Last night my son (who just learned to drive) wanted some practice driving in bad conditions (below 0F, 30-50mph winds, snow), so I pulled over and let him take over the 87 4runner. We did not notice until 10 miles or so later that the ebrake was still on part way while he was driving; guess we were trying too hard to find the road. Anyhow, the long and short of it is that we drove maybe 10-12 miles with the ebrake maybe half on. When I got out to check the rear hubs were hot; too hot to leave a finder on for more than a second, but not smoking. The wind and temps probably helped there. Later today I did a quick check in the inspection ports and plenty of front shoe lining left. Ebrake handle travel was 8" or so more than before at first, but a couple of dozen pulls on it and it adjusted itself so that it is back to specs on the travel and number of clicks. When it's warmer weather, I'll pull the drums and look inside, but for now I am just wondering what else might have gotten damaged by this mishap? I'm thinking maybe the rear axle seals and bearings. Any easy way to check those, or symptoms to watchout for? Anything else?

 

You didn`t hurt anything with the ebrake being half way on, it just caused some brake drag that made the drums heat up a little more than normal, nothing to worry about.

 

how many clicks is it supposed to make? i thought it was all preference

 

I don't think it would do anything really,We drove 30 miles in a huge lifted ford with 37's with the E-brake on,got out smelt like burn.so we let it sit for about 5 mins and were on our way with no problems at all.

 

i have driven with my parking brake on plenty with my dodge and sometimes with my yota when i drive through ice puddles and wont release and nothing bad happened

 

I think with the rest of the dudes, no harm no foul. Also, just pulling it several times, just reset it to its' new correct distance. So don't worry if your click amounts have now changed a bit.

 

depends. if you think you may have overheated some stuff. get the rear in the air pull the drums have a look on the inside of the drums for hard spots and crystallization or gouges anything else funny also to check the pads could have overheated they can glaze up and crack.

or just drive it like you stole it. unless you think you put ALLOT of heat into the rear brakes i wouldn't be to worried remember brakes get pretty freaking hot on there own under normal use. and keep a keen ear for any vibrations or funny noises from the rear end.

and make sure your parking brake warning light works

 

How was it applied part way .

If you put it on so the vehicle won`t move you don`t do these things all that often

 

I seriously doubt you did any permanent damage. If the brake was only applied slightly(IE to the point where you could drive the car without noticing it immediately), it probably did got hot, but likely not any worse than driving down a long grade, or something.

 

9-17 clicks according to fsm