Brakes Dragging BAD

[blown240]

I was running errands and was thinking about how good my 61 was running. On the way home from my last errand my brakes started dragging. I was only about 3 miles from home, so I drive home very slowly so as not to over heat then and cause a fire.

Once I got home, I jacked it up and all 4 drums seem to be the same. Cant even start to turn by hand. Also the pedal has no throw, I can't even move it enough to turn on the taillights. Fluid level is good.

The entire brake system was replaced just a few months ago. Drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, master, booster, capt fab bracket, most of the hard lines, all the soft lines, and all the hardware is new. It has been working fine until today.

Any ideas? Im thinking something in the booster/master/linkage...

[PGSigns]

Break the lines loos at the master cylinder and see if it is holding pressure. Then try and see if it rolls any better. Sound like master cylinder to me.
Jimmy

[61_FL_Apache]

Originally Posted by PGSigns

Break the lines loos at the master cylinder and see if it is holding pressure. Then try and see if it rolls any better. Sound like master cylinder to me.
Jimmy

On that note... Replace your rubber lines. They can collapse when they get old. Been there a few times with the same issue.

[Palf70Step]

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by blown240

I was running errands and was thinking about how good my 61 was running. On the way home from my last errand my brakes started dragging. I was only about 3 miles from home, so I drive home very slowly so as not to over heat then and cause a fire.

Once I got home, I jacked it up and all 4 drums seem to be the same. Cant even start to turn by hand. Also the pedal has no throw, I can't even move it enough to turn on the taillights. Fluid level is good.

The entire brake system was replaced just a few months ago. Drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, master, booster, capt fab bracket, most of the hard lines, all the soft lines, and all the hardware is new. It has been working fine until today.

Any ideas? Im thinking something in the booster/master/linkage...

Holy cow! Your story is really similar to mine. Brakes kept getting tighter and tighter when driving. Pedal became very tight.

In my case, I had the push rod going from the pedal to the back of the master cylinder adjusted wrong. It was not allowing the master cylinder plunger to fully return to the rest position. Pressure in the lines kept building. Simple fix. I hope your fix is as simple as mine was, but man it sure did worry me.

[blown240]

Thanks for the replies. Super strange. I unbolted the master from the booster and the brakes unlocked. When I checked the push rod on the booster it was adjusted out almost 1/4 inch. Can these things unscrew from driving? I had it set jus right when I installed the brakes several months ago. I put it back to where it was before, and that fixed it. I do need to adjust the shoes a bit, but other than that its odd....

Its almost like someone played a joke on me, but none of my buddies would mess with my brakes.

Im really glad it was such an easy fix, but it seems REALLY odd that this would happen.

[TJ's Chevy]

You could put some permatex on the threads and that'll keep it from moving. lol Glad it was a simple fix.