Hey guys, I have a 2001 F150 and due to sluhsy roads and low temps last night, my parking brake was stuck this morning. I finally got the light to go off and the parking break pedal up but it still felt like it was holding the truck back a little. I got on the highway this morning and drove about a mile and a half when it started to vibrate real bad. I exited off and it stopped. I took a backroad to work driving only about 45 mph and after about 5 miles it started to vibrate again. After that, I didn't have any problems the last 2 miles to work. Could it be the brake was still engaged somewhat and how long does it take to thaw out? Any help or info is appreciated!

 

That depends if the brake is frozen or the cable is frozen...

If it was the brakes, it would definitely be thawed by now... highway speeds with a rubbing brake creates a LOT of heat. But its more likely that the cable is sticking somewhere. This happened to me one time when I was changing my oil (I run it up on some boards so I can use a crawler to slide under so I set the parking brake). Mine were sticking and doing that same pulse/vibrate motion you talk about. I found that repeatedly applying/releasing the parking brake pedal got them to release. I think my problem was something sticking in the cable (it wasn't cold enough to freeze at the time).

Do you regularly use your parking brake? If so, its unlikely that its just rust and whatnot causing them to stick, and more likely that you got some moisture in the tubing that the parking brake cable runs through and that is frozen. If thats the case, do you have a warm garage you can get it into???

If you don't, try looking up under the truck on the driver's-side frame rail. A lot of trucks have the cable out in the open (no sheath) when it runs down the frame rail. But the section that runs up to the cab, and down to the wheels goes back into a sheathing for protection. You could try spraying some of the stuff to unfreeze door locks into the sheathing from there. Once its working, go back the next day (so the other stuff has time to evaporate) and spray some oil or silicone in there. Hopefully that will prevent future freeze-ups!

good luck

 

The vibration is due to the heating of the disk/rotor. So yes, your e-brakes are still on. Had the same problem with my 04, but not due to slush. Once everything heated up, it would vibrate like crazy.
With the age of the vehicle, I would guess it is the cable that is frozen.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the reponses. Everything seemed to be ok when I went to lunch so I guess it had thawed out by then. Yes I do set my parking brake all the time. I guess it's a habit I need to break in the winter since I don't have a garage put it in when the temp drops. I'll also try the silicone spray to prevent future freeze up.