Hey Everyone, Im Totally Stressed To the Max here. I Literally Just Walked in the house After Having this "Issue". After Stairing at the wall for about 10 Min Running Through Every System And Component that could cause a Driver Side Rear Wheel To Lock Up Like It Just Did, I decided to Hit the Forums..

SYMPTOM: While Driving This Morning Everything Seemed Fine, Things were smooth. Was a 2 Hour Drive To the House. Got Off the highway and into town. Red Light, So i stepped on the Brake To Slow Then Stop and it Sounded Like My Brake Pads were low maybe? As the truck slows to a stop the brakes seemed to grab alot harder then usual . U know when u lift off the brake so u dont make everyone in the trucks head wiplash when u get to a stop sign. When u would normally start to lift it grabbed hard as Hell. Light turns green i go, Feel like the brakes are dragging a little or something.. Come to the next red light, and the brakes grabbed hard again, this time the truck stopped me about 15 feet from the line. Lifted off the brake to Move up a little, Nothing.. Not moving.. Tap the throttle a little, Nothing, Not Moving.. ****... So When it turned Green, I Hit the Throttle, Left Rear Is Locked, Tire is sliding, Sounds Like Shearing Metal Or Something to that Effect. I Parked For About 5 Min, Turned off the truck. Looked over at the wife and i used her as a soundboard Of how i can Bandaid the truck to limp it home. (Ex: Drop read Drive shaft and throw it in 4 wheel, so i can Use FWD To Get Home) Started the truck, Reversed first to try and break the hold on whatever it is.. It Gave A Little, And it still grinds and sounds like Friction of some kind back there. I Took it about 10 MPH For About 1 Mile To Get Home. When I Was about to come to a stop in the driveway the rear locked up again and i had to drag the wheel a bit. Got Out, Sure Enough there was smoke coming from The Driver Side Rear Area. The Disk Looks Like its Got alot of Miles on it But I Have yet to dig into the Problem In the drive way. Like i said I literally Just Walked in the house From all this stuff.

NOTE: WHEN I WAS COMING TO A STOP IN THE DRIVE WAY OF MY HOUSE THE BRAKE PEDAL FELL TO THE FLOOR FOR A SECOND AND THEN CAME BACK WHEN THE WHEEL STARTED TO ROLL AGAIN.

The Verdict: This is What im asking From all of you. Has this happened to anyone else Before? Do you Think This is in fact a brake issue or something more in depth?

If it is the brakes, or the brake pad, if its completely gone and metal on metal i can see how this is possible. Also, Anyone with the knowledge of How to Bandaid this problem so i can drive to work in the morning..

Please Help me With Any And ALL Information You may have, as well as input or experiance or thoughts on the Issue. Especially If you have seen this happen before on the same make and model vehicle.

2000 Ford F-350 XLT 7.3L 4D 4x4

 

I think you simply have to tear into it and see what comes up. Perhaps the friction material fell off the pad and got jammed, or some other odd issue caused this. Don't overthink it - just do it.

I would not drive it until you get a much clearer understanding of what's going on. Also, be sure you have oil in the rear diff and that it's not something else going on.

 

TY Steve, Your Right On the Money Too Telling me not to Over think it. Im that guy.. LoL. Ill Get Into it in about an Hour and ill report back here with what ive Found.

 

So, I started digging into it and the problem was pretty clear. Started noticing all this brake dust or metal rust dust all over the wheel and leaf springs area, Wasnt a very good sign as far as everything being in operating condition. Although on the bright side, Its an extremely cheap Fix Compared to what my mind was trying to trick me into thinking it was that broke (like the ring gear etc). The Diff Does have fluid And its filled to spec, I added about a quart of oil to the motor to give her some love. Came back to the Wheel Area and i noticed that little metal Piece on the brake pads that are there to make a sound when ur pads are low, it was practically falling out/off of the caliper. the pad looks like it was ground so far down it just became to small to fit in the caliper and dislodged itself. Causing everything to lock up on that side.


Now For QUESTION#2 : Im trying to think of a way to "disable" the rear brakes or something. Either SOmehow figure out how to make that side get no fluid so it doesnt try to compress or find where i can stop the fluid from going to the rear completely. Im out here in the middle of nowhere NY, Need to get to a parts store... Anyone Know a trick that will allow me to Limp To the Parts Shop? Thanks in advance

I See there is a Splitter with a vent Tube Located On the Rear Axle Near the Diff. Liiks like fluid going in from the MC hits that Splitter then throws fluid to each side. Theres got to be a way i can cap off or plug the left side at that block or maybe at the caliper itself?

 

In a bind i crimped one of my lines once . I would consider it a last resort to get home. I used a hammer but I must say it is a very bad idea.

If you are intent on doing it flatten a good section because the fluid sees a lot of pressure