84 G30 chassis & parking brake seized SOLID!

[aaron7]

Back in June when our new-to-us RV was delivered the lady must have put the parking brake on... and I bet it hadn't been used in 30 years!

The pedal feels springy when I hold the release lever out and try to push it so I don't -think- it's the cables.

I haven't gotten under there yet (will today) but is there anything I can tap with a hammer to unstick them? Or do I have to remove the drums?

[Stripe]

Have a look at this post and see if it helps. 

http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php/topic,1175.msg1204.html#msg1204

I know my old RVs' parking brake clamped the drive shaft and not the brake pads in the wheels, but that was a Dodge M500 chassis. Dunno if they are similar or not...

[aaron7]

Yeah my 73 Brave had that but the G30 is just a standard Chevy van chassis & driveline (except the D60 rear of course!)

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Use a sledge hammer to beat on the drum itself (not to hard mind you) in order to loosen up the internal components that may have rusted into position.



http://www.gmpartseast.com/chevy/components/1985-g30-van-base_brake-asm-rear-drum-tm050320105-lm1m40g31603.html

Dave

[Froggy1936]

The problem is that the shoes rust to the drum . You will not be able to remove the drums till they are broken loose. When hammering on the dums only hit on the corner not on the outer flat circumference (you can distort /bend the drum) Also hammering on the backing plate just enough to shock the shoes loose  if no success use liberal amts of penetrant (this will destroy the brake lining ) but they have to be loosened !After a good soaking   i would replace everything on both rears clys springs shoes Machine or replace drums also  It is reccomended that when parking any veh with drum rear brakes for any length of time to leave the em brake released if the veh is not on level ground (where trans park will be sufficient )  to block the wheels . Also the drum brakes are only 40% efficent in reverse so if trying to move it do it in reverse  Good Luck

[DonD]

Had an older Chevy with stuck PB. Turned out the cable run/guides had worn enough that the cable dropped into the slot created by the wear. As a temp fix I just crawled under, pulled slack and didn't use the PB until I fixed the guides.

[aaron7]

Thanks for the help guys.

Looking at that diagram it doesn't appear there's much I can bang on to try to free the parking brake itself (like a springed lever or something to that idea).

I've watched several D60 rear brake disassembly videos on youtube and it doesn't look fun.

Hopefully it's just the cable. I'll be under there tomorrow evening!

[Stripe]

Hey Aaron, any updates on this?  Did you get it un-frozen?