Parking Brake is stuck; will not disengage.

[FiveSeven]

I went to do some work on my bumper the other day (bambi incident) and had my truck up on some ramps (before this I never used my parking brake). I engage the parking brake. When I went to disengage the parking brake, the lever was super loose. Sure enough the parking brake is stuck. Furthermore, about 2 months ago, the dealership did a rear brake job: rotors and pads. Before I place blame and spend a ton of money on a tow truck, I figure I'd check with you guys first before getting into the rear calipers.

Here's what I've done so far:
1.) removed hand lever boot and checked adjustment nut. its fine, the cable, however, is sticking up more than it should.

2.) Lubricated the actuator at the split, verified that it does infact move around and no joints are seized up. The driver side is pulled more than the passenger. (Picture attached). When I say it "moves around", it means that I physically grabbed it with my hand and moved it around to make sure all the pivot points are able to move; the cable position are still stuck.

3.) When I saw that driver side was pulled a lot more than the passenger side, I removed the spring and tried hitting the lever with a 1x2 at the bottom pivot point toward the front of the truck-- it did not move one bit.

4.) lastly I drove my truck a little bit back and forth in my driveway hitting the brakes to see if it might nudge the piston loose. It didn't.

I've attached all 3 pictures, (1) driver side (spring looks a lot more compressed and chewed up due to removal), (2) of the split junction, and (3) passenger side.

Is this the fault of the dealership work? or is this a point where I need to jack the truck up and get at the caliper piston? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Added 4th picture to explain how I tried to manually force the brake.

UPDATE TEMPORARY FIX:
https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/parking-brake-is-stuck-will-not-disengage.26330/post-605772

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[bbeverag]

The drivers side spring is oriented in a way that it appears to be holding the parking brake rather than forcing it to release. It is probably sketchy, but can you rotate it clockwise (as seen in the photo)? If the spring is possible not even doing anything, can you push forward at the top connection point of the spring to force the brake to release? No matter what you do, I think this is due to the recent work you reference.

edit: i reread your number 3 and recognize you already tried to force it manually.

 

[airline tech]

I am thinking the caliper piston is seized from not being used, the internal screw acttuator part of the Park Brake, as you pull the parking brake there is a screw actuator that rotates and pushes the piston out.

If you are able to get a god swing on the top of the lever and knock it backwards, might help free it up to get it drivable.

If you are able to get it free, set parking brake and repeat process, to hopefully save the caliper from having to be replaced.

Key Takeaway, use the Parking Brake at least (1) time per week, or grab the handle and move it up and down every so often to keep the system from sticking.
I learned my lesson years ago on a car with the integrated parking brake / piston assy.

 

[airline tech]

For a FYI, in case you pull caliper for this issue,.
Note this is not a normal caliper piston that can be pressed back in with a C-Clamp, it takes a special tool (Auto Parts Stores) have them as a rental.

Some Notes:

See the arrow, this points to piston rotation when compressing it back in.
Note: LH and RH side (Caliper) position depends on direction of rotation, that is why you look for the arrow.

This is the part that is seized and frozen, so it may take some force to get the piston to move, on the back side of that piston is a threaded rod - the threads of that rod are corroded, and it is not allowing the piston to retract back in, from the spring tension of the return lever you are trying to move.

Or the piston itself is frozen / stuck, but most likely it is the parking brake actuator (threaded rod)

and

Note: This position of piston, fully compressed

It may be the technician who did the brake job, missed this step and is not in proper position.

 

[Toytec]

As soon as I saw your location is WNY, I knew the problem. Yearly lowering of the spare tire and frequent use of the emergency brake are highly recommended. Lube all moving parts!

 

[FiveSeven]

For a FYI, in case you pull caliper for this issue,.
Note this is not a normal caliper piston that can be pressed back in with a C-Clamp, it takes a special tool (Auto Parts Stores) have them as a rental.

Some Notes:

See the arrow, this points to piston rotation when compressing it back in.
Note: LH and RH side (Caliper) position depends on direction of rotation, that is why you look for the arrow.

This is the part that is seized and frozen, so it may take some force to get the piston to move, on the back side of that piston is a threaded rod - the threads of that rod are corroded, and it is not allowing the piston to retract back in, from the spring tension of the return lever you are trying to move.

Or the piston itself is frozen / stuck, but most likely it is the parking brake actuator (threaded rod)

and

Note: This position of piston, fully compressed

It may be the technician who did the brake job, missed this step and is not in proper position.

Airline Tech, I sincerely appreciate the thorough explanation to guide through this; hopefully this thread will be helpful to others.

UPDATE/TEMPORARY FIX:
Disclaimer: this was out of frustration and I dont recommend this as a viable solution.

The good news is that I was able to disengage the parking brake by using the hook end of a tie down strap and tying the other end to a long breaker bar so I can use two hands to tug backwards on the strap (picture attached). I did this little by little on both sides so as to no go too far back accidentally. However, once I got back in the truck and pulled the lever, it still would not disengage, so I went back out with my strap and released the brake again.

Additionally, maybe someone reading this can be helpful and post a picture of how that "pivot bracket" (sorry, don't know the actual name) behind the rear caliper (no tire removal needed) should look like with healthy disengaged functioning rear brakes?

At this point, I'm going to get in contact with the dealer and try to get them to fix this issue. Based on what Airline Tech suggested, I think they SHOULD have caught this issue if it were indeed caused by rust and corrosion-- which many of you are absolutely right to assume based on my location, but for this to happen when the brakes were worked on in June and the problem occurring in August? They should've/would've known something was up when they had to turn the piston inward. Is NOT checking the parking brake after doing a rear brake job with pad and rotors NOT part of the work? They'll probably deny my claim, but it wouldn't hurt presenting my argument.

Once I get the full system working again I'll post another update. Thanks to all. If anyone else has other information regarding this, by all means, do not hesitate to continue to share.

 

[PltFX4]

Airline Tech, I sincerely appreciate the thorough explanation to guide through this; hopefully this thread will be helpful to others.

UPDATE/TEMPORARY FIX:
Disclaimer: this was out of frustration and I dont recommend this as a viable solution.

The good news is that I was able to disengage the parking brake by using the hook end of a tie down strap and tying the other end to a long breaker bar so I can use two hands to tug backwards on the strap (picture attached). I did this little by little on both sides so as to no go too far back accidentally. However, once I got back in the truck and pulled the lever, it still would not disengage, so I went back out with my strap and released the brake again.

Additionally, maybe someone reading this can be helpful and post a picture of how that "pivot bracket" (sorry, don't know the actual name) behind the rear caliper (no tire removal needed) should look like with healthy disengaged functioning rear brakes?

At this point, I'm going to get in contact with the dealer and try to get them to fix this issue. Based on what Airline Tech suggested, I think they SHOULD have caught this issue if it were indeed caused by rust and corrosion-- which many of you are absolutely right to assume based on my location, but for this to happen when the brakes were worked on in June and the problem occurring in August? They should've/would've known something was up when they had to turn the piston inward. Is NOT checking the parking brake after doing a rear brake job with pad and rotors NOT part of the work? They'll probably deny my claim, but it wouldn't hurt presenting my argument.

Once I get the full system working again I'll post another update. Thanks to all. If anyone else has other information regarding this, by all means, do not hesitate to continue to share.

Here is mine from today... the caliper is off the bracket but otherwise it should look the same... (passenger side caliper)

 

[Grandaccess]

I live in shitty UpState N.Y I always try and use it once a month, twice a year when I am under it for something I also try and spray PB Blaster on all moving parts, the salt and snow is a killer of vehicles up here

 

[gwhalin]

Had what I thought was a stuck parking brake impacting rear passenger wheel. Turns out the caliper pins were gunked up to the point I had the interior pad dragging. Easy fix to take them off, clean and re-grease, though unfortunately I hadn't noticed so needed to replace rotors and pads.

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