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MG MGA - Brake problem?

I'll try to describe this as brief as I can. We were on our way home from a car show in a metro area this afternoon when we had to stop quickly for a red light. I had to hit the brakes pretty hard. I'm driving a '59 MGA 1500 with drum brakes. A few miles down the road we were smelling something hot. It didn't go away so I pulled over to check our car. There was smoke coming out from under the hood and out of the right wheel well. I touched the wheel hub behind the wire wheels and it was VERY hot. This is what was smoking. I jacked up the car and could spin the wheel ok. I let the wheel cool down and decided to try for home. (about 60 miles). I drove app. 15 miles, smelled nothing, but pulled over to check the wheel. It was hot, but nothing like it was before. I drove on home trying to avoid braking at all if possible. Made it home ok and the wheel was pretty warm but not nearly as hot as before. I jacked up the car and can spin both front wheels easily with no noticable noise. I had suspected a wheel bearing or brake problem and think now that it must be the brakes. Any advice on how to proceed. I could take it to the shop but would like to attempt this myself first.
Jerry
Jerry Murphy

Hi Jerry. From the sounds of it, when you hit the brakes really hard, the brake shoes hit the drum, but then did not retract properly. So the friction caused heat, which caused the burning smell. You might want to remove the drum in question, and have an assistant gently touch the brake pedal. The Brake shoes should move outward, and then retract when the brake pedal pressure is released. If the shoes do not retract, the causes could be weak brake springs, partially seized wheel cylinders, or debris in the wheel cylinders which sometimes causes the wheel cylinder to stick in the engaged position. Since your brakes overheated, you should check the drums for out of round. I think it is unlikely that a wheel bearing is causing the problems. Hope this helps. Glenn
Glenn

Jerry,
I agree with Glenn that it sounds like brakes. He mentioned most of the things you need to check, but one other thing would be the condition of the rubber hoses. The inside portion can partially collapse so that it holds pressure on the wheel cylinder. It can be hard to judge the condition, so if they are fairly old, it might be good to replace them. You could jack up that wheel, and apply the brakes hard to see if you can get it to drag again. If you can get it stuck, then opening the bleed screw should release it if it is a problem with the hose.

Jeff
Jeff Schultz

Jeff is most likely correct in his diagnosis. I've seen it MANY times. As for applying the brake pedal with the drum removed, be VERY careful that your assistant doesn't hit the pedal had enough to push the pistons right out of the wheel cylinder. It's very easy to do with no drum to hold the shoes IN.
Chuck Asbury

This thread was discussed between 14/08/2005 and 22/08/2005

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