Parking / emergency brake seized / stuck

Had my truck parked for ~4 days, went to drive it... no movement was possible. Wheels would not allow any movement. Truck stalled. Slipped the clutch. Nothing. Truck finally moved in 4x4 low range, made me realize the right-rear tire was locked.

Took wheel off, drum moved ever so slightly to confirm the rearend was fine.

Parking / emergency brake was seized. Beat on the drum nothing released. Called my friend, he said to:
-Put parking brake ON
-Move truck in reverse

Worked great... no noise, no effort. Released the parking / emergency brake within an inch. The parking / emergency brake adjusts while it is ON and vehicle is in reverse. Hope this helps anyone with a similar issue.

 

@Jmad92

 

Spot on. Having this similar issues as well. My wheels are not completely locking up but they are very difficult to get rolling in the mornings especially when it's cold out. Getting my brakes replaced this weekend and gonna check for that problem in my E brake as well. After theee shops including dealer looked at it they had no idea what was causing that and told me " normal for a 2006 with the miles that's on it" clearly not normal. Just glad someone else had this problem and was able to resolve it. Good post.

 

That's a bummer. Hopefully the technique I used aids you as well.

 

Great post!! I just had this problem and you saved me a lotta time

 

Any vehicle with the brakes locked will pretty much break loose in Reverse!!

This works for frozen brakes as well

Better lubricate the bell cranks and brackets or it will seize again

 

Happened again. Didn't drive truck for 24hrs. Would not release in reverse this time. So I need to figure out what to do tonight.

Interesting info from owners manual, pg 220.
http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM35A38U/pdf/OM35A38U.pdf

2-5. Driving information Winter driving tips

"When parking the vehicle Park the vehicle and move the shift lever to P (automatic transmission) or 1 or R (manual transmission) without setting the parking brake. The parking brake may freeze up, preventing it from being released. If necessary, block the wheels to prevent inadvertent sliding or creeping."

...Pretty sure this is absurd

 

Why do you say that I have had that happen .

Those warm days about 34 degrees F wet slushy snow freezes solid when temps drop to 20degrees

I am thinking your bell cranks are hung up in the brackets .

 

No issues were noticable

Brake cleaned both sides. Was nice to begin with... Only 30k mi on truck

This time it was the driver's side. 2 weeks ago it was the passenger's side.

 

i am having the same issue. before i was able to get it unstuck by using reverse with light brake pressure. tonight it was 100% locked up. i have not used my parking brake and it is not frozen due to cold weather as i was able get it to release for several feet. i mad what seemed at the time to be a smart move and cut the e brake cable. no fix.
i am thinking its the rear brake cylinder/ caliper not functioning correctly.
also this truck is an 07 trd off road 4x4. i replaced the rear brake hardwear about 5k miles ago (installed and greased everything properly)

 

The Arm where the Parking brake cable attaches is called the Bell Crank it has a steel pin going through a aluminum housing this is the bell crank bracket .

The pin tends to corrode to the point it will not move at which time the shoes may be in contact with the drum

They can get to the point I needed to cut the bell crank bracket apart to reuse the other parts

When doing rear brakes one should make sure the bell crank moves free in the bell crank bracket .

I never seize the pins

 

Had a panic moment out in the middle of nowhere doing some off-roading by myself (first mistake). I stopped along the trail to scope out a rough patch, put the truck in neutral (manual tranny) and pulled the e brake. When I got back in the truck it wouldn’t move. After some investigating I narrowed it down to the e brake freezing up the back end. After reading this thread I banged on the drums and rocked the truck back and forth and finally got the brake to let go. Thank god.

There was no way I was gonna get a tow out on a trail that’s primarily for side-by-sides and 4 wheelers .

I’ll probably change out the rear brakes this weekend and inspect everything for damage. I really hope this fixes the problem.

 

Just had this happen to me for the second time. The first time it realeased after 15 mins of moveing the truck bank and forth however this time no luck, even after 45 mins of trying. It seemed like there were moments were it released but would engage again so I’m starting to think this might be something else. Any advice on what to check for? This is happening on my 2017 MT OR only got 47k miles.

 

It seems its a more common problem than I would hope. Last night I disengaged my parking brake and gave it some gas to drive off but the vehicle would not move. I quickly realized the brake did not disengage and was causing much resistance on the rear axle. I was able to disengage it with reversing the vehicle. I only had about 1/4 to drive before I was home and this time I did not engage the parking brake. The next morning about 4 hours later I got to my truck to head to work and the same issue occurred. I checked all the brake lines and everything looks fine. Reversing the vehicle was able to fix the issue again. Any clue as to why this happened again even without engaging the parking brake the second time? I plan on pulling the wheels this weekend and getting in there to see what's the matter. Any suggestions on what I need to pay particular attention too or possible fixes would be appreciated! Truck is a 2016 TRD OR 4X4 with 43k miles.

 

Is it possible that this has something to do with the antilock brake system? The above post is strange, locked without e-brake even on. Is it still a manual brake or an electric one like Subaru?

 

So since I’ve had my issue twice in the last two months I’ve decided to not use my parking brake when the temp gets below 35 that being said I did find mouisture in my parking brake cable which I believe is freezing when ever it’s engaged for sometime when it gets bellow freezing. Even last night when I parked outside an airport and wanted to help my in-laws load their bad just from the truck sitting with the brake not engaged it popped when I engaged it temp was around 18 when I left my home to the air port (brake was not engaged)
What do you think about this moisture I found on the cable? How can I dry it out?

 

If you can get to the other end of the cable.... Disconnect it, elevate it, attach a small funnel and pour some antifreeze in it and let it penetrate. Of course, watch where it drips on the ground, we don't want a toxic hazard. It works for seized outboard motor control cables, it may work here. You will need to find out where water is getting into the cable. Even if you can get WD-40 into the cable it will help.

Edit; make sure it doesn't run onto the brake shoes!!!!

 

I’ve been having the same thing for a while now. Worst case I had was I was parked in my driveway and it froze (summer) it releases when the breaks are pushed in hard and in reverse. Anyways I hooked up the camper and went to the supermarket for supplies (didn’t apply the brake this time) when I went to leave and started driving the wheel locked up at around 15km/hr causing me to skid to a stop and have an audience staring at me like wtf ? No idea what causes it but I don’t use the parking brake anymore

 

Most likely what happened to my cables - corrosion. Expensive to replace.

 

Other then snow being packed around the intermediate lever or the rear axle at the pivot or the bell cranks packed in snow.

I have never had it freeze then everything is only about 80,000 miles old it gets used every time I park the truck