Two weeks ago, I had to replace three of the lugs on the Jeep’s left rear wheel so had the wheel somewhat disassembled. On Tuesday of this week, I took the Jeep to Rockton, IL for a soccer game and back (50 minutes each way) testing Jeep at highway speeds of 70 mph. It did real well. Last night, I opened the garage door to put the Jeep away and there lay the left rear wheel’s brake drum tucked up under some stuff on the garage floor. I’d forgotten to put the drum back on.
i forgot to take my pen to school once.
Have you told anybody yet?
Everyone! I guess you can just call me a lug nut.
No, but I guess there are some who will.
ooooh, what happened??!!?
I think I spotted a minor typo in your post:
“I’d forgotten to put the drum back on” should read “I intentionally didn’t put the drum back on to perform an interesting and valuable experiment as to the negligible effect of rear brakes when driving under normal conditions”.
An easy mistake to make, I know; those keys are right next to each other on the keyboard…
Phil
Nothing at all. I didn’t feel anything different or wrong with the braking during my trip. Most of the braking is done in the front end anyway. Only thing it did was put more wear on the right brake shoes since they were being properly social with a brake drum at the time. I’ll get the left drum reinstalled this weekend somewhere inbetween the six soccer games and our high school’s homecoming activities.
Bruce
Edit: Oops, I stepped out of line with my response. The question was directed at Mr. Fly. My apologies. That’s two oopes in one week. How much worse can a week become?
By the way, is it possible to drive a Jeep in normal conditions? Isn’t every trip in a Wrangler an adventure in excitement?
I just assumed your trip to Rockton involved snow-bound mountain passes, river crossings, rock chasms and desert plains. That’s normal, isn’t it?
Phil
That is quite normal for a Jeep. Unfortunally, my trek consisted the grandeur and majesty of harvested corn and soybean fields as I drove I-39 to Bypass 20 to I-90 to the Rockton Rd. exit.
I did see a red-tailed hawk, though. That was exciting!
I love my Jeep.
It’s my third. I never got over the loss of the first two, so I am on my third. I have 33 BF Goodrich TA/KO’s on it now, and I even like driving it on the road. I sometimes drive over curbs leaving parking lots, because I can.
Got pictures?
The last two pictures here.
http://www.atlantaunicycleclub.com/album/20050704/
Very nice Rubicon. You’ve got to get some half doors though for those parade times as shown in the picture. Would look so much better.
The one thing I would like to see on ours is the family-style roll bar. We are braced diagonally in the rear, the typical YJ style. But time and money of course are the key ingredients to successful upgrades.
Thanks for the pictures.
Bruce
Half Doors? I’ll just remove those bad boys. I have a hard top and a soft top, so I got the full doors. If the half doors were cheaper, I’d already have them. I just have a tuff time spending almost a grand for them. I may try to find some used or off a wreck now that it’s paid off.
You may want to get a full cage that goes through the floor and bolts to the frame. Heck you have a welder now, build one. Pipe bender and some paint and your good to go!
Anyone ever tell you what JEEP stands for? Just Empty Every Pocket.
Hay , I need brakes… since your already have dirt under your nails … 
… on second thought … I’ll do it myself … ba hahahha 
P.S… you lucky you didn’t rupture the brake cylinders …
A few years ago I taught my son how to service brakes. We had everything back together and I told him we would put the lug nuts on finger tight with the truck on jackstands and then tighten them when we let the tires down onto the ground. It’s easier that way.
My wife and I took the dogs for a walk. On the way back I had this clear image in my mind of NOT tightening the lug nuts when we took the truck off the jackstands. We were a couple of miles from home. I’ve met many of the people on the dogwalk route. Fortunately one of these couples let me use their phone to call Zach and remind him to tighten the nuts before he left with the truck.
Your master cylinder is probably split into front and back systems. As you say, all the braking power is in the front. The rear wheel cylinder probably stopped expanding whenever the front pads or shoes made contact.
Plus the proportioning valve should have limited the rears some as well. Everything seems to be fine. I’ll know more though when I retire because that’s the next time it seems I’ll have some free time.
Proper rollcages are formed from cold drawn seamless steel tubing, which is almost impossible to bend in anything short of a full scale hydraulic bender. Just knocking one up out of any old steel tube you find is not going to give you much protection in a crash, certainly not enough to rely on wholey. I know the suggestion was only half serious, but seriously now, don’t go there, save you pennies and get a pro cage made up if you’re going down that route.