Locked rear wheel - handbrake/caliper problem and can it be fixed at home?

DB_SamX

DB_SamX

DB_SamX

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So, I tried using my car this morning after 3 days of it being parked with handbrake on. The passenger side rear wheel would not turn so I ended up dragging it around a metre in the gravel.

I tried rolling forwards and backwards several times. I also jacked up the car, gave it a few blows with a hammer (wood + cloth surround), tried turning it manually, jack back down, the rolling it again....but no luck (I didn't take the wheel off). Still jammed.

Anything else I can try myself?

If not, is it worth getting a breakdown company have a go or shall I just get it recovered to the local garage? I am with AutoAid so I can decide what to do and get most, if not all of the cost of breakdown/recovery refunded.
 
Does the Celica have dual brakes back ? ( Disc for foot, Drum for handbrake?)

In case it's just discs, usually you can see the lever where the handbrake cable is connected to, might be the handbrake mechanism that is stuck/corroded not the whole calliper.

In which case drown the area in Wd40 and tap the lever with a hammer back carefully(!!, usually these levers aren't very tough) in the opposite direction the handbrake cable pulls.


What I used to do on a scooter with a stuck caliper, is just hit the brake pads with WD40, just remember that the next 2 brake actions that wheel will be rubbish for braking, after that the wd40 is burned off usually, so you migth get a stuck wheel again.

Anyhow if it's not the handbrake lever near the caliper, I'd still do the Wd40 trick ( simply spray a lot at brake pads and disk), to get the caliper off and push it ( the brake piston) in, and move it out and push it back in a few times to loosen it up. Just remember to brake harshly twice or thrice after reassembly, to burn the wd40 off and regain brake performance on that wheel.

If the handbrake is a drum it's a slightly different situation, since the mechanism is hidden in the drum, think there is a wheel usually accessible from the back ( though a gap, may have a rubber covering it) for the self adjusting mechanism, which you can turn to loosen the brake shoes. Then obviously get the drum ( in case of dual brakes, it might be one part together with the disc) off and revise the whole drum brake mechanism.
 
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Can you get it onto tarmac easily enough? If so drive a hundred yards or so and it should soon free off. Gravel will offer no real resistance

Alternatively go back at it with aa rubber mallet/ penetrating spray / chisel to the mechanism as above
 
Not sure if drums/disc for handbrake. leigh-boy, you have/had one?

Will give it another go tonight but I only have a gravel drive and gravel/dirt private estate road, with nearest tarmac 200m away.
 
If it looks like this:

rearbrakescloseup.jpg


Then you have a drum handbrake.

In which case you'd need to:
Get the Caliper off
Loosen it up from the back ( like I said before), there's a gap on the back usually to manually adjust the brake shoes if needed, through the gap there's a kind of wheel like this:
0996b43f8022283e.gif

( the adjuster) ( EDIT: Doh transparency)

IMG_0380.jpg

The wheel on the bottom around the cilindery thing just below the spring.
Which you need to turn to loosen the shoes up. ( accessible from the back through a gap usually)




After that just pull the drum/disc combination off, and do whatever you need to do to fix the handbrake mechanism, it'll probably be a mess of brake dust and rust near there, so basically clean and lubricate and loosen the cable movement manually or through the handbrake lever. It's nicer to do with 2 people as one can pull the handbrake lever while the other can observe the movement of the mechanism.
 
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This has turned out to be highly embarassing. Despite all my hammering and WD40 efforts last night, it didn't work. It was getting dark and wasn't feeling particularly brave about taking everything apart, so left it at that.

Called out breakdown this morning and the guy just jacked up the car, didn't even bother to take the wheel off, gave the drum brakes a mere 2 hits with a hammer and the wheel came unstuck! Basically I was hammering it wrong...at least I tried. Lesson learnt.
 
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