Kevin Lahmers

Weird situation: I pushed the parking brake and hit the floor. Looked under the truck and both brakes were disconnected at the wheel. I reconnected and pushed the brake. Still no brakes. Now I hit the road and notice a vibration when I am above 40 mph. Seems worse when I am going up hill. I stopped and looked. Brake cables still disconnected. I turned tight right, tight left and backed up. Seemed to improve but didn't go away. It may be my imagination, but I think it gets better after I back up. Any suggestions?

bourgeois1269

Sounds like someone was "playing a joke", if that's what you want to call it but they don't disconnect by themselves.

Kevin Lahmers

No one around to disconnect them. The cable seems loose and I could put them on and off without a problem which shouldn't be. Bought this truck used. I think there might have been a parking brake issue that they alleviated by disconnecting them. Perhaps it's time to take it to a shop.

homer

Usually the parking brake levers (can't remember the name) at the drum/disc in the rear gets so rusted it seizes. At least this is what happened with mine... I had to take the rear rotors off, take the adjusters for the parking brake and beat them free with a hammer once off (spraying with oil of course). The adjusters can't return so the cable keeps falling off.


This is my guess but that's what I came across. I know there were other people here who experienced the same. I might still have some pictures of it as well.


Mine was funny because only one cable fell off (the right side). I haven't had the issue since I fixed mine about 3 years ago.

homer

I've circled the piece I'm talking about in the picture below. I'm not sure if you know, but as I mentioned the rear is a disc/drum hybrid. The parking brake uses brake shoes, the disc is your regular braking. This is underneath the discs.


What basically happened is one day I put the e-brake on, the cable obviously set the parking brake, then when I released the parking brake those adjusters seized so bad that the shoes wouldn't return. The cable fell off, but the vibration could be because your parking brake on one or both wheels might still be stuck engaged.

homer

I've attached this so you can see the hybrid disc/drum.

lewissa81

Homer hit the nail on the head. These trucks are notorious for this exact issue. Take the lever off, soak it with pb blaster/kroil/wd40 or something similar at the pivot, and beat it with a hammer until it loosens and falls into two peices. Sand off as much of the rust as you can, then use some water repelling grease on the pivot, like axle bearing grease. Replace the shoes, put it back together, and smile because you saved money by not taking it to a mechanic. There's no need to turn the drum/rotor because the drum section is strictly a parking brake and not used for stopping the truck. Unless it's warped really badly, or there are chunks missing.

homer

lewissa81 describes the process very well! And 100% agree, it's a very easy job to do. I did exactly that, I used a wire brush on mine, sanded them, then used wheel bearing grease (was all I had at the time). I haven't had an issue since! Also check the star adjusters at the bottom and make sure they're not seized either, mine were pretty bad!

Kevin Lahmers

Thanks for all your help guys. This seems to make sense. I did the quick version to make it home and got by with no vibration. I will do both sides this weekend. Thanks again!!!!

Crazy4x4

Sounds like you have it solved. If it helps I had a bad vibration issue and it turned out to be a bad driveshaft and rear end bearings. Here is my thread.
https://www.f150forum.com/f4/truck-v...solved-268221/