MrArreol

I recently turned 70K miles on my odometer. And right after that I noticed what sounded like the "normal" brake squeal of pads needing to be replaced. What alarmed me though was a few days after I first noticed the "sqeal" I also noted a GRINDING noise coming from the rear. I took the truck to a local national brand brake shop and was informed/showed what was causing the problem. Per the tech at the brake shop, evidently there is a MAJOR problem with the rear parking brake, PRIMARILY THE DRIVERS SIDE, where the parking brake expands and GRINDS/GOUGES out the rear rotor!!!! And according to this guy, to replace the parking brake assembly the entire rear axle has to come out?!?!?!?! Is this true??? Has anyone else experienced this? Is this something that Chevy is aware of and has a fix for???? And no I've never driven with the parking brake on, heck I've NEVER EVEN HAD TO USED IT!!!!!!! Thanks for answering any of these questions and concerns!

Mork

You do not have to pull the stub axel to replace the hand brake shoe itself, but it will need to be pulled if you have to remove/replace the backing plate the shoe connects to.

chuck16

When I did my brakes and rotors a few months ago I replaced all 4 discs and all 6 pads. The E-brake is easy to pull over the axle but, as mentioned if you have to remove the backing plate then yes the Axle has to come out...
Most likely the E-Brake was installed/setup incorrectly to begin with. I've got mine set so that it never touches the drum unless it's applied. The book says it should just skim the inside of the disc but, I didn't agree with that. It holds super solid now...

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Rhymingmechanic

Depending on where you live, you might be covered by the recall on E-brake corrosion. There's probably a thread about it here somewhere.