While driving my 71 yesterday, I noticed a lot of drag while not even touching the brakes. This is the car I picked up 2 weeks ago. Last night I checked it out, and the left rear wheel seems to have the brake stuck in the "on" mode. I was only able to turn the drum by placing a long bar on it to spin it. I also noticed that the parking brake was not connected to the wheel cylinder.

I don't have a whole lot of brake experience yet. It' not the parking brake cable, since it's not connected. I did not notice any leaking fluid. Could it be the wheel cylinder gone bad? What would cause the brake to be stuck on like that, and what should I do about it?

TIA,

Marty

There could be a number of problems.

Unfortunately, you won't know what it is until you get the drum apart. Have you had any luck turning the wheel backwards?

Possible causes include a piece of the brake or hardware coming loose and getting stuck between the drum and the brake shoe. Sometimes the entire pad comes off of the steel piece, and sometimes the brake just moves a little and gets wedged.

Turning the drum backwards a while might help. Unfortunately there isn't a lot you can do other than pound the heck out of it and try to disassemble it. Once you get it apart, look carefully at all the pieces. The problem may be obvious (like a broken shoe) or it might be more subtle.

First, turn the drum so the inspection hole is just about in the "7 o'clock" position. Then if you can, drill the hole out to 1/2 inch so you can see inside and get your screwdrivers in there to work the ratchet. Don't worry, drilling it out won't hurt the drum at all, and by the sounds of it, it may not be salvageable anyways if the shoes have been dragging for a long time the drum is probably cut so deep that it won't be able to be turned.

Then, get your self a good little light and a couple straight screwdrivers, and with one, press down on the arm from the E-brake. If it will stay out of the way, that's good, if not, then using the second screwdriver you need to turn the adjusting wheel down to loosen the shoes. It's a good possibility that the wheel cylinder might even be froze up and that's why the e-brake cable is unhooked, or else the e-brake cable is froze.... hard to tell until you get it apart to inspect the wheel cylinder.

If I'm not mistaken on the opposite side you need the drum in about the "5 o'clock" position to line up with the adjuster. Either side, you still need to turn the adjuster wheel downward to loosen as the arm works on the bottom of the wheel and swings outward when the e-brake is used to tighten the brake shoes.

There's another current thread (http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=51424#post51424) where I posted a picture of a wheel cylinder with the lever on the car that might help you visualize what needs to be done to turn the adjusting wheel. It's a pain. I did it without drilling, but that sure would have made life easier!