Folks, I'm not a car guy but am looking for some ideas of how bad things could be.

The wife just called me and told me that she has probably killed the truck (99 Dodge Ram 1500, 130K miles) it seems she took it around the back of the property and then got it stuck in the mud. She put the parking brake on and went to call for help. She was reminded by a friend to put it in four wheel drive. So she went back to the truck, put it in four wheel drive and then barreled it 100 yards out of the mud through several bushes (i.e., she cut a brand new path through the underbrush) with the parking brake still engaged. She is now claiming that the truck really isn't drivable as the rear end is fishtailing (supposedly it was out of four wheel drive at this time.)

I have not yet gotten home to find out exactly what has occurred but am checking here to see what if anything could have happened. I have heard of people driving for short times with the parking brake on with little to no damage but the sound of "back end fishtailing" doesn't sound good to me.

All of the brake systems were actually just worked on so the brakes should have been in "new" condition.

So any ideas of how bad this might be?

 

when you get home check to see if the brake is released. it may just have locked up the rear passenger tire. basically she just did a burn out through the mud without letting go of the brake.

at most the damage she should have done was to the brake itself. possibly the differential or the axle. i'm really not seeing a whole lot of possibility of damage to the differential unless it was a posi, or a limited slip. if it was an open differential it should be ok. to check it (get some silicone seal first) and open the diferential cover up and see if there are metal pieces that fall out with the gear oil. if nothing then it should be ok.

some more info on what model of truck would be helpful too.

 

Maybe the fishtailing is because she had mud in the tires and when she hit the pavement it caused loss of traction.

I don't mean to sound condescending but it could really be this simple, especially since she isn't familiar enough with off-roading to know to use 4wd. I'm not knocking her, my girl wouldn't know any better either.

 

I'm with these guys it has to be REALLY simple. The wost thing that could happen is she wore the brake shoes down and got the drums smokin hot. Unless something else was broke/bent in the process (like an axle shaft which is highly unlikely since they're 1.3" diameter) I'd say its simple. I could actually be alot of muf stuck in the tires, I know it sounds stupid but some sticky goopy mud can stick to tires, especially if they're on-road tires. This can cause the rear to fishtail a bit until the muds gone.

I'm sure she didn't kill it, they're unstopable When you get home just take a look and if you see anything you don't think is right snap some pics and post them up, glad to help!

 

THIS my friend, is a girl who was TOTALLY enjoying herself !!

 

lol, i think its time to get a new g/f