Brake frustration rotors hot

[MAshley]

Ok...... I wanted to follow up.

So I torn down my calipers and rebuilt them using Sil-Glyde and some pointers from a friend who used to do this for a living, I decided to install new rotors, pads, hoses and verified the preload on the Free spin hubs as well. Once it was all together and bleed pistons set to the pads ETC ready to go down the road... In my opinion I had a considerable about of drag and driving with no brake usage heated up the rotors.

So at this point I was pretty annoyed but figured I might as well bed in the pads and drive it, My logic was "It would work or it would burn the truck down" SO... I did about 5 60 MPH to 5 MPH stops fairly aggressively not to the point of lockup but just shy, I took a look and they were plenty hot but the pads had removed the "coating" that BOSCH has on the rotors, then I parked it overnight.

Next morning ... WOW what a difference, I haven't jacked it up yet to give a spin test but after my 3 mile trek to the bus stop the rotors have no heat in them, and it drives like it should.

So in closing I have really no idea why... I can speculate that the calipers just needed to be used a few times to allow the square cut seal to grab the piston and return it when you let off, I can speculate the coating was sort of sticky and thus grabbed the pads... but it did this with old caliper and pads... or maybe it jsut needed a good spanking not really sure.

I took it to my local shop yesterday and they took a look and said everything looked great, had no concerns, they also said they have seen the issues I saw a few times before with the bigger trucks. So at this point I think I have my solution ... I just need to drive it and enjoy it.

I want to THANK EVERYONE who has commented, posted ideas, or even just read my misery, it has helped for sure, I hope I can return the favor some time in the future.

-David

 

[petersonj]

David, I am glad that everything is working normal again. Thank you for posting the results in great detail - it really helps us to help others.


- John

 

[WalterJ]

Yes, thanks Dave. So so sorry you (and we) have to suffer thru these 'little' mechanical issues, but with sites like TDR, we can share in many others' lifetime of experiences. Now watch out for all those crazies on the road!

 

[MarkEkberg]

I experienced the same thing when my FWB cooked. Loss of brakes, trailered home.

All my brake problems went away when all parts were replaced including caliper, bracket, pads, axle shaft, rotor, bearing.

 

[xcc_rider]

A quick question, did you use the bolts supplied with the Napa reman calipers when you installed them?
Reason I asked is explained below but if you didn't use the supplied bolts the caliper/pads could be tweaked and cause the drag you encountered.

I replaced a sticking right front caliper with a reman Napa one and had a bad pull to the left afterwards. Did the pad break in, bled the system ALOT, pulled, checked, double checked, swapped rotors/pads from left to right, replaced hoses etc and it still pulled to the left. I drove around 400 miles of in town driving and the pull was still there. The right front caliper was also rattling (no not the pads) when I drove over rough areas so I figured I had a bad caliper or adapter mount. I pulled the wheels and found the new caliper would "wiggle" where the stock caliper didn't.

I was about to return the caliper when I had an idjit moment and remembered I re-used the factory bolts and decided to compare them with the supplied bolts. (The supplied bolting looked cheap)

I found the supplied bolts were 2 thousands wider on the shank than the factory bolts. Not enough difference in my mind to make any difference but I decided to install the supplied bolts anyways just to see.
Well, the rattle is gone, pull was greatly reduced and after a couple hundred miles the pull is gone.

Only thing I can figure is when I applied the brakes that small amount of play in the caliper bolts it would allow the caliper to shift out of square with the rotor and the pads weren't riding flush with the rotor. Since the pads weren't flush they weren't giving the same friction as the left side and it pulled to the left.

Far fetched it is but I have no other explanation of what happened.