The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Stuck Emergency Brake Fix

Hello!

I have a 64 C10. My right rear brake was dragging bad and getting very hot. I had just replaced a leaking wheel cylinder on that wheel a week ago. Although my shoes and springs need to be replaced, everything should be in working order with the new wheel cylinder. So the first thing I did was crack open the brake bleeder on that wheel. There wasn’t any residual pressure which would indicate a problem in the brake line between the wheel and master cylinder. So that issue is scratched off the list. I looked at my emergency brake cable running along the trailing arm and saw there was quite a bit of slack in the cable. I looked at the left side and it was pretty tight. So I figure my emergency brake cable is sticking on the bad side.
My first attempt at solving the issue was to soak the cable with PB Blaster. I waited a while for it to soak in. I worked the emergency brake several times, quite aggressively, but it did not free the cable.

So, I decided a little force is necessary. Luckily, I had a few pictures on my phone of the brake setup with the hub off from when I replaced the wheel cylinder. I deducted where the outer edge of the axle flange would be and proceeded to drill a hole in the hub just outside of the axle flange. I wound up with a hole of about 1/2”. Once I had the hole drilled, I was able to spin the drum in reverse, to give myself a line of sight to the emergency brake lever and cable inside the hub. With this new hole, I was able to use a punch, which happens to be a SBC pushrod, to hammer the emergency brake cable lever backwards, which released the tension on the shoes. I plan to order new cables. For now, I stuck some blue masking tape to my emergency brake lever to remind me to not engage it!!
Now, as far as the new drilled hole in the hub goes.....I used a sanding cartridge on my die grinder to deburr and smooth the hole. I have no worries about it cracking at that spot but y’all need to make that decision for yourselves.

I f you look at the second picture, you can see a shiny spot on the emergency brake lever where I was positioning the punch to hammer on it.

I guess this site doesn’t get much attention.
It’s a shame because there is a lot of very good information here.
Where are all of the early 60’s Chevy truck guys? We need some interaction from all of those who have worked on these old trucks.
Good, bad or ugly. Bring it on!

Well, you didn’t ask any questions. You solved your own problem. I’m sure some of us filed the information away for future reference. You had 60 views so it sure wasn’t a total waste of time.

I’m sure you are right. But a little interaction, good or bad, would keep people motivated to keep posting helpful or even bad information that folks could discuss .

I learn a lot from responses I and others get from posts. Some you learn exactly what to do and others you learn exactly what not to do.

Just the amount of people viewing a post doesn’t let me know if there’s a better way.

60 views and the only response was to me complaining about a lack of participation.
That kinda proves my point.

Waylon, I am into the 60 - 66 site daily, and appreciate your post. You are right, you learn from every post. I did have a question as to why you didn't just back off the self adjuster through the provided slot in the drum? When I bought my 65 c10 I had two wheels locked that I had to back off just to move the truck. Will this not work with a guy emergency cable??

Sorry, I meant a tight emergency cable.

Thank you TRK Guy for starting a discussion!!

The emergency brake cable is kind of a separate mechanism from the hydraulic system and the self adjuster mechanism. If your emergency brake cable is engaged, it mechanically forces your brake shoes outward, meaning they are locked down.
If your emergency brake is stuck in the applied position, there are very few options you have to make it release. Sometimes you even have to break or cut the brake drum off. My cable was sticking and that’s all I had to deal with. Luckily I was able to knock it loose. Drilling a hole in the drum was my fix and I have never seen that mentioned before so I thought I would post it.

What now with the hole in the drum? Are your intentions to fill the hole or replace the drum?
Waylon - Do you have pictures of the rest of the truck. We like pictures.

Waylon, it is my opinion that this particular forum was created to discuss issues specific to 60-66 trucks. Your issue could apply to most all of our trucks, thus would have received more replies in the Driveline Forum where brake issues are discussed. You will find members to be most responsive when you post generic questions or in your case a solution, in the regular garage forums. Those forums receive the most views and therefore the most responses. Anyway, that’s my opinion.

I’ll keep that in mind next time I start a new one

As far as the hole in the drum, I think it will be fine as is but I’m not 100% certain. If anything, I’ll just replace it. I did break a front drum on my ‘64 once and lost all brake fluid instantly. Luckily, my emergency brake worked good at that time. I was a teen and me and some buddies were slowly rolling up to a red light. I thought it would be funny to slam on the brakes and scare my friends. I slammed on the brakes and my drum popped. I’m sure it had been turned too many times and was way too thin.



Old Blue is my ‘64 that my great grandad bought brand new here in my hometown. It has a 250 L6 and a 3 on the tree. My oldest son and our loyal companion is standing with it.

Biskit is my ‘66 a good friend gave to me a few years ago. He is semi retired and realized he was never going to do anything with it and really didn’t have room to store it. It has a nice rebuilt 350 with a granny 4 speed and 373 posi. My youngest son standing with it learned to drive a standard in that truck.

Sticker is my 85 K15 that I am working on now. It has 50 something thousand original miles. It’s a 305 and 700R4 truck. I named it Sticker because it sat in a field for many years before I got it and rats had made the whole engine bay their home using mostly prickly pear cactus. Even though I cleaned it the best I could, I still seem to get a sticker in me every time I work on it.

First a and foremost, welcome to the bolt.


I have the same question.


I have a 52 3100 and aside from the self adjusting feature on your truck, I believe they are basically the same Bendix system. Please correct me if I an wrong.

You are right in the fact that they are two separate systems but both operate the shoes from the same fulcrum, the star adjuster. Had you loosened the adjuster, you should have been able to pull the drum, drive the emergency brake lever back as you did with the SBC push rod and avoid drilling the drum.

Phak1,

You and TRKGuy might very well be correct. If so, I feel pretty dang foolish for not trying that before drilling a hole in the drum. I did a little online research on stuck emergency brake cables and read of how a person might have to actually cut the drum off if you couldn’t get the cable to release from the outside. I don’t remember reading anything about just releasing the adjuster.
This is why I like discussing these things. Maybe someone else will chime in too.

My cable will stick again if I apply the emergency brake. I will make it stick again and try releasing the adjuster to see if the drum will come off. But I’m going to wait until I get some new cables to try it.

Waylon,
I frequent this website off and on depending on work schedule etc. As you noticed, a response sometimes comes slow. Unlike other “more active” social media sites, the advice given here is to the point and without the “trolls” that frequent other sites.
I have been writing DIY stuff about things I learn and feel confident about. Here’s a DIY for a very easy park brake upgrade for any 1963-65 C10 truck. It’s the exact system that they started using in 1966 and continued through 1972.
LINK TO DIY CABLE PARK BRAKE UPGRADE
I for one have learned so much from the posts on the Stovebolt. I contribute when I can.

Lugnutz you are very helpful. I’ve studied your write ups before and used the info you provided. It is very much appreciated!