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Rear driver side squeak with E-Brake on


apexi

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So off and on for some time now, I've had a squeaking sound (think squeaky bed mattress) coming from the rear driver side wheel when I get in and out of my car. The squeak only happens when the emergency brake is on, so I'm thinking that I might need to lube a part of the e-brake drum hardware, or replace a spring in there. I don't anything about drum brake setups, so any input is appreciated.

 

I should also mention when the problem first started happening awhile ago, I thought it was a rear sway bar bushing, but I lubed that and I didn't help. I'm confident it's something with the e-brake, but which part I'm not sure.

 

*I tried to go record a sound clip just now, and of course the car didn't make any noise at all. It seems like it only happens under certain conditions, maybe influenced by the weather. I don't know, I'm thinkin I might just have to live with it like I have been.

Edited by apexi
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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

I think I might have figured it out..

 

Last night I decided to partially take apart my parking brake and inspect it. I know very little about parking brakes and drum brakes, so I kinda winged it last night. But after doing a little reading online today, it looks like what I did was a good thing.

 

The subaru factory service manual says you are supposed to lubricate a few parts of the parking brake assembly, as shown in the attached image. I noticed that on my car, 6 of the contact points had no lube at all, and actually had a little rust on them. So I decided to apply brake lubricant to them, and hope for the best. I didn't lube any other parts of the parking brake since it looked like you probably had to disassemble the parking brake assembly to properly lubricate them, and I didn't want to use a spray lube/grease on them just yet.

 

So to summarize what I did..

-Left parking brake off

-Pulled rear wheel off

-removed rear driver side brake caliper

-remove brake rotor (I had to adjust parking brake since rotor was getting stuck on parking brake shoes, even with parking brake off)

-removed two shoe hold down pins with flathead screwdriver, circled in green in second attached image. This allows you to lift the parking brake shoes up a little bit so that you can access the contact points you need to lube.

-cleaned 6 contact points with brake cleaner

-lubed 6 contact points with brake lubricant

-reinstall shoe hold down pins and springs, put rotor and caliper back on, adjust parking brake back to where it was, and if you worry a lot like me, find a hill and make sure the parking brake holds and is adjusted properly.

 

And that's it. I'll update this in a few days or weeks depending on whether the noise comes back or not.

parkingbrakelube.thumb.jpg.dc173bfb202964286a1529b4c178b90e.jpg

shoe_hold_down_pin.thumb.jpg.a36f000aaf0f49b17349c467fc8a533f.jpg

three.contact.points.thumb.jpg.3e858929da2bedf5badf6a26fb49f733.jpg

three.contact.points.lubed.thumb.jpg.1a822a3cf10ee4b9b531526d1c0a00e4.jpg

Edited by apexi
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  • 6 years later...
So, did that fix it? I have the same problem. But I’m hesitant to take it all apart, again. Shoes are a pain.. if I could get away with a spray lube without undoing everything, that would be ideal. If anyone has an opinion, I’d appreciate it.
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apexi is still an active member, PM him.

 

For some reason I can't send private messages. I'll write something send it, and I won't get a receipt in the "sent" folder. I have an iMac, and I've tried both Safari and Chrome.

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