I've never really worked on drum brakes before, and I'm not very familiar with them. With it being cold outside, I wanted to get some input before I start tearing in.

Today, my brake light came on. Upon inspection, I found that my parking brake doesn't work anymore. I think the cable may have broken.

Now, I get a noise from the right rear as if the brake is dragging. I wonder if the parking brake is somehow stuck on on that wheel. Strange, because I never use the parking brake, but it seems reasonable since the noise started at the same time as the parking brake breaking.

Since it's cold out right now, and since I'm out of money at the moment, I'd like to just get it rolling without the parking brake for now. When I go to take the drum off, what should I look for as far as causes of the problem? Is there a way to just release the parking brake from inside the drum if that's what's causing the problem? Or, can I adjust it from the back somehow without removing the wheel and the drum, even if the E-brake cable is broken?

 

Anyone? I'm about to go out and start tearing into this.

 

Well, if it is stuck, did you try backing up and hitting your brakes to loosen it up? I can't even get my drums off! If you get the drum off, you should be able to just unhook the parking brake connector. It is spring loaded, once you unhook it, it will take the pressure off of the shoes and free it up.

 

cable broke loose pc in drum bad possible brake lock up and crash get the drum off and look