Handbrake

[Member 10617]

Am I correct in thinking that I should not leave the handbrake on, especially in the winter, if my bugeye is parked for a couple of weeks. I read that the handbrake can make the brake pads stick to the drums and sometimes can be a big problem.

 

[dudley32]

I would say that is true for most any vehicle...I've seen brake shoes stuck to drums so badly that they had to be cut off with a torch...moisture, or actually condensation, I believe is the culprit...

 

[Member 10617]

Hi, dudley32,

Many thanks for confirming what I suspected and what I had read elsewhere. I haven't had trouble in the past, but perhaps I was just lucky. From now on I will keep the emergency brake off and simply leave he car in gear.

 

[Gerard]

The aluminum wheel cylinders have a steel piston, and can also get frozen in place. I suppose that's an issue in either case, but it's easier to get them to expand again, than to get them to contract.

 

[Member 10617]

Thanks Gerard.

 

[SaxMan]

I had that happen to a Cavalier that was assigned to me though the police department that I volunteer for. The Cavalier was already about 12 years old, but only had 54,000 miles on it. I hadn't driven the Cavalier in some time and when I released the parking brake, nothing happened. I thought I could rock the stuck pads free. Well, that did work, but not quite how I wanted it to work. The brake shoes snapped in half. Back to the maintenance yard. Shortly thereafter, the Cavalier was pulled from the program.

 

[Mick G]

If the handbrake is a Bendix drum type and is frozen due to moisture in the drum, the least damaging and most effective way to release it is to reverse the car as drum brakes work on forward rotation with the shoes biting in to the drum. The have primary and secondary shoes for that reason, in reverse they do not advance into the drum but just drag, so use reverse to break them free.