Hey everyone, I hope this makes sense and you have a not expensive solution. My husband and I have a 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 2WD.

We are living at his parents' house right now. Their septic and drywell is being dug up this morning so before I left for work, my husband moved our truck over to the front yard to give the workers room to park. Unbeknownst to me, he put the parking brake on.

Not only does the parking brake not extend far enough out to be noticeably, "Hey, I'm on, turn me off!" but our brake sensor went out a few weeks ago and we haven't replaced it; we are dead broke at the moment and we figured this is something that will just have to wait. So both brake lights are on and stay on.

When I started to drive away, I definitely noticed the sluggishness. I attributed it to the fact that there isn't a lot of weight in the back and I was driving on frosted, frozen grass and it was having a hard time getting purchase on the terrain (I've slipped a bit on wet pavement so I assume the frosty grass was worse.) When I got fully on the road I definitely noticed the difference. I drove to the very next driveway (there were people zooming up behind me) and pulled over - we're talking about 25 feet, if that. At that point I was certain it was the parking brake and released it.

I continued driving and about a mile down the road someone pulled into a drive rather abruptly and I had to slow down very quickly. My poor truck started bumping like I had hydraulics. Freaked me out! I got back up to speed (55 MPH) and slowed abruptly again - same outcome, very jumpy and bumpy. I hit a few stop signs on the way to work and I tried to brake slowly enough at those to avoid the bumpiness. I felt it very mildly still around 20-30 MPH.

I kept praying it was just an outcome of hot brakes but then I jump online and everyone keeps talking about rotors and drums being shot. Is that my fate too?

 

I've accidently moved my truck with the parking brake on, and it behaved exactly like you described. However, I've also had about $1600 worth of brake work on my truck, some of which was new drums and shoes. If your drums and shoes were already getting bad, it's possible that the parking brake put the nail in their coffin. HOWEVER! I would also look a their adjustment, since sometimes the rear brakes on these trucks adjust using the parking brake.

I would try driving it a little more at speed and stopping, yes it will be scary, but if something can wear down a little bit or "pop" back into place, it will do it.


Welcome to DF, hope you get it sorted out.

Someone else will come in soon with more info.

 

Thank you. The brakes have felt absolutely fine since I got the truck - we bought it from a dealer in August. It's in impeccable shape - an older gentleman had it and the thing looks like it's barely 5 years old. Not a speck of rust, everything works except for that silly brake sensor now.

Granted, this is my first truck after years of owning cars, though I've driven trucks on and off over the years, as has my husband. I've been driving this thing like a grandpa b/c I plan to keep it for many, many years.

Would I have felt anything with the brakes if they were this close to going out anyways? There's been no squealing, no resistance, no funny noises or vibrations of any kind.

 

I can't say for certain because with mine I had a chunk of shoe missing, however, the rear brakes would likely do nothing if they had worn badly. They would have to have been adjusted to work and/or squeal.

I think they need to be adjusted. You could also try and backup quickly and slam the brakes (foot pedal), that will adjust the brakes (should, if it's not stuck) and reset them to where they need to be.

 

I'll give that a shot - thank you!

 

Pop the back wheels off and inspect the brakes. Try to rotate the tires while listening for the brakes dragging before taking the wheels off. Do this before driving any more so you don't cause any more damage if something is loose in the drums. I had a spring pop off one time and the drum ground half of the springs and the adjuster down to dust. If something is disconnected then it can result in needing a spring kit, an adjuster and possibly pads and drums.

The adjusters are not the best design and don't always work like they should. I manually adjust mine at every oil change with the help of two flathead screwdrivers and a jack. It feels like a new set of brakes got put on if they happened to need adjusting (if the adjusters weren't doing their job).

A bad wheel cylinder will make the back brakes lock up. I noticed that with my truck on a gravel driveway. A friend of mine noticed that on pavement when his truck hopped and skidded to a stop.

If the rear brakes aren't adjusted out enough then you will notice that it is harder to stop, if they are adjusted too much then you will notice a bit of a drag on the go pedal as well as a potent brake smell when you stop. If the pads are worn out then you will hear it (metal to metal grinding/squealing).