Can anyone help with ideas for freeing a back wheel?

[carlo]

Hi gang.

 

Am going to help my niece out tonight; she's come back from overseas and her Suzuki Alto appears to have decided to lock on one of the back wheels.  I've tried rocking the car, driving it a few yards in each direction but the wheel is locked on solid, attempting any more movement just elicits hot smells from the wheel.   I'm assuming the rear drum brake has rusted on?

 

Apart from attempting to get the wheel off and bang the drum with a mallet (don't know if that's a good idea or not), any other suggestions?  WD40?

[scaryoldcortina]

Take the wheel off and smack the drum around with a hammer until it behaves itself.

 

Don't use wd40, nothing good ever happened by lubricating brake linings.

[sierraman]

Round the back of the back plate there should be a rubber bung which is where you access the manual override for the auto adjuster. Back that off with a flat blade.

[strangeangel]

I remember as a small child watching Dad freeing the rear brakes on a Fiat 600 that had been stood for two years by repeatedly twatting the drums with a sledgehammer, which worked!

[Wingz123]

I remember as a small child watching Dad freeing the rear brakes on a Fiat 600 that had been stood for two years by repeatedly twatting the drums with a sledgehammer, which worked!

+1

[drewd]

Yeah, a big hammer hitting the drum in alternate positions e.g. 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 9 o'clock.

 

Remember to ensure the handbrake is off before you start hitting it.

[sierraman]

Ideally use a dead blow hammer, a mallet or a copper faced job. Going ten tenths at a cast iron drum with a big hammer could damage it,

[loserone]

I had some cast iron 10" plumbing in the garden, that's how I smashed it into little pieces

[Joey spud]

Yes twatting the brake drum with a hammer 9 times out of 10 does the job.

 

But sometimes a lining will come unbonded from the shoe,slip around and jam everything up.

[carlo]

Round the back of the back plate there should be a rubber bung which is where you access the manual override for the auto adjuster. Back that off with a flat blade.

 

Is this important then before banging away?

[Junkman]

Yes.

Also check whether the handbrake mechanism isn't stuck on.

[sierraman]

Is this important then before banging away?

If you can I would. Use your head before you use your hands.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Open the door and let it run free.

[Christine]

what he said about the linings coming off the shoes and jamming up......

[sierraman]

Is it the type where there’s a hub nut holding it on, a bit like the older Fiestas? If so keep the wheel on, undo the hub nut. Sometimes the extra bulk and leverage of having the wheel on can make it easier to pull the drum off complete with the wheel. HTH.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd just take the wheeltrim off and twat the wheel really hard (steel wheels only obvs.) 95% chance that will shift it.

[purplebargeken]

Twat it. Twat it hard.

[sierraman]

Hammer a bigger drum over it.

[beko1987]

I fixed the rear calipers on the blue laguna by repeatedly twatting them with a bfo hammer! Mot approved repair (as it failed before and flew through the retest)

[Scruffy Bodger]

We had an Astravan years ago that could literally do this overnight sometimes, fine others. As others have said, twat the drum, you may be able to get away with it without taking the wheel off if you can get to the back of it? The other thing that freed it off if it was pissing it down was reversing it up the road and driving it forward a few times and it used to free off but that was a bit aggressive.

[big_al_granvia]

assuming its a steel wheel, give it a good few skelps with a hammer, if it doesnt free you need a bigger hammer

[JeeExEll]

Gently tap it with a small panel-pin hammer in the 12 positions of the numbers of a clock.

Then shout at the very top of your voice

- "BE OFF WITH YOU EVIL SPIRITS, RELEASE THIS WHEEL AT ONCE".

You have to really shout it out to get the message across.

And ring a little bell if you have one.

 

Repeat as many times necessary.

Worth a try.

[The Moog]

If you whisper sweet nothings into the exhaust pipe and tickle it between plugs 2&3 you will definitely* fix it

[sierraman]

Scatter salts around the wheel and dance backwards three times round the car then wait for 3 days and it’ll do it.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Scatter salts around the wheel and dance backwards three times round the car then wait for 3 days and it’ll do it.

 

I'd advise against scattering salt around a Suzuki Alto 

[jon.k]

Hammer worked for me the other day, just on the wheel.

[Timewaster]

Whenever I ask my tame mechanic for advice, the response is nearly always:

 

You ain't hittin it ard enough!

 

And he is usually right.

[Three Speed]

A while ago my 6 volt Traction wouldn’t start but I needed to move it. My driveway slopes down towards the garages. It was parked in front of one garage and I needed to put in the one next to it. I decided to tow it up and down the drive and shuffle it across. No one else was home so I had to point the Traction wheels where I wanted it to go and then hop in the tow car – and repeat. It turned out the Traction’s rear offside brake had also stuck but the drive surface was loose enough and the wheel skidded over the gravel. I got a couple of shuffles into this and the tow rope gave up – and hence the point of this rambling tale. The action of towing backwards and forwards and maybe the shock of the rope breaking freed off the brake and the car happily rolled down the hill into the door frame – as I watched from my Alfa’s driving seat. This was just a small part of what was a really crap day that Frank Spencer would be proud of. The Traction got some filler, a new bumper and 12 volts. But it did free the brake.

I don’t think this helps you one iota. Sorry.

[JeeExEll]

Hi gang.

 

Am going to help my niece out tonight; she's come back from overseas and her Suzuki Alto appears to have decided to lock on one of the back wheels. I've tried rocking the car, driving it a few yards in each direction but the wheel is locked on solid, attempting any more movement just elicits hot smells from the wheel. I'm assuming the rear drum brake has rusted on?

 

Apart from attempting to get the wheel off and bang the drum with a mallet (don't know if that's a good idea or not), any other suggestions? WD40?

Is it fixed yet?

[dieselnutjob]

You say that if you move it it gets hot, so it isn't totally locked solid? Maybe the heat from moving it might actually free it off. I could be more heat than you think, for example it's designed to do a full on emergency stop from 80mph so that amount of heat shouldn't do it any harm.