Ok a little background. I had the dreaded lbj failure on the passenger side. My truck a 1999 Tacoma sat for about 4 months before I got around to fixing it. I had luckily just bought a 2000 4Runner about a week before the failure.

The failure itself happened backing out of my driveway onto a very busy street. I forced my truck back into the driveway which pulled the CV apart and needed a new one as well.

Well as of a week ago, I have bought both lbj's and installed them. Put a new CV boot on. Went to move my truck forward so the 4Runner would fit in the driveway better without hanging off on the sidewalk. The truck would not budge. I know it was fine when the lbj failure occured. Because my brother came over about a month after and help me move it and straighten it out in my driveway. What I did was jack up the front end and had him pull the jack along while I feathered the clutch and moved super slow. I know my rear end worked just fine then. My truck hadn't moved since that day.

So what happened to my rear end? What would be your guys' method of troubleshooting this? I see no fluid that would indicate an axle seal leak. Could perhaps the drum have seized up?? Thought I was getting my truck back on the road but only to have another problem show up. It has hit very high 90's and 100 degree temps the last few days so I have not gotten to take the wheels off to inspect anything. Just curious how some of you experts would go about this?

Thanks!

Matt

What do you try to do to move it? Put it in gear and it just sits there?
E-brake not engaged?
How does the hub on the front passenger side look?

Rear brake shoes stuck to the drum...?

Make sure your rear drums didn't lock up. Could be the e-brake like mentioned above, or the pads could be froze to the drum.

Yes exactly. Even put it in 4WD and the front tried to pull it but I did not want to stress it to much. I also put a huge tire in between the bumpers and pushed it about 6 inches with my 4Runner to see if it would break lose. I then jacked up the front, and it moves freely. Then jacked up the back and it would not budge. Fairly certain my problem lies in the rear somewhere.

The hub looked good. There were some rust marks from the calipers on the rotor from sitting long. We have had a pretty wet summer which is not typical in Nebraska this season.

I pulled the e-brake while my buddy got underneath he said it looked like it was engaging/disengaging.

How would someone go about a frozen drum? I know about disc brakes but honestly have no experience with drums other than seeing it done when I was probably 7-8 years old.

Put the truck in gear and go forward. Then reverse, forward then reverse while on and off the gas. Keep you other foot on the brake pedal. Or I would also recommend t taking the wheels off the truck and smacking the drums with a hammer.


Typical 70s vw beetle problem.

I've let mine sit for about 2 months, and when I put it in gear it did nothing. I put it into reverse and gave it some gas. Heard a pop and then I started moving. You can hit the drum like Shoot said. Just DO NOT use a large metal hammer to do so. Go a different route and get a dead blow or rubber mallet. Another thing you can try is jacking up the rear and see if you manual spin the wheels.

I have tried jacking it up and manually spinning the wheels to no avail. I will smack it with a hammer and a 2X4. Then try the rev, forward and try to break it loose tonight after work.

Thanks!

What Shoot said. Sounds like a stuck drum to me. We deal with that a lot here at my shop when tractors/trailers sit for a while.

I've had this happen a couple times, it's not uncommon with drum brakes. I got it free once by smacking the drum with a 4x4, but the other I had to tear the drums off and rebuild them.

Let us know how the forward-reverse driving method works. Keep your windows down and listen for the pop. I was going to wait telling you to drive it, in fear it could be something bound up, but it sounds like the drums. Especially since your front drive-line is operational.

Good luck!

Well thanks guys. It was the driver side. I jacked her up and put under jack stands. Which means it was a bit higher than I had it previously. I torqued the bolts off with it up in the air thinking maybe it would break lose. No go, wheel off, went to passenger side and it spun so no need there. Use a hammer and a 2X4 and smacked it around a little bit. The drum started moving before I even had to go forward and reverse.

Thanks all!