brake (?) issue - dragging/sticking

Hi there - trying to diagnose an issue I'm having - 2016 TRD O/R 6 spd manual trans with 82k miles. Its been super dry and its the middle of summer, and I haven't been parking utilizing my e-brake (usually just leave the truck in reverse), but lately when I first go for a drive, reverse is working fine, but when I shift into first to start driving it feels like I've got a brake dragging/holding me back (feels like the parking brake is partially engaged). When shifting into second the truck noticeably loses momentum when I let off the gas to shift. I've been able to come to a stop, press the brake hard, go into reverse, and then back into first, and that typically solves it.

I have had issues previously in the winter when its very wet/slushy with my parking brake getting locked on and causing my right rear wheel to drag (usually need 4wd to brake that off). Given that we're in the middle of a very dry spell, its hard to associate this with prior issues I've had. Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what could be causing this? I'd like to assume its something to do with my parking brake adjustment, and I have had my mechanic disassemble and re-grease all the drum parts two years back when trying to solve the parking brake issue, but again - I haven't been using my parking brake most of the summer so if its getting stuck, its doing so without my engaging the brake. Thoughts?

 

Jack up the truck and rotate each tire by hand. That will tell you right away. Could be anything from brakes to bearings to gears to u-joints.

 

When were the rear brakes last serviced and adjusted (not replaced, just cleaned, lubed, adjusted)

 

Spring of 2024 was when I had my mechanic look into the issue and completely service (but not replace) the rear drums (which I guess there is a TSB for regarding a freezing/sticking parking brake). It worked great the rest of spring '24, it did stick once winter of 24/25 when a bunch of snow drifted against the rear hub in a storm but has been fine otherwise. The current issue has just started as of mid August '25.

 

So you live in snow / salt country.

I'd suggest an annual inspect / clean / adjust. Maybe make it part of your annual frame protection routine.

 

Had a chance to play around a bit more with it - I did hit all my u joints with fresh grease while I was at it. The right passenger drum is getting stuck, it isn't the parking brake that is not releasing, but something is causing the shoes to drag excessively. As of 15k miles ago I had plenty of shoe life so I'm guessing it needs a disassemble and clean. I see lots of complaints of the star wheel not auto adjusting and brakes not being firm enough, but not many complaints about the brakes adjusting too tight.

I do live in salt country, so I'm sure that's not helping anything

 

Just a final update, I had a chance to jack the truck up and take the rear wheels off. The right wheel was pretty caked in brake dust so I cleaned it out, re-greased the pivots, wire brushed off all the loose rust/surfaces and then re-adjusted the star wheel. Seems to have fixed everything. The only thing that looked off to me was that one of the shoes had lost some material on the corner of one of the pads. I'm speculating but maybe some rust fell into the hub and got jammed up at one point. While the inside of my drums and shoes both looked good (no grooves, good pad life at 82k miles), the external parts of the drum are heavily rusted so maybe some rust was getting trapped/caught either inside the drum or around the lip between the two surfaces. I did notice that when my star adjuster was too tight, my brakes didn't just drag too much, they clunked to a stop (maybe I've got an uneven surface somewhere on one of the shoes). Backed off the shoes and its spinning good with some resistance and the stuck brake/dragging issue has gone away for now. Probably due for new shoes and drums by 100k due to rust more than anything.