Well, damn it. Sittin' waiting for a tow.

Had mushy brakes/pedal falling too low, so I bled the brakes and adjusted the rear brakes. Evidently I went a little too tight on the left rear drum, because it locked up in a parking lot after ~50 miles of driving. Had to force the truck to a safe spot (luckily I was literally a block from my place of work). The back wheel unlocked up with the application of a little throttle.

Upon arrival, brake fluid was visibly leaking from inside the drum.

Not gonna drive with a visible, solid leak in my brake line; so here I sit, at work, waiting for a tow to arrive.

 

use your LT to huck it home, who needs brakes when u can jump everything on the road?

 

Take it slow. That's why you have dual circuit brakes

 

So despite the rapid leak in the rear, the front brakes would still be fine?

 

I would not trust it. Unless you can cap/pinch that line off.

 

That sucks but towing it is the right move.

 

your rear brakes are only 20-30% (30 MAX) so if you dont have your rear brakes.... drive safe, don't brake hard, and you are fine

 

Only if the front and rear brakes are separate. If they are one system then you will have no brakes at all. But if they are in fact two systems (one for front and one for rear), then you will have front brake only.

IMO: the OP did the right thing to have it towed.

 

I've gotten home on parking brakes before.. but there's no excuse for that. It'll do if you're a poor bastard in a pinch. Even then not in the city.

Towing is always the right way to get a broken vehicle a-b.

 

The leak in the rear will drain the brake fluid reservoir eventually. Guess what happens when there is no fluid in the reservoir?

 

I know some systems are diagonally split, some front to rear. The reservoir has two compartments. It shares fluid until it drains to half full, then its separated. All break systems used to be single circuit. Dual circuit is a safety feature.
You will feel a distinct differance in the pedal. The brakes will be much easier to lock up.

I was joking about driving it back. You could in an emergency, though.

 

Your truck has diagonally split brakes. So you'd still have one front and one rear brake regardless.

 

It didn't - the tank is split in two.


I ended up driving down to the dealership without any problems.

 

bad wheel cylinder?

 

If your brakes ever go out- Hit something cheep like a CHEVY!