Emergency brake didn't release

[Buzz11]

Last weekend my wife and I were on the trail with our Jeep club and my wife and I started smelling burning brakes. We had all just gone over a decent obsticle and I thought maybe the smell was someone riding their clutch over the rock. Shortly after that we stopped and saw smoke coming out of our rear drivers side brake ...not good! Also, no indication on dash that brake was still on.

So needless to say, we pulled over, took off the wheel, took off the caliper. Everythng looked fine, however we couldn't turn the hub, or even take it off. Sort of a last resort thing, we disconnected the emergency brake cable, and presto, the hub was now spinning. We put together everything and headed home.

I took it to the shop and they said nothing was broke, there was just a lot of dust and clay in the E-brake system.

My questions for everyone are ...

1. Has anyone else had this issue of "crud" getting into the e-brake
2. Any tricks on how to keep crud out
3. Any tricks on how to pull off the hub on the trail?

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[Yellow Cake Kid]

1. Crud happens
2. Pressure wash crud ASAP
3. Make sure the e Brake is not locked up.

 

[Buzz11]

Crud does happen, but there isn't really a way to power wash the E-brake. without taking things apart.

And trust me, I doubled checked that the E-brake handle was dis-engaged.... but good advice.

 

[Yellow Cake Kid]

I apologize for being a wise guy. I used to have to drive through crud for work. Now, I see crud and I avoid it unless its the only way to get someplace I really want to get.

We live in a desert, and when it rains some of the clays that are lying at the surface get especially ugly. It can become very difficult to get out and drive home, so I have become even more sensitive to avoiding it.

I get disconcerted with the idea that folks go looking for crud to play in, because all I can think about is how it ruins everything, by getting into nooks and crannies and either drying up like mud stone or wearing stuff down like grinding compound. I know its none of my business... but sometimes I forget.

You are right, you can't explicitly wash out the ebrake drums very easily, but it also seems like it would take a lot of cruddin to get crud up in there and have it lock up the drum.

As you know, it is a real pain to pull a drum when the drum brake shoes are stuck.

It's good news to learn you were able to get the brake to loosen and get back on the road.

Thumbs up!


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[Buzz11]

Funny thing is that I wasn't looking for "crud". I never gave a second thought about having to clean stuff out of the nooks and crannies and didn't remotely think crud was an issue on this trail. It wasn't until I put 2 and 2 together that maybe that trail (Baldwin Lake in Colorado) caused the problem.

I'm with you, I don't like mudding or that sort of stuff. Heck, I usually drive around the mud puddles.

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