The parking brake didn’t work in the jeepfan.com 2004 TJ Unlimited, added to the list of “fix later”. While removing the rear axle for the ARB lockers the passenger side cable was not connected to the arm that engages the brake drum within the Jeep’s rotor. Seemed odd but it was thought that maybe it fell off or it was serviced and never installed correctly.
After removing everything it became obvious that not only the cable wasn’t connected the shoes were completely missing from the metal assembly they are attached too. Perhaps they became disconnected and were ground to nothing from driving. Along with that everything was completely seized and required a lot of penetrating oil to free up.
We picked up a replacement set of shoes and a parts kit from our local Autozone and rebuilt them both with fresh parts.
More on the brake rebuild coming.