question about the park brake

[V8Limited4wd]

so my absent minded mom drove my truck with the parkbrake on... what is the worst that could happen?

i'm really hoping there's no damage other than just some extra wear on the rear pads.

 

[Mark86]

I don't think it is anything to worry about. I have accidently driven with my parking brake on for a little bit I asked the dealer to check it and they did. They said that nothing was wrong and I shouldn't worry about it.

 

[simple_guy35m]

Small request please.
Lets not call Mom 'absent minded'.....
Its only a park brake......
Again, its a request please...........
Gary

 

[EDGE]

Take the truck to the dealer and get it checked, if the brake is set right and fully pressed down the truck should not move, at least after mine was reajusted the truck does not move

 

[Vortec4800]

Just some extra wear and a nasty smell, I doubt the parking brake was on hard enough to do a lot of damage, because the car would be hard to drive... Very jerky, no pushing forward when not on the brake, slowing down very quickly after letting off the gas, etc.

 

[waskillywabbit]

Adjusting the parking brake

If you have a 3rd genner, don't take it to the dealer, do it yourself as this is how they do it.

Drive the rig slowly in reverse while pulling up on the parking brake 3-5 times. You'll quickly notice next time you set the parking brake that you only have to "click it" 2-3 times and it is tight as opposed to 7-8 times, if your parking brake was maladjusted from use.

Thanks bamachem! :xnuts:

:guitar2:

The more I find out about 4th genners the more I don't like them.

 

[toybox]

Brian, the 4th Gen's have 4 wheel disc brakes. There's no rear drums to adjust like the 3rd Gens.

That brings up a question. How/where does the parking brake with 4 wheel disc brakes accuate?

I'm not sure but on the GC I had the rear disc also had a small drum brake on the inside that was only for the parking brake.

 

[jj8111]

Actually there are 2 rear drum brakes inside the rear discs.

If you remove the wheel, then the caliper, then the braket that holds the pads and remove the disc you can see them.

There is a small sproket for adjustment on the bottom of each. But you will have to remove all the hardware I just described to adjust them manually.

I havent read the shop manually but I figure the procedure for the 3rd gen would adjust the parking brake shoes on a 4th gen. Or you can remove all the hardware and adjust them manually like I did.

I will attempt the 3rd gen procedure described above next time I need an adjustment.

 

[Luxury]

Not being used to the position of the parking break on my new 4th Gen 4runner (it is a little different then my 5-speed mustang I had for 10 years), I also drove with it on. I actually got on the freeway and it started making noise like I had a flat tire. The dealer checked it when I had them check all the breaks and, luckily, found nothing wrong. He added to always avoid it [obviously], because it could damage the rotors. Don't know if that is accurate, but I am just relaying what the Toyota Service Rep said. By the way, I was pretty worried when it happened and felt like an idiot; it was like the 2nd day I had the car.

 

[SteveM]

Not being used to the position of the parking break on my new 4th Gen 4runner (it is a little different then my 5-speed mustang I had for 10 years), I also drove with it on. I actually got on the freeway and it started making noise like I had a flat tire. The dealer checked it when I had them check all the breaks and, luckily, found nothing wrong. He added to always avoid it [obviously], because it could damage the rotors. Don't know if that is accurate, but I am just relaying what the Toyota Service Rep said. By the way, I was pretty worried when it happened and felt like an idiot; it was like the 2nd day I had the car.

The dealer was probably worried about the heat transferring to the rear rotors and overheating them. Worst case, you probably shortened the life of your parking brake pads, and maybe overheated the parking brake drums a bit. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

[SevenJ]

I hate to be the one to bring this question back up, but we let a friend drive the 4runner last night. We were babysitting her kids, so rather than switch 2 carseats, we just switched cars. When she returned, I noticed a aweful burning smell coming from the passenger side rear wheel. This wheel was also very hot. I checked the e-brake, and it was a obout 1/2 way engaged.

My question--why was only the passenger side hot and with a burning smell?
I drove the 4runner a few miles this morning and the burning smell was starting to come from the same wheel.



BTW, our friend drove about 5 or 6 miles with the parking break on. When we called her later to ask if she messed with the parking brake, she said "no", but she did notice a red light on that said "brake"--duh.