable with lots of surface area and they hang away from the body where they would freeze quickly.

Thanks for the link. Haven't really investigated the workings of a park brake system on rear wheel disks before.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Yep, you've found the problem. Replace the parking brake cables. Common issue if you have torn boots.

 

[50mpg]

Common problem. Keep a hammer handy in the meantime if you have to knock the ice out of the boot or hit the parking brake lever on the caliper.