2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission RF/LR brake caliper dragging on an '02

[PVanderlugt]

Hello Guys,
Have a question... smelled a warm brake the other day, LR wheel and brake felt warmer then the RR brake... Thought it was a caliper hanging. Not the first time that happened, about a year ago replaced both rears due to cracked/leaking pistons.... have had no problems.... decided to check fronts as well... RF warmer then LF.... so can anyone tell me what the connection between those 2 is?

I know cars are cross plumbed for safety reasons, so does this point to a particular point in the brake system that I can start looking for issues? If it was just one of the calipers hanging/dragging I would be inspecting that caliper and hose for issues, but since it is 2 calipers on opposite sides, what could this be?

truck definitely feels like it is dragging a bit, not much, but noticeable, boost and temp in cruise just a tad higher, shifting a bit different.. wheel and disk temps are not horrible, but noticeable different from their respective partner..

Almost 200000 miles and running strong, not even rusted to bad here in NW Ohio, salt and brine capital of the midwest...

Thanks for the help....

Pete

 

[petersonj]

decided to check fronts as well... RF warmer then LF.... so can anyone tell me what the connection between those 2 is?

There is no connection between the right front and left rear brakes. One chamber in the brake master cylinder reservoir is for the front axle brakes and the other chamber is for the rear axle brakes. There is a pressure differential switch in the hydraulic system that that will warn the driver if there is a significant pressure difference between the front and rear axle hydraulic brake system.

There are other sources of heat to consider - on the front axle, wheel bearings could be generating the uneven heat and on the rear axle, wheel bearings or the park brake shoes/drums could be generating the heat.

I experienced the issue of hot rear rotors individually and on a very intermittent basis when I had 180,000 miles on the truck. To figure out the problem I periodically monitored the temperature of the outside edge of the rear rotors by hand after driving short distances (about 5 miles) and drove with very minimal use of the brakes. I purposely monitored the outside edge of the rotor because I didn't want the heat transfer from wheel bearings to interfere with my observations. I also verified that I had free play in each park brake cable - not just the cable that operates the equalizer.

In my case the problem was sticking calipers and they each failed at about 5,000 miles apart. I now have 267,000 miles on the truck I know I could have a caliper failure at any time.

Also, being that you are located in the "salt capital and brine capital of the Midwest", you could have some minor uneven heating just because of the adverse elements that your truck is driven in.

I recommend that you keep doing temperature checks by hand, but try to control the variables as best as you can, and I think the problem will show itself.

- John