1 wheel locks up when stopping?

Hello honkies, got another question for yall, The car is a 51 chevy business coupe. Sometimes when I hit the brakes the right rear wheel will lock up even with very light pedal pressure, I dont know why, any ideas?

 

brake fluid leak i bet, even a small amount of brake fluid on the brake shoes will cause it to lock up.

 

Leaking rear axle seal will do it also.

 

So will poorly adjusted brakes. But contamination is usually it if it happened out of the blue.

 

x2 on the contaminated shoes. Had a car come in with a similar issue. Found that it had been leaking just a little for a long time and had de-bonded the linings. Lucky it came on a truck! fresh cylinders and linings and good as new. could be a crushed pipe on the other side also, but probably wet lining

 

X2 Contaminated linings.

 

Had a similar problem with my 59, right rear would lock up even going 10 miles an hour. Found out I had a leaky (blown out) axle seal, and my brake shoes were out of adjustment by quite a bit. Changed the rear seal, adjusted the brakes, haven't had a problem with it locking up since. Good luck man.

 

Your shoes might be reversed on one side. Check it out. Small in front and big in back

 

That is a possibility. Also look to see if the hardware is on right and look at the backing plate to see if its badly grooved. A shoe can hang up in the groove and take a while to retract.

Most likely, brake fluid or an axle seal will do it 90% of the time.

Bob