I am the recent proud owner of a 1977 B300 'Coachmen'; and this will be, hopefully, my first vehicle.... if I can get the big ol' boy running.

It'll need a bit of work, mostly interior... firstly though, does anyone have any tips on how to de-stick the rear brakes? The driver's side is locked up, and so far trying to knock it loose hasn't worked. I'm thinking the emergency brakes were left on for the years it's sat.

The adjusting wheel is locked up; is there any way to pry the emergency brake adjuster out from between the shoes?

We pulled the axle out and it still won't turn, so it must be the emergency brakes.

Thank you for the help.




The ol' boy is in the process of being cleaned, as it has been sitting for years.

 

If it is indeed the e-brake that is the problem, may have to cut the cable to get it to release......

 

Is there anything else it could be before I start cutting? ;>)

 

Ok, I just crawled under the van, both cables are free and slide inside their casing. My next guess is that the drum is rusted to the brake shoes.
I plan on saturating the brake assy with wd-40 if i can get it to spray inside somehow. Any tips would be much appreciated.

 

I had a stuck drum on the passenger side when it was time to yank my TranStar out of the old man's yard a couple of weeks ago. I could tell it was stuck before it moved because the emergency brake cable wouldn't actuate anything on that side.

What the lifelong old Dodge guy did was slam it into drive, gun it and let the torque break the drum free, I have yet to get inside the drum to see what damage it caused but nothing rattles or scrapes. I'm 99% sure this is the wrong answer and I was just a witness to an impatient old man trying to get something huge out of his yard.

EDIT: But it worked.

 

+++1^^^

 

You can go online to FAXON or to some other vendor to get yourself an original factory service manual. I've owned a couple of '77s and the FSM is invaluable. Well worth the $$'s.

 

WD-40 likely isn't going to do anything.

Can you turn the drum?

 

yes it's locked up hard. I towed the van frontwards and backwards to get it loaded on a trailer, it is still locked up solid.

 

Try heating at least one of them with a flame torch followed by rocking and let us know.