General Can't Pull Away - Brakes Stay On

[babbo_umbro]

Sorry for the delay in replying. Firstly, thanks to everyone for the excellent advice and such speedy responses. I ended up taking the rear wheels off and using a little gentle persuasion with a hammer all around the drums. To my amazement, it actually worked, and I was able to get to a garage. The diagnosis was that one of the shoes had "shattered" and was split into many pieces. Presumably one piece got itself wedged, which made the brakes lock on, and the hammer freed it. New shoes and I'm on my way again.

That's frightening - imagine if it happened when you were braking at speed.

 

[ivantate]

Glad its sorted.
The friction material might have come off when you freed it as it should have been able to go backwards if it was wedged. There is a fair amount of leverage on the drum when on the car.

Years ago on my mini i had the complete friction material come off one of the shoes on the rear and other than hearing it scuff occasionally there wasnt much difference. It was a week or 2 and about 600miles before i had chance to have a look and sort it.