Front brake issues

[silvrmax04]

So here is the story. I am sure someone has had this issue before. On the way home about 15 miles to go. Start to smell that brake smell. You know pads burning or fluid burning. Hoping it wasn’t me but of course it was. Didn’t seem to pull to either side while driving or hard braking. Pulled into driveway. Smoke coming from drivers side. Center cap missing. Must have gotten so hot on plastic it expanded and popped off. Rom was so hot the stick on weights on inside were melting off. Next day pulled wheel off. No signs of pads sticking or abnormal wear on rotor. Hub was a little harder to turn than passengers side. Tried to crack caliper but too rusted. Figured I had a bad caliper and got stuck closed. Got two new ones and new rubber lines. Painted them all up. Sanded frame. Control arms and painted it al up real nice. Started to put new parts on and noticed 5hat drivers side is a little harder to spin than passengers. Rotors and pads look very new and thick. Hubs were changed in 2017, 15k ago. Bled calipers. Grease slides. All went easy. Now same drivers caliper is sticking closed. Won’t open back up. Pulled it off. Open bleeder. Compress pistons. All easy. Bleed again. Same thing. Any ideas? Feel like I been wasting 2 days of my time.

 

[mopar3]

Did you replace the flex hose?? They can collapse and hold pressure in the caliper.

 

[silvrmax04]

Yes. New front flex hose. Also I have new SS lines installed a few years back. Getting good fluid out of calipers too. Only driver side doing it. I would say bad caliper but it would be odd that first one did this now a new one doing the same?
I would think that if it was booster or master related it be the same on both fronts.

 

[Chevy1925]

sounds like an ABS issue. the module may be restricting flow for some reason on that side when driving but not when it its stopped and you are bleeding it. might have an air pocket or trash in there.

when you bleed it, are you using the abs bleed procedure or just bleeding via pumping brakes or vac bleeding? may need to cycle the pump and bleed it that way.

 

[ShopSpecialties]

I had an issue very similar to this last Fall and changed all the wrong parts first. I had a pad sticking to the rotor that held on just enough to not allow the caliper to totally release. I changed caliper, hose, master, ABS and none of that fixed it. My top caliper bolt boot had a tear in it and I think grease dripped onto the on-board pad and it soaked it up. It acted like old drum brakes that had gear lube soaked pads that would stick.

 

[dmaxfireman]

If you remove the caliper do the pads slide easily on the slides? The brackets will rust enough to "swell" and make the slides ride closer together in turn making the pads too tight and/or stick. When ever I am doing brakes I pull the bracket and have to scrape the rust scale down under the pad slide clips, then hit with a wire wheel and put a thin layer of grease on those surfaces before new slide clips go on.

 

[PureHybrid]

If it got the wheel hot enough to melt a weight I'd be looking at the hub. If a pad made it build that much heat it'd be on fire, considering you said the rotor looked fine.

 

[dmaxfireman]

If it got the wheel hot enough to melt a weight I'd be looking at the hub. If a pad made it build that much heat it'd be on fire, considering you said the rotor looked fine.

I have seen lots of toasted bearings and if a hub assembly got that bad I think it would have been obvious to the OP tearing into it that the hub was toast. I have never personally seen a dmax hub so bad that it was smoking from driving, come to think of it only seen trailer bearings get that bad. The rust on the caliper bracket on the other hand, I see pretty regularly on any vehicle that has spent more than 5-10 years in the rust belt.

 

[silvrmax04]

Calipers, brackets and slides are all new. Hub spins fine without the caliper compressed. I guess I will look into the abs bleeding and try to cycle more fluid thru it in case air is trapped. Don’t know where to go from here except to take it to a shop. I am usually pretty good with brakes.

 

[ShopSpecialties]

Calipers, brackets and slides are all new. Hub spins fine without the caliper compressed. I guess I will look into the abs bleeding and try to cycle more fluid thru it in case air is trapped. Don’t know where to go from here except to take it to a shop. I am usually pretty good with brakes.

Check out the pads close and maybe even swap the fronts to see if the problem goes to the other side.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

 

[silvrmax04]

Pads too thick? Same pads I had on there before this happened. Worth a shot will try tomorrow. Have to agree with Purehybrid that pads dragging that it would not have gotten that hot. Wheel would not spin to get that much resistance.

 

[ShopSpecialties]

It is rare but I have seen pads that look good but they get sticky to the rotor. I could push the caliper in with one finger and there was no built up pressure in the caliper. The one pad was almost like magnetic to the rotor lightly but it was just enough to keep the caliper from returning. I wasted a lot of time/money replacing all the other parts when it was just stupid pads.

 

[Tothemax]

i would put the front end in the air. pump the brakes a couple times verify the brake is sticking. if so crack the line at the master cylinder for the front brakes ( if i remember correctly the line closest to fire wall. crack the line loose and then re tighten. try to spin the front tires again. if they spin free you need a master cylinder.

 

[silvrmax04]

Well, I jacked up front, swapped front pads. Same issue. Drivers side locking up. Opened line to fronts and still did not release. Went for 10 mile drive and no pulling while driving or braking but driver side is 40* hotter than pass. mostly at rotor. Not sure I want to chance a long drive. Made appointment to drop off at a local mech who has been trustworthy in the past. He is leaning toward the ABS. I hate taking it to someone but tired of throwing parts at it. The only parts in the braking not newish is the master and hydro. No visual leaking.

 

[ShopSpecialties]

When you open the bleeder does fluid shoot out ?

 

[silvrmax04]

When you open the bleeder does fluid shoot out ?

No.

 

[ShopSpecialties]

No.

Ok so the fluid must be returning to the Master otherwise it would be under pressure and shoot out. I am going to go back to pads and say they are not sliding freely or sticking to the rotor. New set of pads is cheaper than a visit to the repair shop.

 

[silvrmax04]

I swapped pads from other side. Same result. I can also touch the pads and feel that the caliper is closed. Not tight but enough that the pads touch.

 

[KyleC4]

It’s not an issue with your hydro or master. So with front wheels off ground and calipers retracted, if you press on the brake pedal once and go check the wheels the driver side will not spin as freely as passenger side? Really odd that vehicle does not pull to driver side if brakes are dragging. Is this road test done on level ground or one with road crown? Seems like it would be an abs assembly problem cause it’s only unit that controls fluid to each wheel individually. Unless you have a wheel bearing going out and that’s what’s adding heat to rotor. But if driver wheel spins like pass. side wheel after you open bleeder screw and retract caliper it would have to be in the braking system.

 

[ShopSpecialties]

Did you get it figured out ?