Seized Brakes

[alphonsus]

Last October I left the car for a couple of weeks and when I cam back the battery was flat. An attempted recharge showed it was knackered. I decided to SORN the car over the winter and put a new battery back in come spring. This I have done. Car starts perfectly, gears and cluthch engage perfectly but I can't move.

Obviously stuck brakes. After six months parked arse first towards the nearby Irish Sea, I'm not surprised. (No I don't have a garage.) I imagine they are good and proper seized shut. Can anybody suggest how to get them loose, please? Most of the advice on the interweb discusses rocking the car back and forth using the gears. I've tried that a bit but don't want to trash the clutch. It tried hard enough that the clutch felt as though it was starting to jump so I stopped pushing my luck.

Hopefully someone will have some smart specific advice I could use...

[Big Performance]

Jack the car up
Remove the wheels
Put 2 bolts back on the hub and use a very long breaker bar or scaffold tube to turn the hub

[tolsen]

Front brakes: Remove calliper and pads. Remove brake disk and give it a good clean up.

Rear brakes: Remove drums and clean internals.

[bob-in-dav]

I've collected several "spares or repair" cars which had this issue and it's usually the rears that have been stuck.

Firstly, chock wheels so that car doesn't roll away if they release.

I've had 100% success by feeding a long1/2 inch drive extension between the spokes of the wheel on to the angled surface of the drums followed by a couple of sharp taps with a hammer.

Sometimes, if you can free one up, then the to and fro method under power will do the other.

[tolsen]

Heating drum with a propane burner also works.

[Evilution]

Rear brakes: Remove drums and clean internals.

If the rears are seized, the drums won't come off.

I normally beat the **** out of them with a rubber mallet. Seems to work.

[tolsen]

Mechanics tend to whack seized brake drums with large hammers. Not good for bearings. A few blows with a soft faced hammer is usually all that is required.