I made it home anyway.

[73c20jim]

I put this in other cars because it happened in .....another car.

Driving home with a friend from NJ, I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. My buddy said, "You don't usually run a red light." Told him brakes are gone.

Drove from NJ to George Washington Bridge, stopped to pay toll, dropped my friend off in the Bronx, and drove home in Westchester County. I'd say about 20-25 miles. Both Interstate and local streets.

Stupid. Probably. But I made it home.

Oh, yes. It was a '63 Impala. Rear brake line wore out rubbing against rear axle housing.

Who else made it home anyway.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Hold on. Home to AZ, or what are you doing in the Tri State Area?

 

[Frankenchevy]

Had something similar happen in my diesel excursion. Master cylinder seal failed. Was sitting at the light on my freeway exit and the pedal went to the floor and vehicle started creeping. Threw it in park until the light changed green and babied it 20 miles home. I’m pretty rural and only usually see a couple cars in that 20 miles and only one stop sign. Some major butt puckering on the longer descents even though I was pumping the pressure and going 30ish. Kept it in ‘2’ all the way home and it’s parking brake kicks butt.

In retrospect it was dumb. Especially considering I have unlimited mileage on unlimited free tows through my policy. Just didn’t want to wait the estimated 90 minutes for a tow.

 

[Snoots]

I put this in other cars because it happened in .....another car.

Driving home with a friend from NJ, I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. My buddy said, "You don't usually run a red light." Told him brakes are gone.

Drove from NJ to George Washington Bridge, stopped to pay toll, dropped my friend off in the Bronx, and drove home in Westchester County. I'd say about 20-25 miles. Both Interstate and local streets.

Stupid. Probably. But I made it home.

Oh, yes. It was a '63 Impala. Rear brake line wore out rubbing against rear axle housing.

Who else made it home anyway.

Dang! Glad you both made it safely.

 

[shiftpro]

Some years back my buddy made it home in his 1 ton square with a BBC and a broken crank shaft. It started missing but he nursed over a few mountain passes and then at home he still used the truck a few times to get groceries and such. He drove it for about a month until he pulled the engine apart to find the crank broke at the first main journal. It was cracked at an angle and was eating the main bearing and part of the cap. Said he could hear it knocking just before he took it down.

 

[RecklessWOT]

Oh man I have been driving ******* junk my whole life, I have nothing but these stories. A rare tale for me would be "wow and my reliable vehicle DIDN'T **** up that day we really needed it"...

 

[73c20jim]

Hold on. Home to AZ, or what are you doing in the Tri State Area?

Lived in NY at the time.

 

[Blue Ox]

Some years back my buddy made it home in his 1 ton square with a BBC and a broken crank shaft. It started missing but he nursed over a few mountain passes and then at home he still used the truck a few times to get groceries and such. He drove it for about a month until he pulled the engine apart to find the crank broke at the first main journal. It was cracked at an angle and was eating the main bearing and part of the cap. Said he could hear it knocking just before he took it down.

Knocking?

I broke the crank on my diesel and it raised holy hell. Definitely not "knocking", clattered like crazy doesn't begin to describe the noise.

And no, I didn't drive it home. Although I probably could have.

 

[78C10BigTen]

63 impala?! I want to see pics

 

[73c20jim]

63 impala?! I want to see pics

I wish I had some. Who took pictures back in the day? But I'll describe it and you can make a mental picture.

I got it new in 1963.

1963 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport convertible, Honduras Maroon, White rag top. black interior. AM radio with rear speaker. Padded dash, driver side door mounted mirror (not standard equipment, had to be ordered,)

Lap seat belts in front (seat belts not OEM standard equipment), four-way flasher (not OEM)

340 HP, 409 CID, four barrel carb replaced with 3 deuce setup. Tri-Y headers. OEM dash mounted 0-6000 RPM tachometer.

Stock T-10? 4 speed transmission with Hurst shifter.

4.11 posi rear.

Cragar brushed mags up front, steel wheels rear with Prowler Eliminator street slicks on rear.

Additional Stewart-Warner gauges, Pontiac vacuum gauge mounted on console.

No AC, no ps, no pb.

..........


Sorry for delay. Just dreaming about car and girlfriend.

 

[Doc_Ellis]

I’d had my beater Civic for like four years. In my ownership up to that point, I hadn’t been able to pull the rear drums due to the lip that the shoes had worn in, and no way to back them off that I could see.

So out of sight out of mind, and rear brake condition was unknown with over 260k on the clock.

I had a four day work thing out in Harrisburg, PA, all had gone well and I was heading home to NH. A bit east of town on some of those rolling hills out there I applied the brakes and felt a vibration in the pedal, then a big pulsation, then nasty metallic noises and the pedal right to the floor.

I knew right away what had happened, brake shoes had worn out and popped a wheel cylinder. I still had a little bit of brake right at the bottom of the travel and a full tank of gas. I didn’t even stop to check it out, why bother? Nothing I could do about it.

Pressed on, kept big following distances, engine braked as necessary. Hit Scranton right as rush hour was starting to get going but luckily missed the worst of it.

Finally stopped and gassed up in Carmel, NY, peeked underneath and saw the backing plate covered in brake fluid, as suspected.

Continued on and made it home no problem.

I cut the drum off the next day, called around for parts locally but rockauto was way cheaper. Put the order in with them but still needed the car to get around. C clamped the wheel cylinder together and bled it. Used the cut out center of the brake drum as a spacer so I could mount the wheel. Ran it like that for a week, few hundred miles or so, and did the brakes the following weekend.

Lots of limp home stories from over the years but that’s my most recent one (April 2018) and my long distance record.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[78C10BigTen]

I wish I had some. Who took pictures back in the day? But I'll describe it and you can make a mental picture.

I got it new in 1963.

1963 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport convertible, Honduras Maroon, White rag top. black interior. AM radio with rear speaker. Padded dash, driver side door mounted mirror (not standard equipment, had to be ordered,)

Lap seat belts in front (seat belts not OEM standard equipment), four-way flasher (not OEM)

340 HP, 409 CID, four barrel carb replaced with 3 deuce setup. Tri-Y headers. OEM dash mounted 0-6000 RPM tachometer.

Stock T-10? 4 speed transmission with Hurst shifter.

4.11 posi rear.

Cragar brushed mags up front, steel wheels rear with Prowler Eliminator street slicks on rear.

Additional Stewart-Warner gauges, Pontiac vacuum gauge mounted on console.

No AC, no ps, no pb.

..........


Sorry for delay. Just dreaming about car and girlfriend.

Mmmmmmmmmmm nice!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Had to drive an hour an ten minutes which included going up and over The Grapevine with a disintegrated center bearing. Could hear an odd noise under the truck but no vibrations. Pulled into the apartment parking lot, parked the truck, crawled under and saw the center bearing resting on the cross member. That's when I discovered that particular truck liked to eat center bearings every 6-8 months. Even a new driveshaft didn't correct that.

My story isn't as grand as what you guys have, but it was an eye-opener when I saw what had happened under there.

 

[Arkansas_V8]

I started out in an old CJ with no brakes. I used to drive it around using the e-brake. That was 20 years ago. Back when most this place was still woods.

 

[82sbshortbed]

Lost all forward gears in my 75 square when I was 16. Buddy walked to pay phone to call his dad to come get us. Still had rev so I backed up to him and said let's go I got rev. He jumped in and I drove us home in rev about 2 to 3 miles from the house. Stopped at 1 red light then it was a on to the house. We passed his brother on the way home and he was a cop at the time. He turned around and met us back at the house(they lived across the street)and said wtf are tall doing? Told him all I had was reverse. He shook his head and drove off. Lol