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Dumb mistake...nice drive w/ e-brake on

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wingsandwheels

wingsandwheels

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So, I had my TR6 out in the nice weather last week and earlier this evening moved her back to her garage down the street. I was in a bit of a rush. Since I don't like to not warm up the oil, I went for a 3-4 mile rather quick night drive. probably only hit 45 or so on some back roads....noticed that the car d/n feel the same, but I mentally chalked it up to having been driving my LR lately.. then I got back and realized that the handbrake was on, not really full, but full enough. Stupid, stupid...

The rear wheels were pretty hot, you could barely hold your hand on them and you could not on the lug nuts.. Bit of a smell too, but not as much as I would expect. The handbrake also would not hold when I first stopped, but regained its grip after cooling for 5 mins or so. Of course I have less than 3k miles since I installed new rear brake shoes, turned drums and rebuilt rear hubs.

My questions since I've never done this before, at least that I am aware of :blush: :

-what should I look for? I d/n see any obvious grease leaks and the braking was not noticeably different.
-what would you do? Brake bleed and pull wheels to look at the shoes at a minimum, but what else?

I am hoping that all I did was heat things up a bit and take a few thousand miles off the shoes and bearings...not a big deal for a 2k/year car.

thanks, w
 
Personally, I'd do a quick brake test and then not worry about it. It doesn't sound like you got it hot enough to cook the grease in the bearings, and they aren't re-greaseable anyway. If you wore the linings enough to worry about (not likely in 3-4 miles) then the brakes will be very noticeably out of adjustment (eg handle comes up much farther when you set the e-brake).

I've had mine hot enough to smoke copiously, and no lasting ill effects except the paint turned a bit dark on the center of the wheel. (Caused by the soft line to the rear axle failing, and holding the brakes on for about 20 miles at freeway speeds.)
 
Don't worry. My son drives every car, every trip, with the parking brake on. I try to tell him that if he is not setting it hard enough to notice, he is wasting his time setting it at all!?!

John
 
We've all done it at one time or another. We just got my wife a new Mazda CX-7, and it has the parking brake as a foot operated lever. The car manual says to step on the main brake and then set the e-brake. Since the car has rear discs, if you don't do that, the e-brake doesn't grab real tight. It's very easy to drive away with it on, except for the fact that the e-brake light stays on and when you put it in drive, bells go off to remind you that you did it again! :laugh: Mazda's way of trying to make things idiot proof.
 
Yup, I leave the brake on a couple of times a year, including today. If the foot brakes have a slightly different feel I have learned to check the hand brake.
John
 
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