Parking brake issue

Had an issue to today. This should go in minor confessions as well, but I did something stupid.

I just bought a 2004 Mazda Tribute for a great price, which was the whole reason I bought it. I should have realized that the PO (someone I know and love) never would have used the E-brake. Well, I parked on a hill, and used the E-brake. You can guess what happened.

Normally, a seized parking brake shouldn't be an issue. I climbed under the car, with all the tools I had on me (Leatherman). I shook all the brake lines, pulled on them, and came to the conclusion that the thing was stuck somewhere inside the drum. Or at least I couldn't find it without burning my hand on the hot exhaust.

Well, normally you'd just not drive and fix it, but I was 40 miles from home and had to get home to clean up to go to a funeral. I really didn't have time to deal with it and could not get a different car to deal with.

So I drove home 40 miles. It stank when I got home. The pedal got soft by the time I got home.

Ok, so what do I need to do now? I'm assuming just adjust the parking brake, possibly a shoe replacement, and bleed the brakes?? Anything else?

And by brake lines, I mean parking brake cable. Not brake lines. I'm not THAT stupid.

Once you know what kind of parking brake you have, then you can figure out what is wrong.

If you have drum rear brakes then it is probably the springs on the cable, and or the cable and you need to replace them.

The soft pedal makes it sound like you have rear disc with an integrated parking brake. There is a lever on the caliper that activates the PB. The fix is new caliper with new pads and rotors if they got over heated.

If you have discs with a drum PB in the hat, probably the springs broke, but really it could be anything.