Locked rear wheels?

2002 Corolla, rear drum brakes, no ABS.

Most often, I commute on my motorcycle: faster, easier, cheaper... :) So, since last friday night above mentioned Corolla was parked in sheltered garage. This morning I decided that I deserve A/C, power steering and comfy seats and tried to go to work with it. To my surprise, both rear wheels are locked, just like I had firmly applied hand brake... Wife confirmed that both rear wheels are locked. Front wheels are not. I tried to rock car front and back, either by pushing and by shifting from first gear to reverse, like one do when stuck on mud, but I had no luck.

I do most of my maintenance. I changed the rear drum shoes myself 6 months ago and everything inside the drum was shiny and clean (really it doesn't looked like a 8 year car). I rode over 10k miles during this period, with no problems, with no issues on the handbrake or the pedal brake. I'm really puzzled, because car was working perfectly before I parked it friday night and it broke without anyone driving it, nobody didn't ever opened the doors since friday! I wish it would fix itself the same way... :)

so, could anyone please give me any insight on how I start troubleshooting? I plan on removing the drums and seeing what's in there, but to me, it's pretty weird both wheel are locked... I peered under the car and there are no sticks, dead dogs or anything else stuck anywhere.

thanks!

-- T

Reply to
Tiago
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typically it's water and subsequent rust seizing the shoe to the drum. you need to apply a large hammer to break the drums free from the shoes. probably don't even need to take the wheels off.

different friction materials have different properties for this. if you used after-market shoes, you should consider re-fitting with oem.

Reply to
jim beam

Sounds like that is not releasing. Likely cause would be the that the cable is stuck.

-jim

Reply to
jim

In 1964 at Can Tho,Vietnam, I saw an Army trailer (small trailer) being dragged by a truck to Motor Pool.I don't know for sure, somebody said a brake valve on the trailer had locked up. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Tiago wrote in news:586e08d6-93af-4c9f-a03c- snipped-for-privacy@z8g2000yqz.googlegroups.com:

How's the handbrake lever feel when you try and let it down all the way? Is it really sloppy and loose?

Chances are pretty good that the shoes are just stuck to the drums. Pull the rear wheels, and with a 1-lb hammer, tap the drums all around on their flat face, dancing in a circle around the wheel bolts. Not too hard, just smartly. You're trying to set up a vibration that will force the shoes to let go. If you're successful, you should hear the springs ZING the shoes back in place, and you'll be good to go.

Reply to
Tegger

That was exactly what I did last night, following jim bean's advise. He hit the nail on the head re: water and aftermarket shoes that I thought was suspiciously too cheap when I bought them and was raining

*hard* all day friday. I didn't had to remove the wheels - 5 spoke aluminum with plenty of space to hit between spokes - just lifted wheel on the jack and on the third tap it released. Will look for into getting oem shoes, they last at least for 8 years after alll...

Thank you so much!

-- T

Reply to
Tiago
*hard* all day friday. I didn't had to remove the wheels - 5 spoke aluminum with plenty of space to hit between spokes - just lifted wheel on the jack and on the third tap it released. Will look for into getting oem shoes, they last at least for 8 years after alll...

Thank you so much!

-- T

******** You dont have to get genuine oem Toyota shoes. But stay away from the cheapo aftermarket ones. Move up in the line and get the better quality, and therefore more expensive, shoes and you will also get good service.
Reply to
hls

why bother? with oem,

  1. there is almost zero price differential.

  1. there is guaranteed no difference in friction coefficient - particularly relevant for rear brakes

i would also imagine that toyota have thought of the above scenario and have specified a shoe material where this is unlikely. for instance, shoes with copper or brass content can be bad for the op's problem because of differential corrosion between that content and the iron drum in the presence of moisture.

Reply to
jim beam

Tiago wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@c33g2000yqm.googlegroups.com:

Excellent idea. Even though decent aftermarket /is/ available, I'd rather have eight years of the certain reliability you get from OEM shoes.

I was also going to ask if you had aftermarket shoes, but I've been dumped-on too many times for suggesting that aftermarket may be inferior to OEM. So I held off.

Reply to
Tegger

The deal around here for Toyotas in general is either very crappy aftermarket parts or OEM with a hard to understand price policy. Some parts are cheaper than aftermarket, some are much more expensive. I'm in the market for shocks. OEM lasted 80k miles and are still usable, not too bad but not good either. A pair of rear OEM costs almost double than the set of four aftermarkets, but since I have no plans to sell this car anytime soon, I just might fork out the cash for what dealer wants for oem. Honestly, not only Toyotas, but in general, aftermarket parts (usually made in China, nothing against them, great country, been there and really enjoyed) are of much inferior quality and in the long run they tend to get more expensive...

-- T

Reply to
Tiago

buy online. or at least, print out oem online prices, and then see if your local dealer will match. some will, some won't. worth a shot though.

Reply to
jim beam

Did doing that release both wheels at the same time or did you have to also do the same for the other side?

-jim

Reply to
jim

My experience is that most will match another dealer's on-line prices.

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

released both, don't know why, and I was sure both were locked. When I lifted the other side, the wheel spun freely... Mechanic is not an exact science! Perhaps lifting (thus twisting the chassis) had something to do?

-- T

Reply to
Tiago

Probably because the cable is the main cause of the sticking. That would be the cable which affects both wheels. When the cable broke free both wheels release. The cable is under much tension from the wheels to the point where it is stuck. Hitting the drums with a hammer sends an impulse up the tensioned cable. Of course if you just drowned all the components in water and then left it to sit there could be more than one component in the parking brake mechanism sticking.

Also another question - did you try putting the car in reverse gear to get it to move? or were you only trying to move it forward?

-jim

Reply to
jim

most likely. or only one was seized in the first place.

there are two independent brake cables - the chances of them both locking and then both releasing simultaneously is slim to zero. seized drums otoh, just manipulating the vehicle by jacking it creates torque and that could have released one.

Reply to
jim beam

To get out of the garage I most often have to do it in reverse, was the case this time. I backed (with both wheels locked, confirmed by wife) about 2ft and went forward again and backed again for 2ft and as it didn't released, I moved it forward back to the original spot. Then I tried to push it by hand, no luck. Silly me, if it didn't release with over a hundred horses, how could it move with one donkey? :)

-- t

Reply to
Tiago

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