[Marshall V. Daut]

This happened to me on a cross country trip in 1973 or 1974. I had disassembled the '28 roadster's rear end in anticipation of a set of 3.54 gears arriving before I left on my trip. The day before I was to leave, the gears still had not arrived, so I put the standard gear set back in and left the next morning. 1400 miles later the rear end locked up on I-80 and did the same skidding routine that you experienced. After towing the car the rest of the way to my destination (only 40 miles!), I removed the rear end and disassembled it. Yup! Dry as a bone! In my hurry to get the car ready for the cross country drive and re-assembling the rear end, I had forgotten to put in new lube! Only what remaining lube that was coating the gears and bearings from the disassembly was lubing the rear end for 1400 miles before that was used up. Duh on me!!! An expensive lesson that could have ended tragically if a semi-truck had been in the lane next to me on the interstate because the car swerved into that lane in a heartbeat when the rear end locked up.
Are you sure YOU have lube in the rear end?
Marshall