On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 12:57 PM, Luke Bakken <luke.bakken@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> We've had some interesting weather here in Spokane WA - warm and wet
> the first part of the week then suddenly really cold beginning on
> Tuesday night. I got in my van yesterday to drive it around and
> discovered that the brakes weren't disengaging totally from using the
> e-brake. Thankfully I just drove around the block and back home, but
> the right-rear disc was definitely starting to get hot because I could
> hear it cooling down.
>
> I'm assuming that the weird weather change must have frozen something
> up but I'm wondering what the best way to diagnose this issue would
> be. The van has been upgraded to rear disc brakes using a "big brake"
> kit either from SmallCar or Van Cafe (the P.O. installed them). I'm
> assuming I can tap around the e-brake springs on the calipers with a
> hammer to see if I can loosen things up with the e-brake disengaged,
> but other suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I was directed to this thread on the
Samba which shed some more light on the situation:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=390169

So, with nothing better to do than get under my van in freezing rain,
I checked stuff out and found that basically the passenger side cable
was seized in its cover. I removed the cable entirely and could not
get it to budge. The brake caliper disengaged just fine. I removed the
driver's side cable as well and found that I could move the cable in
the cover, but not easily. I also think that due to the lengths of the
cables, only the passenger side was ever engaging when using the
parking brake.

First question: while I figure out the best way to fix this, would it
be safe (and legal!) to drive and park the van without having a
working parking brake?

Second question: this thread on the Samba
(http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3943875) details an
interesting solution to one of the problems with how the parking brake
cables are routed. I wonder if that idea could be expanded to provide
more of a straight shot from the main brake cable and hanger (is that
what the connection point is called?) to the rear brakes. Ideally you
could figure out a route that wouldn't involve any bends except the
one around the rear trailing arm.

I'll probably end up following the SmallCar directions to use a 2wd
brake cable on the passenger side and a stock syncro one on the
driver's side.

Thanks again for any input,
Luke