Rick CarltonManufacturers of today’s consumer vehicles employ at least four different ways to release a parking brake:
- traditional lever-actuator between the seats
- pedal-actuator adjacent to the standard floor pedals
- electric button-controlled actuator,
- electric-driven parking brake associated with the ignition-based on/off system
An emergency parking brake system usually involves a mechanical linkage. This link manually drives caliper pistons (more about calipers here) against the brake pads and ultimately against the rotor face (in the case of a disc system) or the pads against the inside of a drum brake system.
Most of the time, ebrake lockups are a result of rust or lag associated with cable springs, bolts/nuts, or cables.
In order to free the emergency brake, the process usually requires:
- Hand tools
- Jack
- Jack stand
- Wheel chocks
- Solvent and/or lubricants
The recovery steps are:
- Chock all tires unrelated to the recovery process
- Jack the car up
- Install jack stands
- Remove the wheel/tire combo
- Identify the parking brake cable
- Investigate any binding of the cable
- Remove, replace, and/or clean components thoroughly
- Return necessary components to their proper locations
- Replace the wheel/combo
- Tighten all lugnuts
- Jack the car off the jack stands
- Lower the car to the ground
- Test the system for proper operation
Have more questions about fixing a stuck ebrake? Contact the BuyBrakes.com team to learn about our concierge service.
Summary
Article Name
How To Release A Stuck Parking Brake
Description
Believe it or not, dealing with a stuck emergency brake can represent more than one set of steps.
Author
Rick Carlton
Publisher Name
Buy Brakes
Publisher Logo
John Butler
