E-Brake Stuck on for 40 miles...smoke

[DryDog]

Yesterday I towed a 6x8 covered trailer. It felt like I was pulling a parachute but I seldom drive this truck so I thought it was just the trailer. After 40 miles of highway I noticed smoke coming out of the exploder's right rear. My e-brake hasn't worked well in years it just needed adjustment. The night before I'd parked on a hill. I set it to the floor just in case. Apparently it did not release all the way. As soon as I pulled over the smoke quit. I flipped the break release and it clicked like it released tension. The next 100 miles my mpg was much better.
04 Eddied Bauer almost 80,000 miles. I am fixin to remove the rear wheels. What should I be looking for? 20 miles round trip to drop the trailer, the rims feel hotter than the front. But I never felt them. Maybe they are always hotter. How will I know if the wheel bearings are damaged?

 

[chefduane]

More than likely you wore off al the material on the parking brake shoe and may have scored the drum. Pull the wheel and drum and see what damage may have occurred. You'll probably need new parking brake shoes at the least and possibly new drums. Bearings should be ok I would think.

 

[DryDog]

Thanks chefduane I'll do that. cv boot and outside of drum look normal (for 10 yrs in MN) I've read so many post about the wheel bearings in this gen, that I was worried.

 

[gtyates]

Just experienced this issue on my wife's '04. We were getting smoke from the driver's side, but same scenario. Parking brake shoes had literally fallen apart. They come unglued from their base basically. Now we have new shoes and no more issues.

 

[Opera House]

There ought to be an E-brake relining kit. Those brakes sre so expensive and they de-laminate with no use. Ought to be something cheap to glue on. They should never see any heat in use. Just had mine apart, no material left at all. I solved it by removing the brake shoes and putting a large O ring across the spreader bars to hold them in place.

 

[96firephoenix]

my cables were shot on my 02... with non-use, they tend to fail early.

Also, they may have to pull the spindle to rebuild the E-brake kit depending on the hardware that is bad. perfect time to put new bearings in.

Just don't be surprised when a parking brake job turns into $800. I had my shop show me all the parts they said were bad, and aside from the discs, it was everything from the wheel back to the spindle.