Yup, brakes off is an essential pre-aeros check on a Chippy. Even a bit of wheel brake left on will limit rudder travel.
It's an essential pre-flight check as well, to ensure that the rudder, brakes off, will move freely from stop to stop. If the brakes are incorrectly adjusted, they will come on at extremes of rudder travel even with the brake lever 'off' - and therefore will limit rudder travel.
SSD