A common problem with the E-Brake is a sticking piston in a Caliper. You can feel the drag when coming to a stop. Also, the wheel with the dragging brake pads will be HOT!
There are two causes:
- old cables with rusted insides where the cable sticks and does not return to "OFF" position
- sticking E-Brake lever at the caliper
Solutions:
- replace cables
- repair E-Brake lever at the caliper
You can buy a rebuilt rear brake caliper, but these will fail in about a year or two. My parts guy no longer will sell rebuilt calipers, he only offers new calipers.
I dont know what rebuilders do when they rebuild rear calipers, but whatever they do does not fix the problem.
I have fixed 4 rear brake calipers to date. And I have "played" with about 6 others for practice. The repairs I have done have held up for at least 3 years with no problems . .. and these still have the original lever shaft seals!.
The trick to re-building a rear caliper E-Brake mechanism is in knowing how to take it apart. And the secret to taking it apart is knowing how to remove the C-clip (item 21) at the bottom of the caliper bore. In the pix, items 13 to 21 are located inside the caliper piston bore. Here is a real photo of the parts.
Before removing the C-clip (item21), you need to hold down the spring cover (item 20) - - otherwise the spring and cover will go "Twang!!" as soon as you remove the C-clip, and you will be blind in one eye and/or you will spend an hour on hands and knees looking for the missing parts. You can cover the parts with a rag, or use a vice and holder to keep the cover in place while removing the C-clip.
The tools for removing the C-clip is a modified nail and a long thin screwdriver, shown in the pix. Hook the nail end into the C-clip hole and pull the clip out of the groove. While retaining one end of the C-clip with the nail to keep it from slipping back into the groove, you use the thin long screwdriver to wedge out the other end of the C-clip. The C-clip is curved which provides a small space to wedge the screwdriver in-between bore side and inside edge of the C-clip.
I've heard that some use long needle nosed pliers for removing the C-clip. I havent tried this approach yet.