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jbres's avatar
jbres
Explorer
Nov 28, 2013

2003 Tahoe Parking brake sticking

I have an 2003 Tahoe with the 5.3 and only 119,000 miles. Recently the cold has hit here at nights in Ohio. When I park Tahoe outside for few hours at a time when its cold, parking brake is sticking very bad. It will not release until I start forcing it and driving it anyways and then I hear a large pop and it releases.


It is releasing at the handle and cable fine, and all way back to rear e brake shoes. It happened to me last weekend and I took everything apart when I got it home and it all functioned perfect. But then again tonight drove it somewhere, used the parking brake and froze up again. This time drove it home and finally it released. I think I burned the shoes up a little more this time, as now the e brake is nearly going to floor, but is still holding....

Anyone have an issue like this??
  • When I was stationed in Illinois I bought a new 78 Jeep CJ-5 for winter time use. Coming from California where it never froze where I lived, I did not know you were not supposed to use the emergency brake when the weather was freezing. One morning after a good freeze I was not able to get the Jeep going. The brakes had froze solid with all the moisture that was in the brake drums after I stopped for the day. Popping the clutch a few times did release the brakes, but it was not good for them. I learned to never use the emergency brakes in the winter just block/chock your wheels.