Mopar Muscle Association UK

Took my ?68 Plymouth Sport Fury over to my parents last night so its out of the way while we move house. It had not been a good day anyway (involving me, a solicitor and all manner of stuff which took a lot longer than it should have, but I digress) Well, the Plymouth started up fine and all was going well until I got a good chunk of the way there when I started to feel that the brakes were dragging. In typically cavalier fashion I pressed on, noting that the temperature gauge was starting to read a little higher than it usually does. Next thing I know about half a mile later there is an almighty bang from under the rear of car but no obvious ill effects, until I touch the brakes to slow to a 40 limit when there?s a whole lot of juddering?. Ooooh, that doesn?t feel right?.

So I stop. Look under the car, nothing fallen off, nothing obviously amiss, no pools of fluid, so after a few minutes I try a reverse and it brakes fine, pull forward a bit, brakes fine. So I shrug my shoulders and carry on. About another three quarters of a mile up the road there comes a massive bang from under the car, sufficient force to jolt right through the car like I?d been hit from behind, so I go to stop at the side of the road and when I apply the brakes the car shudders so violently the steering wheel is about ripped out of my hands, there is a banging noise through the car in time with the shuddering and I?m in a sweat by the time I?ve stopped it.

No way am I driving any further. So I call the AA. Surprisingly enough they don?t have Plymouth Sport Fury on their database list. ?What is it?? asks the operator? ?Plymouth as in south coast town, Sport as in what I always skived at school, Fury as in very cross at being stuck at the side of the road?. 45 minutes later their patrol arrives, in a van not a flatbed (who?s ever lucky enough to get one of those first time out?) and the patrolman can?t see anything wrong so he suggests I drive on and he?ll follow. I?m not keen on driving the thing but I?m strangely reassured by having a yellow van follow me so off we go again.

Now the heavens opened. Thunder and lightning very, very frightening indeed, Galileo, Galileo, etc. etc. Can?t see past the end of the hood at times, even on speed 3 the wipers are slowly stirring the deluge rather than clearing the screen. Anyway, I manage to drive 15 maybe 20 miles like this without incident (during which time the nice man who can follows on no doubt damn glad he?s in his nice warm dry van following my old wreck rather than lying under a Mondeo or under the bonnet of a Fiesta?)

So I get to my parents, pull up on the drive and wave off the AA guy (noting that now the brakes are making quite an unpleasant scraping noise when applied). When I get out of the car I notice its leaving a lot of fluid of some sort. Great spots of it about every 5 feet. My dad wants the car parked up at the side of the house so I get back in, turn the key and the battery is flat. Nice one. So we jump start it off his car (slight reluctance of the old 318 to fire up which is unusual as its usually a keen starter) and I start backing round to the side of the house, and it feels like the brakes are on even though they are released. And they get tighter and tighter as I back it up. And the oil pressure warning light is on, and doesn?t go out. But by this point its 9:45 PM, I have no tools, I can?t be bothered and to be honest if the sucker seizes up I don?t care anymore. Motor is dropping oil from somewhere close to where the dipstick is, its getting dark, still raining and I can?t be looking into it too much so I just slid some cardboard under it to make my dad happy and left it.

Any suggestions as to WTF is up with my brakes now would be welcome. Most of the system has been replaced (in oddments) over the last 2 years. Generally I have to say that yesterday was NOT a good day?

ouch

diff falling apart inside or rear bearing prob causing halfshaft to move up and drum press against shoes?

Broken shoe spring causing shoe to lock against drum?

lining fallen off shoe and jamming?

let us know what u find

Sounds to me like maybe one wheel was dragging on the brake, got hot and then did something nasty to the LSD (if it has one)??

cheers chaps. I was thinking something inside the drum was dead and in bits. this talk of diffs does worry me, could be... AFAIK I have a pegleg rear. The banging from the rear end was scary though. I guess the heavy rain kept what ever was siezing either cool or lubricated to get me the rest of the way there OK.

I'm hoping the oil pressure problem just goes away... I'll check and change the oil before running it again and see if it holds then. She didn't get that hot on the dial, just a bit further up than normal (just less than half way on the gauge) not sure how much oil I've lost as it wasn't leaking before and now it is.

Daddy-dearest is going to be well pleased with me stripping the rear end down on his drive, hes a bit precious about getting oil stains on it

If one brake was dragging the engine and trans would get hotter so it would explain that.

Sounds like a 'chain reaction' thing to me-
Just summat like a broken spring in one drum to start, shoe starts to drag, overheats, maybe glue fails and friction material drops off- banging, juddering & general weird noises ensue. Piston now over-extends, allowing fluid to drench everything.
This lubricates the now rubbing metal surfaces, reducing the alarming judder, etc and the loss of fluid from rear brake system means youre probably only on fronts now anyway so the problem appears to have sorted itself out, briefly....
Meanwhile diff, trans & motor working too hard get all hot & bothered, car and driver begin major sulking competition, car wins EVERYTIME cos it knows you have to fix anything you kick.



Never happened to me, obviously

Whilst under the car, Alistair, check the spring mounts, U bolts and propshaft UJ's too - sounds like lots of straining was going on so it's best to check everything!
Good luck!