Grief for DIYers - And...fixing a stuck emergency brake
I read a New York Times article on the weekend that will scare a lot of people away from doing their own home repairs. And then another article citing more bad combinations of humans and tools.
Dammit Jim, they're just trying to scare us. Like Star Trek explorers, we do-it-yourselfers know that disaster is always a possible outcome. If you don't believe that, you haven't really tried it. Of course things can go desperately wrong in DIY. That's why we like it. We are hardwired for adventure, and we can find our excitement under a sink or behind a washing machine or inside an electrical panel.
What those articles fail to mention is that a lot of things actually go well for DIYers. I can't think of any examples right now, but I'm sure I've had one or two successful repairs in the last decade. So don't be discouraged by naysayers in the press. They're just looking for something fresh to scare people with.
Speaking of DIY, I learned how to fix a stuck emergency brake underneath a Toyota Landcruiser.
So here's the trick if you ever have the Emergency Brake "!" symbol light up on your dashboard.
There's a cable that runs along the rear axle to the disc brake. (It's usually the left side that gets stuck on my car.)
A short swift tug on the cable should free it from the stuck position.
