88 Winnebago 37'with Chevy 454

[Gscribner]

E-brake won't release because it was parked too long with it set. Need to know how to adjust it so we can get it moved.

[Grandpa19]

Pretty straight forward if you understand drum brakes. Chances are the brake cable is rusted. Block the wheels and crawl under and inspect the brakes cables. Some penetrating oil and tugging may free it up. Worst case the shoes are stuck to the drums or more likely the e brake cam is rusted in the "set" position. The drum would be very difficult to remove to fix it if that is the case. I hope for you that the problem is the cable.

[bill06447]

On the back of the brake backing plate are three removable dust covers for the 1/4 x 1 inspection holes, under one will reveal the park brake lever, hopefully you can lever it with a pry tool of some sort. Failing that you can cut the two shoe anchor pins from the back to release the shoes (you will be needing a brake job anyway if the shoes were stuck to the drums)

Bill

[Nick-B]

I assume you guys know your older Chevy chassis but I know the later ones in the 90's used a small drum unit on the end of the transmission for the parking brake. Did the late 80's chassis still use the rear brakes for parking? Just hate to see the guy chasing his tail.

[George Schweikle]

Do a search on this forum for AUTOPARK, which was used on the higher GVW Chevrolet/GMC chassis. Lots of good information on this somewhat complex system.

Originally Posted by Nick-B

I assume you guys know your older Chevy chassis but I know the later ones in the 90's used a small drum unit on the end of the transmission for the parking brake. Did the late 80's chassis still use the rear brakes for parking? Just hate to see the guy chasing his tail.

[eddieelk]

My '87 Pace Arrow w/454 has a emergency brake handle that you pull up to set. It has an adjustable feature on the handle to set the brake tighter or looser. Yours should be the same.

[Big Oil Guy]

First you have to determine if the e-brake is on the driveshaft or utilizes the rear drum brakes. That's pretty easy to tell just by getting under it and looking at the aforementioned parts.

Often, you can loosen shoes that are "frozen" by taking a hammer and tapping on the drum. This will loosen them in most cases. If this doesn't work, you can resort to more extreme measures suggested by others.

[wajell]

This issue has been addressed a hundred times before. Do a search on irv2.com and google.com

It may not be as simple as many would like you to believe. But on a 1988 it should NOT be an "auto-park" issue. That will make your life easier.