Dragging brakes or drivetrain problem?

[dgeesaman]

I just finished working on my 97 Maxima SE 5spd. I had replaced the clutch, lower control arms, CV boots, diff axle seals, and inner tie rods. All in all, the car was off the road over 3 weeks.

When I went to back it out of my work area, I noticed significant resistance. So I lowered my windows, and backed it a couple feet - the right rear sounded/felt like it was dragging hard. I stopped, removed that wheel, and indeed the parking brake cable didn't move when I moved the ebrake handle. A few taps with a wrench handle got it moving again, so I put the wheel on.

On the second try, the right rear didn't make noise, but the whole car still had resistance, it felt like it was rolling on flat tires. (No, the tire's aren't flat). I drove it a few hundred feet and used the brakes some, but the resistance didn't stop. I could only hear slight rubbing noise from the front. The brake pedal developed plenty of stiffness when I pumped it.

So anyway, any ideas what it could be?

I'm going to get it back in the garage tomorrow and remove all wheels to see what I can find. I sure as hell hope it's not the differential or clutch dragging.

Dave

[Touchdown038]

I would say drive it around the block and then feel around the wheels for extra heat, if there's extra heat your pads are dragging.

Try that before diagnosing a drivetrain problem.

[NISTECH]

The A32 maxima has a bulletin on dragging rear brakes where the cables and rear pad hardware require replacement. I have repaired many of these for that , BUT none felt as if the brakes were fully applied when they were dragging.

[dgeesaman]

I have the rear of the car lifted. The right rear cable is definitely sticking.

I bought a pair of rear cables from the dealer, and was removing the old ones and just noticed they join the front cable UNDER THE MAIN CAT. Please tell me I don't need to remove the main cat, otherwise I'll be there all night long. That exhaust has been untouched for 133k miles, and as you can imagine the northeast road salt has been doing a big number on it. I expect all the studs and nuts will just break off, and then it'll be stuck in my garage.

I'm tempted at this point to leave the brake cables disconnected (avoid parking on hills), and have the alignment shop do the dirty work. But it sure would be nice to get the car running for the first time in 3 weeks...

Dave

[NISTECH]

the sheild over the cat is bolted on from the bottom at either side of the tunnel, you need to remove the 4 nots and the one bolt attaching it to the front sheild. The one bolt is located right over the pipe pretty easy to get to with a 10mm wobbly, my concern is the 4 bolts on either side of the tunnel as they may be heavily corroded??? once you undue the 5 attaching points you slide the shield forward over the exhaust and under the front sheild to gain access to the 2 nuts holding the cables to the tunnel, then undo the cables by pivoting the t bar on the front cable so you can slide it out of the slot.

[dgeesaman]

The one bolt is located right over the pipe pretty easy to get to with a 10mm wobbly,

Thanks - I did some searches on Maxima.org and they also said it could be done by removing the heat shields. With well-aimed blasts of pb blaster, I got the shield free so I can push it out of the way, and removed the drivers side cable completely. Rusty indeed.

Now I'm looking at the last bolt on the passenger side (the stuck cable of course) and it clearly requires the 10mm wobbly socket, which I don't have. I guess I'll buy one tomorrow and try again. My short socket on a 3/8" universal doesn't seem to fit deep enough over the stud to get the nut, and the deep 10mm is too tall to get past the cat. If had picked up this 10mm wobbly tool, I would be done already.

Dave

[NISTECH]

Why go to max.org, between myself , audatious and hal we have all the answers you need ...lol

[dgeesaman]

Why go to max.org, between myself , audatious and hal we have all the answers you need ...lol

Oh, I know. I just try not to dump every question I have here.

I finished the job. My short 10mm 3/8" socket on a universal actually did just fit on the nut/stud, and things went reasonably smooth from there. Some notes:

- definitely get the wobbly 10mm socket - it's very helpful and less frustrating than the short socket + universal combo.

- make sure your tetanus booster is up to date, I'm not kidding. The heat shields are nasty.

- wear goggles instead of regular safety glasses. You'll have rust falling all over your face and into your eyes.

Well, the rear brakes seem to be working ok, and on the test drive around the block (low speed) the clutch shudders and the front right is making a very light metallic rubbing sound. I hope it's just the rotors making a little noise - I'll take it out for about 10mi tomorrow and see if these things go away.

Dave

[NISTECH]

the noise from the front may be the backing plate rubbing the rotor. just bend it away a bit.