'86 K5 -- weird noises from the rear brakes

Hi all...

The other day I managed to get the Blazer running (still haven't addressed the carb issue but I haven't had time) and decided to take it out to the store cause I'm sick of driving my girlfriend's Pontiac Vibe.

I pulled out onto traffic and when I hit the brakes to make my next turn I heard a loud "Brrrrrrrr!" noise with a nice vibration to match. Sounded like somebody dropping a bagful of screws into a set of rotating gears. I quickly let off the brakes and the noise stopped.

When I hit the brakes the next time it did the exact same thing. When I got to the store and hit the brakes there was no noise or vibration, and it didn't do it again on the return trip home.

Now I've had a weird issue with the parking brake sticking. I can release it and put it in gear and sometimes it doesn't want to move. I can usually un-stick it by reapplying it and releasing it once or twice.

Are these two issues related??? What the hell was that noise?

Thanks to all who offered up suggestions as to why the truck was dying after a cold start. I popped the air cleaner off and saw a nice puddle of gas in the carb while it was running... Guess I'm gonna take it off and check the floats.

As always, any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

-Jon R. Pickens (jonrpick at yahoo dot com)

Reply to
jonrpick
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Rust...the noise and the e-brake. The pads get condensation on them causing surface rust on the semi-metallic pads. The e-brake is probably suffering the same fate.

Reply to
Shades

Hmm.... Well I could definitely see that causing the sticking of the e-brake. But the crazy noise and shimmy I heard sounded like 2 gears trying to turn against each other. It was pretty wicked sounding. You think rust could cause that???

Reply to
jonrpick

YUP! I get it in my '87 G20 Van, my '85 and '88 Suburbans... I live in the upper Midwest where humidity is always high and it doesn't take long for the metal in the pads to rust.

Better safe than sorry...I would pull the wheels and drums to check everything out, but it sounds like the same thing I and millions of others have had.

Reply to
Shades

Your Emergency/Park Brake cables are probably in need of replacement. Once the cables rust in the sheathing, they will bind up. I have had to cut these cables many a times to free up a wheel just to get one towable.

Rusted brakes will cause shuttering & noise. Best advice, clean up the drums with some sand cloth (100 to 180 grit) as well as your rotors. If you have access to a die grinder with roll-loc disks, they work well for the task. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

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