Caliper Hung Up?

[Jim Stoltz]

My friend that bought the '87 Allegro set out for his first trip yesterday. It was to be about a 6-hour drive to Maryland. He called me 40-miles from home and said another motorist flagged him down because smoke was billowing from the right rear wheels.

This guy has spent a ton of money bringing this thing up to snuff mechanically. It only has 27k miles on it. He paid a mechanic to "adjust the brakes". I told him that with rear discs there's nothing really to adjust.

Back to the story...I advised him to try to get it home. He turned around and tried to get it home. About 20 miles from home a nasty vibration developed that went away when he braked. He said the pedal was intermittently soft and toward the end of the trip the BRAKE warning light came on. About 10 miles from home the right, rear inner tire blew from the heat. Luckily he made it home on the remaining tire.

I feel bad because he took this plunge because my good experience with my '84 (which I chalk up to dumb luck).

So what could the issue be? I'm thinking a hung up caliper. He' going to need 2 new tires back there to be safe, plus whatever went wrong with the brakes. It worries me, too, because my rig is older and I could have the same issue.

[Lakota Wolf]

A unique possiblity could be a Failed RUBBER brake line (The flex line from the steel line). or failed caliper.

There is not really a whole lot that can go wrong with a disc caliper, other then freezing up, from NOT being used and the flex line, which deteriate in as a short of time as 5 yrs, (sometimes sooner). And its usually INSIDE the flex line.Brake fluid will go to the brake, but if the flex line is bad, it calapses and the fluid is restricted from returning, therefore,keeping the caliper fully expanded thus dragging. Its very fortunate that he made it home without any further damage or even a fire.. 

[Russell E Johnson]

As Jack Wasmuth said, brakes are nothing to toy with.  We had the brake lite come on last year on our 2nd day out.  Turns out the brake fluid was leaking out from a loose connection.  But I pulled over at the nearest campground, fortunately only about 3 miles.  Called Good Sam Road Service and the wrecker guy had us fixed up inside of 2 hours and it cost us NOTHING, yea.  Spent a nice weekend at this little campground and, except for the fridge not working, had a nice time with good food from the mgmt office-restaurant-mini store combo.

[Rich Thomas]

Jim, I have to tell you that none of this is of any fault of yours. When I picked up my M.H. I drove it twenty miles and blew the inside rear tire on the drivers side. before the blow out I too had a  vigorous vibration just before it blew.  I think due to a blister or ballooning.  Another issue I had, and was mentioned here was a check valving of a brake hose on the right front tire. my old M.H. just turned over 20,000 miles this weekend so low mileage isn't an indicator of a problem free experience. The hose had de-laminated  on the inside and caused it to lock up the caliper; it ruined a new tire that only had 200 feet on it. ouch!!! It also caused damage to the caliper so I had the shop replace it as well. All this was caused from age not wear. One thing I will mention is the rear wheel disk have for the most part a set of brake shoes set up for the emergency/park brake that the mechanic may well have over adjusted. Also he should have the rear wheel bearings checked if he had that much heat present.  I took my (lets say adventure) in stride and I'm sure he will too. And just like you, I still really enjoy my vintage M.H. and he probably will as well. keep encouraging him and others it's all part of the journey.   

[Jim Stoltz]

Thanks all for the replies. I haven't gotten an update as he's been away for the weekend.

I hadn't considered a rubber hose locking up the caliper. I'd be that's what it is. And the vibration was probably the ballooned/blistered tire.

Last year, toward the end of the season, my brakes failed on the way out of a campground about 5 or 6 miles from my house. I parked it and called my dad. He brought me some brake fluid and scooped up the kids. While I was waiting I struck up a conversation with an 84-year-old guy that was picking up chestnuts from a tree. He told me that he's a "snowbird" and lives there until the weather gets cold and then takes his RV down to Florida for the winter. He uses the chestnuts for his Thanksgiving turkey stuffing. I helped him for about 20 minutes until my dad showed up.

Turned out the master cylinder was bad, and it did make it home without any further trouble. 

I don't take brake issues lightly, but you can pretty easily determine whether you're dealing with something that will affect your ability to stop or not. In my case, I was confident after topping off the MC  that it would be fine for the short trip home. Honestly, in my friend's case I would have had it towed. I let him know the risks and what to look for. It worked out okay nonetheless.

[Jim Stoltz]

So the update is this:

First he has drums. I had assumed he had rear discs like me.

He says it looks like the rear shoe hung up somehow. Now he's had the thing to 2 different shops in the past 5 months (long story). Both claim to have adjusted the rear brakes. Maybe they were too tight?

I would venture to guess that an accurate cause is going to be tough to determine given the damage. The drum, shoes, wheel cylinder and rubber line are all shot from the heat. Rhe inner tire blew, the outer tire appears to be ok.

So with hindsight being 20/20 I'm not sure they would even have been able to tow it. Probably should have pulled over somewhere safe, let it cool off and pulled the wheels to investigate. He might have been able to free it up before all of the other damage occurred.

[Jim Stoltz]

Yeah he's replacing everything on both sides from the junctuous block out. The bearings are a good point. I'll mention it.

[Lakota Wolf]

I musta misunderstood,,, assumming he had Disc brakes,,,,,, Drum brakes have more in mechanical to cause a problem then disc... Springs, wheel cylinder, emergency brake cable, warped drum or linings..

Hope they get him all set up,, I want everyone to be safe on their journeys.

[Jim Stoltz]

Nope - I misunderstood. I ASSumed he had discs because mine does. But he does indeed have drums. The parking brake is on the driveshaft so that's one less complexity, but I agree that drum brakes are a pain in the butt. Springs, levers, adjusting wheels - ugh.

[Lakota Wolf]

Its all good,,,, we was all scratchin our heads Jim....... I figured you wouldda had em on the road in about 20 to 25 minutes, considering you have rebuilt everything our your rig,, That includes using Synthetic Blinker and head light fluid.

Your a true asset to the community Jim.

[Jim Stoltz]

Thanks for the kind words. I really wanted to help him out but I was at work and he was in a hurry. He was taking his son to a wrestling tournament. After limping the rig home he had to immediately hop in his car and race down to Maryland. And find somewhere to stay since his lodging was broken down in his driveway.