Driveline "bind", or drag?

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George R

Mopar Nutcase
Joined
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For some reason, I can barely roll the car forward or back by hand all of a sudden. It was fine until yesterday when I drove it out of the garage and turned it around in the street. Thats when I noticed the problem when I pushed the clutch in and the car stopped rolling by itself.
If I drive the car, it feels like the brakes are dragging, and the car will roll to a stop. I verified the brakes aren't the problem, and I suspect it's a transmission problem. The car has an 833 4-speed trans. With the engine off and trans in neutral I can barely roll the car forward or back by myself on level ground, and I used to be able to do this easily in my garage.

Any idea where to look, or how I can check the trans for problems without pulling it out of the car? I know there's a trans oil leak thats pretty bad, but I only drove this car maybe 3 miles since I got it running about a month ago, and never even got on it. I basically just idled it around the block shifting it at maybe 1500RPM to see how it drove. I hope I didn't wipe out the transmission by driving it low on oil. It's not empty, but it's pretty low as it's dripping out of the reverse lever seal.
ANY help or recommendations on how to diagnose it are greatly appreciated.

Car is a 69 Dart with 440 and 4-speed with 8-3/4 rear.

George
 
Drop the drive shaft and try again.

That will narrow the problem down to before or after transmission and isolate the rear from the transmission.

If it still drags then you have brake issues or rear end issues.

If no drag then you have transmission issues.

Good luck.


Mop
 
I pulled the driveshaft out, and it spins freely in the trans. The diffy seems to be the problem, but the problem went away once I loostened the lug nuts. It seems the brake drum is hitting the outer edge of the brake shoes once the wheel is tightened down. I'm using stamped steel wheels 15X8 with tapered seat lugs and Moser axles. I suppose I could grind the edge of the shoes off, but I never heard of this happening before.
Anyone else run into this before??

Thanks,
George
 
has to be the wrong shoes for the backing plate/ drum combo...

what are you running for axles and brakes??
 
Hi Joe.
It has Moser BBP axles with 10X2.5" brakes. The shoes measure 2.5" wide.
It's almost as it the wheel has put a "crown" on the drum after the lugs were tightened for some reason.
I'm using wheel vintiques Mopar repro steel wheels.
I ground a chamfer onto the edge of the shoes and it seems OK now, but I'm afraid to really crank down on the lug nuts. They're tight, but I usually run them a bit tighter.
I guess it'll be OK, but I just never heard of such a thing happening. It was fine with the Weld Prostars that were on it before, and I tightebed the hell out of those lug nuts.
Thanks for the help.

George
 
Sounds like possibly Moser got the axle offset off a little. Not likely but possible.


Chuck
 
Sounds like possibly Moser got the axle offset off a little. Not likely but possible.


Chuck
Chuck,
It's looking like the outside diameter of the axle flange is too small, and the seat ring on the backside of the wheel is a bigger diameter than the axle flange. If you overtighten the lugs, it wants to "curl" the brake drum over the axle flange. If I had a set of Mopar axles I'd swap them out, but it isn't in my budget right now.
Wierd situations for sure.

George
 
Well at least you know what the problem is now.....you may need to shim out or something to compensate.....or try another pair of brake shoes.

Glad you have it narrowed down.

Mop
 
Keep looking at the shoes. too wide, etc, wrong backing. Is the center hole, that centers the drum the correct size?
 
Hi Joe.
It has Moser BBP axles with 10X2.5" brakes. The shoes measure 2.5" wide.
It's almost as it the wheel has put a "crown" on the drum after the lugs were tightened for some reason.
I'm using wheel vintiques Mopar repro steel wheels.
I ground a chamfer onto the edge of the shoes and it seems OK now, but I'm afraid to really crank down on the lug nuts. They're tight, but I usually run them a bit tighter.
I guess it'll be OK, but I just never heard of such a thing happening. It was fine with the Weld Prostars that were on it before, and I tightebed the hell out of those lug nuts.
Thanks for the help.

George


George, do you torq your lugs?
 
I do on aluminum wheels, but not on steel wheels. I usually just tighten them down good.

George
 
could you take a die grinder and open the hole for the axle don't sound like it would take much I have dun this with no problems .....Artie
 
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