99 Sport w/ stuck parking brake

Hey guys, i am desperate for an answer because i live at Snowshoe Wv in a radio quiet zone, so i cant call a shop or any buddies who might know the answer.

I did a little snow driving yesturday, parked my 4.0 ltr 1999 sport, with only 60k miles on it, and when i went to leave today, my parking brake was stuck. The lever will go down, but the brake will not release.

Some how i can drive in reverse just fine with all the wheels spinning, however i tired to break the bond in 4 low going forwards, and it wont budge.

i am wondering what could be the cause of this, it did snow, then warm up, then cool down, leaving my car in icicles. Could the brake cable be frozen in the line?

I'd guess the shoes were frozen to the drum, or a chunk of ice on the inside of the drum is catching the shoes. Either that or the cable that operates the e-brake is frozen in the sheath. Although I don't understand why it moves reverse fine, but you can't move forward??? Do just the rears hang up when trying to go forward? In 4-low, at least one rear has to spin if a front is turning also. Crawl under to check the cable first, then maybe pull a wheel and drum to investigate further.

I would guess, you have ice inside the brake drums. Drive for a few hundred feet at slow speed, stop and reverse direction for a bit. Try the parking brake handle a few times. Lightly apply the brakes and drive for a few hundred feet. Driving should generate enough heat to melt any ice. Check the temps of the drums by hand. Check for ice in the parking brake cable splitter/combiner.

thanks for the imput guys!! really helps calm the hurt!

This has happened to me from time to time, and it has usually been ice inside the sheath of one of the cables. Often you can shake it loose by banging on the cable a few times.

Shoes frozen to the drum would not allow you to reverse, and when that happens it usually cracks loose with a snap.

My 99 does this too. Maybe there was a bad batch of cable seals that year.

Unfortunately there's not a whole lot you can do for ice in the cables except to replace them, so I usually release the parking brake when I'm parked for the night in cold weather.