rear brake/e-brake not working

[Therou]

A few weeks ago, as I was walking away from my Jeep TJ, I heard my E-brake pop loudly. Since then my brakes have been getting weaker and squealing more. The squeal was happening while braking as well as while driving at times. Today I had absolutely no rear brakes or e-brake. The pedal is soft and needs to be pushed in a lot more then normal. I checked my fluid levels and they are where they normally are. 

Any help you can offer will be appreciated. If there is a repair needed, is it doable by me or do I need to take it in? Hoping to get this fixed in the next week as I have a roadtrip to do on the 2nd.

Thanks

John

[vantagetes]

John you probably broke or bent a piece of hardware in your rear drum brake. You may have gotten lucky and something was just misaligned and popped out of place.

Either way a hardware kit is dirt cheap and completely rebuilding a drum brake is a 15 minute job. It's very doable by you although if you've never done it before I suggest having someone who has around as some of the parts are a PITA to try to figure out where they go if you have no idea.

Jason

[binare]

The spring tool is nice too. Makes drums so much easier. Use the new ones from the kit too... not worth reusing the old ones.

[mike s]

PLEASE, if your not sure of your ability to tackle a brake job, don't. Brakes are a safety issue and should only be serviced by trained persons.
Forgive the soap box, but I work in the trade and have seen the scariest crap brought in by someone trying to save a buck. The person you kill by having poor brakes will likely be someone else.

Do your own tune up or oil change, if  it gets messed up, no one gets hurt.

[binare]

I actually do the brakes on our 3 vehicles so I know they are done right. Any scary experiences I've had are from so called pro jobs. I got bad luck with shops and have learned to stay far away if possible.

[Dracitamo]

I actually do the brakes on our 3 vehicles so I know they are done right. Any scary experiences I've had are from so called pro jobs. I got bad luck with shops and have learned to stay far away if possible.

Agreed... Brakes aren't that hard if you know what you are looking at. And if you need instructions, there are plenty online. Or get one of the guys here to lend you a hand. Not trying to take money out of the shops that are here waiting for you to bring it by their shop, but I'd rather see you put your money into upgrades then maintenance.

PLEASE, if your not sure of your ability to tackle a brake job, don't. Brakes are a safety issue and should only be serviced by trained persons.

Yep. Trust the 16 year old kid at Canadian tire to change your breaks. He's a "professional" .... pop.

[chiefwannaburn]

If you need instructions just take the tire off the other side and its mirrored right in front of you. But if your not confident then someone over your shoulder will do just fine

[jpthing]

I actually do the brakes on our 3 vehicles so I know they are done right. Any scary experiences I've had are from so called pro jobs. I got bad luck with shops and have learned to stay far away if possible.

Sad but true...I recently paid a journeyman plumber to replace a dishwasher...he ended up ruining both the dishwasher and the kitchen floor. So now I had to get another new dishwasher (Thank god for costco return policy and which I installed just fine mysef, thanks) AND a new floor...

I won`t let any tire tech put a wheel on any of my vehicles...too many times I`ve found later that the lugs are at 300+ foot pounds from those fools.

[specialk]

I'm sure not going to let a plumber do my brakes...

[jpthing]

I'm sure not going to let a plumber do my brakes...

generally not advised...