jenyap

I've noticed strange behavior today: with the parking brake on (car on jack stands undergoing a tt transplant) the pas side rear wheel can be turned by hand a few degrees, then it stops with a clunk. What could this be? I wonder if it has something to do with the roaring noise when I take a left turn...

Bill Ball

Well, the parking brake isn't working on the passenger side. There is some play in the differential accounting for "clunk-clunk" if you rotate one wheel back and forth while the other rear wheel is on the ground. Fix the parking brake. Maybe the cable to the passenger side is broken.

Yes, that sound is likely one of you wheel bearing going out. Try spinning the wheels with the car on jackstands and see if one makes a racket. It can be hard to tell until it is rather advanced.

jenyap

It's clunking with both wheels off the ground. With the car in neutral and the parking brake on it clunks. Both side brakes are working; i can tell by slowly pulling on the e-brake handle that both are generating resistance proportional to the tension of the brake handle. The clunk sound is coming from the pas. side hub area, not the diff area. It almost seams as though the brake shoes move with the drum for a few degrees before catching on something...

dr bob

Do you have the screws holding the rotor to the hub, and are the wheels bolted on tight? Does it do the same thing with the brake pedal depressed?

littleball_s4

Uh, it happened to me before.

When I had rear rotors replaced first time (I didn't work my car back then), I asked for the handbrake shoes also. The mechanic told me the old ones were "absolutely destroyed".

I recall wondering how a "destroyed" handbrake shoe could work like that. I use to stop the car, pull the handbrake then release the foot and the car used to travel 20-30 cm before "hitting an invisible wall".

Also, sometimes (not always, but usually after pulling the handbrake hard) the car refused to start, as if the handbrake was still on. Then suddenly it released with a big clunk.

Sorry I cannot tell you what happened, but at least you know a "faulty" handbrake shoe can create free play in the braked wheel. I don't know how, though.

jenyap

This happens with e-brake engaged only; foot brake works just fine. The symptoms are almost identical to what littleball_s4 is describing.

Bill Ball

As I said, if you can rotate one of the wheels with the parking brake applied, that brake is broken in some way. The way I interpreted what you wrote is that the driver wheel locks fine with the parking brake, but you can still move the passenger wheel. So, therefore that brake is broken. The wheel will not turn freely because it is linked to the other rear wheel via the differential. I was trying to explain how there is some play in the driveline so the wheel can be moved small amount back and forth. With the footbrake applied, both wheels are locked unless you have brake failure. You have parkling brake failure on the passenger side.

jenyap

I agree that the parking brake is broken; what I'd really like to know is what part of it is broken. I guess I will not have that answer untill I take it apart and look.

jenyap

So what you are suggesting is that the fact that the other wheel is locked by a working brake and there is some play in the diff when I try to turn the passenger side wheel it turns until the my efforts reach the other side via the differential right? The reason I cant accept that theory is this:
When the car is in the air, in neutral (its and auto with no LSD) and parking brake is OFF the pass side wheel can be turned without turning the other side. This proves that at least when no gear is engaged the wheels are independent of each other. When the parking brake is ON the clunk occurs. I don't think that applying the parking brake does anything to the diff, so the clunk can not be explained by the diff. It can only be explained by something allowing the brake shoes to move with the drum for a few degrees until something else stops them. Am I missing something?
EDIT: Just realised the other side acts the same way; it turns a little and stopps with a clunk. Is this normal?

littleball_s4

Mine happened in both sides, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed. It never happened to me again, now I have no free play at all.

Just take apart and rebuild. My suggestion is, buy rotors, pads and shoes, disassembly, if you're lucky replace them and go. If you're not lucky, you'll have to buy something else. But I don't think so, because my mechs would have charged something funny instead of "handbrake shoes".

Sorry for the obvious answer.