The parking brake cables (all 3) are essentially new. The hand brake handle
does go down, but the brake light is still on and the brakes still clearly
engaged. So i'm guessing its time to pull the wheels and find a hammer....
I never expected brakes to rust up in 2 weeks.

-Craig
'85GL

On Dec 19, 2007 4:24 PM, Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>  Assuming your problem is about a stuck parking brake, and not something
> hydraulic, two things come immediately to mind - draggy rusted cables that
> don't return, or shoes stock to rear drums.
>  You can 'sort of' access the cables ( their forward ends ) under the
> vanagon.  You could even loosen the adjuster there, in case your parking
> brake handle isn't returning.  Check what the switch is doing on the
> parking
> brake handle.  See if it's getting properly depressed.
>  If it's stuck shoes, sometimes I've unstuck those by backing up, and also
> by whacking the edge of the brake drums from the outboard side ( wheels
> off
> ) until things start to move.
>
> Never park any car long term with the parking brake on.  Especially in
> winter.
> Scott
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> craig cowan
> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 12:18 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Brakes Stuck.
>
> Hello. I spent some time playing around with my bus today, it starts and
> runs. I drove it around the block about 2 weeks ago and it ran as
> expected,
> but now the brakes are stuck. If i go to disingage the hand brake i still
> have the red brake light on, and the car won't move very well at all. I've
> worked the lever, but the brakes seem to be stuck. Is this an expected
> occurrance? Is there an accepted procedure for freeing up what i assume to
> be the rear drums?
> Thanks again.
>
> -Craig
> '85GL
>
>