Hey folks,
Mine's an '83 Trans Am 305. My driver's side rear wheel started smoking after I drove it about 5 miles. The video is attached. It looks like it was coming from behind the wheel. any ideas on what to check and replace?
Thanks in advance!

 

Brake is dragging.

 

Yup.

Probably the rubber line from the body to the pumpkin, that feeds both rear brakes, is plugged up with rust, which is how those pretty much always fail these days; and only the one side's brake is working at all.

 

Thanks! can anyone recommend which parts I need to get for this? I'd like to purchase in advance.

 

Rubber line, both wheel cylinders, both hardware kits (self-adjuster and general hardware) for both sides, drums, shoes, quart of fluid, maybe replacement steel lines (you'll see what I mean when you get into it), maybe a WC rebuild kit that has the new WC clips in it

Be ready for a real joy getting the steel lines out of the wheel cylinders, and getting the WCs out of the backing plates. Neither is particularly "hard", in and of itself; butt 5 million miles and 40-odd years of rust and funk can sometimes make it ... interesting. Sometimes it's actually easier to pull the axles and remove the backing plates to get the WCs off. There's a clip that holds them on, that often inspires first-timers to invent a whole new vocabulary that never existed before. If you have to pull the axles, and there's ANY TRACE of rear end grease leeeeeeeekage, wouldn't hurt to replace the axle bearings & seals while you're there; and maybe the axles themselves as well, if the place the bearings ride on them is anything less than ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.

Be absolutely certain NOT to let the master cylinder run dry during the process!!!! Which means, disconnect the rubber line at the chassis end FIRST before touching any of the other hydraulics, and plug the steel line on the chassis with something (golf tee works good) to keep it from leeeeking. If the MC runs dry you'll have to take it off and "bench bleed" it, which just adds more time and monkey-motion and rusted hardware you'll have to deal with.