Crazy Not Stupid

[Gandalf]

About 30 years ago I had the same experience as Gandolf except the wheel did fall off and went its merry way into oncoming traffic. A few cars swerved to miss it and the wheel got tangle in the old cable guard rail. Sparks flew from the back of the truck like the 4th of July. After a few seconds I got stopped and surveyed the situation. The rear end of the truck was still in on coming traffic and I wasn't sure what to do. A few minutes later a local policeman stopped and prevented on coming traffic from running over my legs as my friend and I jacked the truck up enough to put the wheel back on. It was difficult jacking with the brake drum sitting on the asphalt.After we got it jacked up the policeman suggested taking a lug nit off the other three wheels.
We did and got the hell out of there. The whole episode did not noticeable damage to the truck.

Glad to know everything worked out. I can't imagine what would have happened to my little Celica had the front whee come off. Might have cracked that cast iron disc (brake) by having that corner's portion of the car's weight falling on it.

Another time that I dodged a bullet in that car, actually happened twice. The first time, I remember very vividly. I was on the Garden State Parkway going to school (I commuted to college), needed to slow down because traffic ahead slowed. Being a careful driver, I anticipated I had to slow a good distance before I had to. Hit the brake pedal and as soon as my foot came to rest at the normal location I used for slowing down at the rate I wanted, I could not feel the brake pedal anymore. The brake pedal's momentum kept it going until it hit the stop and did not bounce back to my foot. I.e. the pedal had no resistance whatsoever. I nearly voided my underwear, but I quickly pulled the brake pedal back up with my foot and pumped the pedal (while using my parking brake to help slow down) and everything was fine. I would have pulled off at the next exit except that traffic was bumper to bumper before the next exit came up and my brakes were working fine by then. I checked the master cylinder when I pulled into the parking lot at school and the brake fluid level was full in both reservoirs of the master cylinder (nowadays most cars have only one reservoir, back then two were common, one reservoir fed one front and one back wheel, the other reservior was supposed to feed the opposite wheels). The trouble did not reappear for my drive home, though I was extra cautious, this time taking the long way, (i.e. secondary roads) in case it happened again. Pulled all four wheels off and checked my brakes, when I go home and found nothing wrong. Bled the system, nothing obviously wrong because the fluid was a nice color and no air came out. The brakes worked fine for two months, when the same thing happened, except this time, the brakes "died" when I was in the parking lot at school. Took the same precaution driving home, took my car to a local place that did brakes the next day and had them work on it. All they could find was a leaking cylinder in one of th rear drums. I had that car for another two years and the brakes were fine until the day I sold it.

I was darn lucky that, both times, I did not hit any other car or, in the second case, anyone.

To this day, I can't imagine that one leaking brake cylinder could have caused the problem, especially since it was not a gradual loss of pedal resistance, like I have experienced with a brake cylinder valve that I forgot to tighten all the way, but simply no pressure from the start, like the system was dry.

Another piece of wisdom my dad passed on to me that I have since come to be in agreement with, "DIY car repairs for a hobby is fun, DIY car repairs when you're on a schedule (i.e. you need your car to get to work tomorrow) is not fun."

Paul