Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) 1999 Front Brake Frustration

[jrhodes]

Hope somebody out there has an answer. The front rotors on this truck keep warping. I've replaced the front rotors and pads three times, on the third time I replaced rotors with cross drilled ones for better cooling to avoid warping. I've put about 12,000 miles on the third set and now the warping is back and the steering wheel shakes back and forth when the bakes are applied. I know from years of reading posts on this web site that Dodge trucks of my year have problems with the brakes. My question is, can the new and improved front brakes of the 2003 and newer models be installed on my year truck or do I need to keep relacing rotors and pads twice a year?? I'm at a loss. Is there any aftermarket companies that sell replacement front brake systems for these trucks to get away from this problem?? Any advice will be appreciated... .

 

[mike r]

Man, I curious to see what replies you get here because mine is just as bad as yours is. I found a severe duty raybestos shoe that is ceramic and isn't supposed to heat like the metallic stockers. I don't really want to take these things apart again because they're a pain. :{

 

[Joe Mc]

jr - I had a situation in the past (not my truck) that due to an old brake hose the caliper would not release pressure. What happened was inside the hose cracked and developed a flap of rubber that acted like a check valve - would let the fluid go into the piston but not releive when you relaesed the brakes. I bought my truck w/75k and "just because" I replaced both front and rear brake hoses. Be sure if you decide to buy new hoses you specify if you have 4 wheel anti-lock or just rear wheel. The left side hose is different for either application. It was difficult to locate a non-4 wheel anit-lock left side hose in my neck of the woods. Not sure if this is your problem or not - just sharing what happened to me. Good luck.

 

[mdilling]

How many miles on the rear brakes. Something to ck is rear brake adjusment and cond of the shoes. In the last 5 years i haven't found a single unit that i have put pads on that didn't need the rear brakes adjusted. After 100,000 miles if the shoes aren't showing any wear they are glazed of too hard to do you any good so i would junk them and get new ones. Just a thought.

 

[WestTN]

Over the years and on several different makes of vehicles I have found that fiber caliper pistons are frequently responsible for this problem. The first time that I am aware of this occuring was on early '70's Winnebago motorhomes based on Dodge chassis. I don't know if your truck has them, but if it does check with the parts store for steel replacements.

 

[continentaldrifter]

Hey JR,without pissin you off,maybe its your driving habits. I keep readin about "MY BRAKES SUCK"..... something aint right here. It seems that all these hopped up diesels have a hard time pullin their foot out of it. Now im just sayin',the next time your coming up on a stop sign,without changing anything out of the norm,acknowledge the distance your leaving yourself between when you first see the light turn red and when you apply pressure. my girlfriend goes through 1 set of rotors a year,and shes got a mitsubishi roller skate,thing cant weigh no more than 2600lbs. How the hell do you go through brakes so fast. Now i've got 112,000 on my 1999 and still wearing the original rotors. I also pull 80,000lbs on 18 wheels during the day so i am more apt to slowing down a little early,due to habit. Try it and ill put money on it that driving/braking habit in routine travel is 80% of your problem. Try thinking of those 4 tiny(in comparison) little pieces of metal trying to slow that big *** 7k+ lb plus truck from 45 mph to a dead stop and leaving yourself 50 feet or so to do it in. Multiply that times ,uhh lets say,50 stops a day,times 30 days a month... ... get the pic. they have no choice to warp. That really sucks that you spent good money,im sure,on crossed drilled only to have them warp. Dont get bent,just try it... good luck

 

[Rattler]

Not to throw stones, but i agree with burnt toast. I have 126,000 on my truck and except for changing pads at 75,000 (half worn) i have had no problems. I also inspect brakes every time i rotate tires. But don't think i baby my truck because i love putting my foot in it and tow alot. Sorry for the rant.

 

[tabell]

I did't have a problem with warped rotors, But I went through front pads every six months. My solution was I put new EBC Sloted and dimpled rotors on(was worried crossed drilled wouldn't be strong enough), and installed hawk pads. Now after a year the front pads look almost new. Also you must adjust your rear drum brakes every 3-4 Months. Also I don't know what size tires you have, but I now have 315's and I've noticed every time I increase tire size my breaking gets worst. The fix I found was to adjust the propotioning valve.

The way I did this was, on the rear left under the rear shock is the mounting bracket for the porpotioning valve bar that senses the amount of load in your bed. I removed it and stuck 2 washers per bolt between the bracket and the mounting plate, therefor raising the plate up a couple of mm. This really seamed to help. I haven't notice any side effects even on ice. Since I now have 315's over the 285's I plan to add a third washer.

 

[Huff N Puff]

You probably have calipers that are draging the brake pads causing the rotors to overheat. I have 45000 miles on my truck I often come to pretty fast stops over 100mph with the original rotors and never have warped them,second set of pads though. Merv

 

[jrhodes]

I appreciate all the advice. Burnt Toast, I understand where your going with the hard stops and thats not the case. There will be an accasional hard stop at a yellow light but that is only traveling at 45 to 50 MPH. I'm not racing around at 90 to 100 and expecting to stop on a dime and have perfectly good trouble free brakes. Yes I have done some performance upgrades to the truck but that does not mean I challenge rice rockets from stoplight to stoplight. I baby this truck to no end, the oil get changed every 2K miles, the fuel filter every 5K. The engine compartment is so clean you could eat your dinner off the valve cover. Its gets washed every saturday, rain or shine literally. On a different note with the front brakes, I just got back from Mammoth Lakes this week from an annual ski trip. On Tuesday after the truck had been sitting by the main lodge all day with a high temp of 16 degrees, I started the truck and let it idle at around 1200 RPM for about 10 to 15 minutes with some towels covering the front grill. As I proceeded down the mountain back to the condo I caught up to A Toyota truck. It was snowing an I was traveling around 15MPH. The toyota truck slowed down to make a right turn and I applied a little pressure to the brakes and the front brakes locked up. I let off the pedal and applied less pressure the second time and the same thing happened, the front brakes just locked up. I ended up hitting the truck in front of me as a result of the brakes locking up. Is there some kind of problem with cold weather and brakes on this year truck From that point on for the rest of the trip, whenever I started out from anywhere in the cold weather I rode the brakes for about 1/4 mile to heat up the rotors and pads a little. That seem to solve the problem of locking up the brakes. I'm just confused on why would the brakes just lock up with no hesitation just because they were cold. Any ideas on that matter would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post

 

[continentaldrifter]

maybe some precipitation on rotors caused them to slightly surface rust,then when you proceded down the road and applied pressure ,the tiny bit of rust caused twice the amount of friction as if you applied brake pressureon a warm dry sunny day. I hope i explained this the right way. Sorry about you accident.