Jeezuz, what the hell was that?

[Rifleman]

Well its MY turn to have some bad luck.
As we are going to Santa Pod at the end of may, i decided to take my caravan up to Blai Atholl over night to make sure everything was working etc, before the big day.
It wasn't the caravan I needed to worry about was it?
I left here to go and pick up the caravan and my brother, when all of a sudden there was a rattle from underneath the car.
The exhaust had snapped where the centre pipe and rear pipe join.
Pulled the rear part off and dumped it, continued on.
Journey up north went well, no problems.
However coming home was another matter. Not far from home, travelling on the motorway at 60mph and just about to go onto the Forth road bridge, when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and rumbling under the car. Something had flown out and hit the side of the caravan. We took it to be a stone, so carried on.
Then same again, and a larger object came out and bounced across the hard shoulder.
Too late, we were now on the bridge and unable to stop, but the car was running fine.
Once over the bridge, i pulled into Tesco fuel station at South Queensferry to check everything out.
WOW, did I get a shock or what?
The near side rear outer pad was missing from the caliper and half of it was jammed in between my alloy wheel and the bottom of the caliper. I had to jack it up and slacken the wheel off to dislodge the pad.
We only had a little bit to go so we tightened the wheel back up and crawled to my brother's house using the handbrake to slow and stop.
(I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE TO DO THIS AS IT IS DANGEROUS)
My brother took me to get new discs and pads, and i also bought new handbrake shoes as it was going to be stripped anyway.
Called the AA, and was transported home, where i had a nightmare of a job fixing it.
Wouldn't have been too bad but the handbrake shoes were a real pain as they were all rusted up etc.
The funny thing is, the off side pads are fine, and there is no sign of the near side caliper being seized. Hmmm
However its all fixed now and ready to go for an exhaust. I'm just over £100 down now, god knows what it will be after the exhaust repair.
Ive done a "How to do" on the brakes, i'll get it posted when i can.

[dave1966]

Keith,blimey you's were lucky,glad you are all ok bud.

[Drift]

Wow, glad it turned out okay Keith, where the discs worn or the pads? as the piston sometimes will not fully retract and cause them to wear, we fixed an issue similar this weekend on Andysd1's truck.

[Rifleman]

The piston went back ok Ste, a wee bit stiff at the last bit but nothing I would normally bother about mate.
The disc was knackered because of the caliper scraping on it when I tried to brake to slow down. And it was only the one side as the other side was fine wear wise. Crapped it though, I dont mind admitting it.

[Drift]

I can imagine
Where the carrier bolts tight and the pads clips in place?
Im just trying to suss what could have caused the pads to break free, unless for some reason the pad broke up, not unheard off.

[bigdazz]

bloody hell buddy sorry to hear that mate andrew my mate a welder if u need anything welded is the caravan ok ?

if u need any help ill fly threw and give u a hand buddy

[drinksoptional]

Glad you ok. The rear pads on the passenger rear on mine broke up bits of it jammed in the caliper on the sport think it was mintex pads cant mind was bought last year less than 500 miles on them

[Rifleman]

Heres what it did to the inside of my alloy.

[bigdazz]

bloody hell think any other car jeep would not have taken that beating mate brave hearts a fighter

[Drift]

Yup, looks like the same as Drinks had, the pad must have broke up, no other way it could have worked loose, only if both disc and pads where really worn.

[Rifleman]

Well thats what surprised me mate, because I knew they were not worn after checking them about a month ago.

[Drift]

Yup, it, for some reason broke away from the metal they should be bonded to.

[Rifleman]

Yeah, i dont want that experience again.

[drinksoptional]

Ooft bit of a mess. What make of pads were they

[Rifleman]

Cant remember.

[homer67uk]

Glad to hear you got back safely, Keith. There's nothing worse than your pride and joy throwing a tantrum Joking aside, for anything to go wrong on a vehicle at any speed is frightning enough but that's multiplied when on the motorway and your very first thought is, as your heading suggests, then followed by get home quick and by the shortest route possible mode. But on this occasion you were very lucky and it didn't escalate any further or get out of hand.