Has anyone EVER seen this?
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Freshman User
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 37
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Has anyone EVER seen this?
Okay so I was flat towing my blown up truck from cincinnati ohio to Charlotte North Carolina this past weekend. Around 7am I pull into a burger king and hop out of the uHaul and of course glance over at my truck and I notice the passenger caliper dangling from the hose... I think to myself "huh..." and go in and get some breakfast chicken. Come back out and crawl under the truck with a chain to tie the caliper out of harms way when I finally start thinking (I was REALLY tired) "how did the caliper get off the rotor....?" So I look over and the rotor completely disintegrated! There was nothing at all left of it! Whatever happened twisted all 8 wheel studs a little bit clockwise, the rotor is flat out missing, but luckily the wheel is still good, and nothing hit my tire. Has anyone EVER heard of that happening?! 
Lead Driver
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 5,250
Likes: 11
From: West Virginia
you didn't notice it cause you were towing it, but I'm sure the brake caliper was seized or sticking and it simply overheated. You probably would have noticed had you been driving. I've seen that happen to racecars that went through intense heat cycles.
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 741
Likes: 8
From: Western N.C.
That must have been the big 24 foot U-Haul you were towing it with to not notice that much carnage taking place! If you had been driving it you might not be talking to us right now.
Something else comes to mind. Is the caliper itself gouged or scarred, or is the hose badly damaged? In thinking about the force needed to remove a caliper from its mount when it is properly installed, I had the idea that perhaps the caliper was not well secured to the spindle, came off at some point, and smashed into the rotor itself, shattering it.
Last edited by Bowtie_Schmowtie; May 18, 2010 at 07:41 PM. Reason: Had another thought.
Lead Driver
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 5,250
Likes: 11
From: West Virginia
That is possible, too. I had a caliper bolt fall off of my nissan pathfinder, and the caliper turned out, spinning down the inside of the wheel like a lathe, before locking up my right front going down the interstate. I immediately pulled over (obviously) but it had done a decent bit of damage. Probably if it was being towed much further something similar would have happened. I'm also eyeing what looks like scratches on the inside of your wheel.
