Wonder if anyone has some ideas about a new possible issue with my old 98 4WD standard shift. All the below is in 2WD though. It's happened twice now, and may be related to what I thought was a problem that went away.

Background is last fall I noticed some brake grabbing when it was wet, which went away once the brakes were used enough to dry off. Seemed to be front brakes. It wasn't a serious grabbing just that it wasn't easy to feather the braking to come to a slow stop until they were dry. It never happened in dry weather of course and went away after freeze up. That hasn't been an issue yet this spring and it's been very wet.

Also possibly related, I have to park in the driveway, with a good slope to it (nose uphill). I always use the park brake of course, and leave it in 1st. I start it in neutral of course, and foot on the brake before releasing the parking brake. This spring a few times snow melt/splash froze on my parking/rear brakes overnight. So hard one time that they would not break loose in the morning until they thawed and melted. Usually they would let go, with a slight jarring thunk, when I went to back out of the driveway. Seemed to be mostly the driver's side. That all went away of course once the temp was above freezing.

The other day, and again today, after the truck had been sitting in the steady rain (of the last week) for a day or two I backed out of the driveway with no signs of issues. Even rolling back without noticeable friction with the clutch in. When I shift into 1st though there is solid resistance, like the front brake is on, or more like the transmission itself is locked up. It simply would not go forward and letting the clutch out felt normal but of course the truck bucked and died. I backed up a couple lengths down the street and tried again and it was ok. Like nothing was wrong. And the problem didn't repeat during driving and parking (on level ground though) in between.

Brakes seem to be working fine otherwise.

Could this all be the same issue ? Any ideas on what to look at or try ? Thoughts on if it is brakes or transmission ?

I got the truck from a guy who claimed to be a dealership mechanic and maintained by himself. I've come to doubt that with what I've found so far. I don't even see evidence of basic regular maintenance. So it could be that the brakes are just done, might even be original. There's been no squealing or other brake issues. I'm hoping it's not the transmission, had a bunch of work done on that already and on a 4x4 that isn't cheap or easy lol.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

I'd pull the rear wheels off and take a look at the emergency brakes.

 

Yep, sticking parking brake.

 

Just like everyone else is saying, check the e-brake, I've also heard if you have a rock stuck in the breaks that can do it, or if you have too much break fluid, or not enough. IDK if that will work, these are just rumors I've heard. Also, WD-40 the pedal, that might help.

 

Collapsed brake line.

Jim

 

Start with your E-brake as everyone above has mentioned. The pads separated from the shoes on mine with only about 60,000 miles, also the actuators (scissor like device the e-brake cable connects to) are famous for rusting together, finally I had to replace all my cables too (they were partially seized). I have never had to completely rebuild the e-brake system on such a low mile vehicle before my F150.

Once you have sorted out the E-brakes check to see if your brake hoses are original. They rot from the inside out causing the brakes to stick and the peddle to be spongy. I did all of mine and the braking improved dramatically.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. Yep I had to do some work on the actuators last fall just to get them working, and the cables look kindy crusty but not fraying. I don't think the previous owner used it much or at all. Kind of figured I would have to do more work on it once it warmed up. I was reading over the winter that finding replacement cables for the long wheel base can be difficult.

Thanks for the heads up on the brake lines too. Sounds like those need replacing as I'm sure they are original. The pedal has been spongy a couple times but I forgot to mention that, figured it was just low fluid at the time, but that wasn't it.