This may seem crazy, but it seems to work.

For some reason, the emergency brake locked up on my 2004 truck. Luckily, it happened near my house, so there was no permanent damage done. I disassembled the brake drums on both sides, cleaned and lubed everything, and reassembled. The little arm that transmits the cable motion to the shoes was rusted and frozen, especially around the pivot point. Some wire brushing and a bit of high temp brake grease did the trick.

The worst part of the job was getting the lug nuts off the tires. Even though I cracked them a few months ago, they wouldn't budge. I was bounding my weight on the lug wrench (the one that came with the truck), and the darn things weren't moving. When they finally did move, the crack that radiated through the lug wrench felt as if someone was mashing my hands with a baseball bat.

I accidentally discovered the secret. When removing lug nuts, instead of pushing down on the wrench, pull up instead. I found that you can exert a lot more force on the nuts, and they will loosen up a lot more smoothly than if you put force down on the wrench or put your weight on the end of the tool. While the first wheel was agonizing to remove, the second one came off as if the nuts were lubricated.

C

 

pulling allows more force since it allows your legs to push against the ground. pushing just goes against your body weight.... which isnt always enough !!!