Anyone find a solution to rear parking brake freezing (in the winter)?

[nobb]

Anyone who has to deal with very low temperatures (below -20C) may notice that in the winter, your rear parking brake might freeze up causing the vehicle to feel like there is alot of resistance. It is also a safety hazard as it changes the vehicle dynamics, especially if just one side were to seize up more than the other.

This is due to the lever design that Toyota decided to go with in the rear parking brake. It's very easy for ice to build up around the lever or in the parking brake mechanism, causing it to seize up. Washing the truck before a cold night or driving through slush can cause this problem.

I am just wondering if anyone has found a good solution to this problem, or found exactly which part in the parking brake system is most susceptible to this? Perhaps swapping the grease in the lever with a low temp, synthetic, or lubricating certain points in the parking brake system may help?

 

[shootmymime]

I am just wondering if anyone has found a good solution to this problem, or found exactly which part in the parking brake system is most susceptible to this? Perhaps swapping the grease in the lever with a low temp, synthetic, or lubricating certain points in the parking brake system may help?

i hear ya. its close to that cold here in idaho.

Most folks have problems with not using the parking brake then it becomes rusted/ corroded and the finger does no disengage as it should and gets stuck with the parking brake on.

for your case it sound like you use the parking brake. i dont (i should tho to keep it working) and i dont have a problem with iceing over and becoming stuck.

I also carry a hammer with me so i can beat the fingers back in and disengage the parking brake and keep me rolling.

i need to get in there with anti seize and clean it all up so that it might start working properly once again. summer project. yay!

idk my advice is dont use it in the winter then it wont freeze over. unless yours is a manual than use it on the dry days and on the wet days just put it in gear. Good luck.

 

[Drcoffee]

On our 99 4runner I found the parking brake would not release completely. Turns out the pivot thats welded to the axle housing, where the hand brake cable meets the L and R brake cables had rusted so bad under the nylon bushings, the spring could not pull the levers all the way back in.

Its easy to take apart. Disassemble it completely, grind out the rust and relube it. I used marine grease. Its made to keep out the water and stay put. A good substitute might be the red sticky grease you can find at most parts stores.

You can see the pivot point with the long bolt thru it in this picture.

 

[nobb]

Ive actually completely taken apart the levers and blasted off all the rust + regrease. They are smooth and do not have any resistance at above 0 temperatures. However, I did use the cheapest lithium grease as I figured the levers dont really see much action.

The hammer idea is good...Ill start carrying one! Another thought, I wonder if the spring can be replaced with a much stronger one...

 

[snivilous]

The little arm thingy on mine isn't even attached anymore and my parking brake works fine, I don't know if that solves your issues to just remove it (assuming that's a fix). Does your brake not just disengage when you start driving? Mine freezes on occasion since I get cold temperatures like you have and usually after 5 feet you hear it break the ice and work fine.

 

[jcoleman]

Might not be the same situation, but we've had a couple Mustangs which would get water in a low spot in the e-brake cable and freeze. You could feel what was going on as there was no spring tension when releasing.

The immediate cure was a quick warm up with a propane torch. We just stopped using the e-brake in the winter months when parking overnight. An actual fix would probably have involved rerouting the cable avoiding any low points in the middle of the run if possible.

 

[weekendclimber]

I've always been told to never use the ebrake in winter. In fact, after 4wheeling through the Ghost River in Banff to go ice climbing the driver set the ebrake. After climbing all day (it was -40c) we had to spend an hour hold flares to the brake drums to get the shoes to unfreeze. Maybe an extreme example, but that's my experience.

 

[Jaketino]

I have this hesitation when I start driving forward, but not in reverse. I've come to believe it's the brakes. It hasn't been that cold here so I'm not sure if it could be this same scenario or not.