Brakes still overheating!!

[americana]

what the heck!!

new rotors, pads, hydroboost, rubber lines and a proportioning valve sourced from some place. This was done by a shop with a good reputation. The hydro boost was replaced by the dealer. Rotors have cracked and been replaced, pads replaced etc.

I'm not towing. I go down a not very steep hill and I smell brakes/fluid and the surface of the rotors are at 300*F.

Does anyone have any ideas or brake specialists in the SF Bay Area? If I can't get this issue figured out I'm gonna have to sell Olga BEFORE I have the transmission rebuilt (which is awesome as I've only ever towed two light loads in 111kmi) after having recently invested over $10k which had the side benefit of really ******* my wife off.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Chief USA]

Calipers pistons sound like they are hanging or seizing up. I just went through this on both of our trucks last Winter. I went with the Centric calipers loaded with posi-quiet pads. Work great.

 

[AH64ID]

Drive for 20 miles on the highway/Interstate without touching the brakes, and then measure the temp.

That or the hill is steeper/longer than you think.

 

[NIsaacs]

Anytime you change the hydro boost or master cylinder you need to check the pushrod adjustment. If it is too long you will get brake drag. Here is the procedure.

 

[KATOOM]

Likely the rear brakes are hardly doing anything. The star adjusters seize up from corrosion and then the drum shoes loose their ability to push out against the drum.
Do what AH64ID suggested and with the brakes cool, drive around for a bit and then take a temp reading of the front rotors and also the rear drums. If the rotors are screaming hot but the drums are cool then there's your problem.

 

[JR]

Likely the rear brakes are hardly doing anything. The star adjusters seize up from corrosion and then the drum shoes loose their ability to push out against the drum.
Do what AH64ID suggested and with the brakes cool, drive around for a bit and then take a temp reading of the front rotors and also the rear drums. If the rotors are screaming hot but the drums are cool then there's your problem.

Im pretty certain he's gone through all this already, but he never followed up so who knows?
Would be nice to hear what he has done at this point but Nick brought up a very good point about the hydro boost that I didn't think about last time.

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/serious-brake-issues.265292/#post-2565095

 

[Jetson]

I bought reman calipers at Advance Auto supply and they were garbage. They never fully released and were always hot. I wished I had kept the originals. Solution was Cardone reman and powdercoated calipers. Truck will roll if you take your foot off the brake again.

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

Make sure to lube pads where they slide inside the caliper. Mine used to seas up and would stick on.

 

[JMalik]

The comment on the rear brakes not contributing to braking is right on. I had the same problem on my 1996 2500. The rear brakes at 200k miles were hardly worn. I finally did as suggested by others with the same problem and changed the rear wheel cylinders to NAPA part 37337 which increases the piston diameter. It made a world of difference. The truck now actually has brakes. The other problem is that our diesels do not compression brake. This means that going down extended hills relies completely on your vehicle brakes. The disc/shoe brake combination are not really all that good for extended braking. Compression braking is much better when running at highway speeds on long grades. Not so good when running at low speeds. The after market exhaust brakes can be used and work well to control down hill speed by just touching your vehicle brakes when speed builds too high. I tow a 10,000 lb 5th wheel with a US Gear exhaust brake and it has served me well over 10 years in the western US mountains.