Brakes Frozen?

Went out to play in the snow here in East TN today. It was about 15 degrees outside all day. I did some donuts in a few icy parking lots, and then my wife and I drove to the grocery store to do some shopping. We were in there about 20 min, when I came back out I tried to back out of my parking spot and it felt like my parking brake was on, it was not.

I was barely able to drive home about 2 miles to our house. The RPM’s wouldn’t go above 2,000 and the brakes felt like a mushy wall. Also my abs light came on, and the truck was shuttering.

I got home and I could smell a lot of burning. I let the truck sit about an hour, turned it back on and no more warning light and the brakes worked as normal.

Did my brakes or brake pads freeze from the weather? Or what problem could this have possibly been?

 

Axle seal likely, look inside the rim at the bottom of the drum from behind, look inside the rim as well for oil residue.

The oil heats up and causes the shoe material to stick. Usually plugged breathers combined with high temps cause this.

Might be a stuck parking cable, but less likely.

 

When you parked did you put your parking brake on? If yes it your shoes probably froze to the drums. Did you see any smoke coming off your wheels when you got home?