Fried Brakes

[jwskrintney]

Christmas morning we were heading to San Antonio, TX with our 37 foot travel trailer in tow. About 18 miles from the house the ABS light came on and my cruise control turned off. Unfortunately with my 12,000 pound travel trailer in tow I did not realize that the brakes were being applied. A couple of miles later I felt a shimmy in the front end and noticed smoke rolling out from under the truck. When I pulled over my brakes were very spongy and once stopped I realized the front brakes are locked up. (I am sure they are "welded" to the rotors at this point".) Has anyone experienced this? In my past experiences, ABS failure simply means that the anti-lock function is disabled but I have never heard of ABS failure actually applying the brakes with no interaction from the driver.

 

[Ltngdrvr]

Very well could be the slides on the calipers froze up, keeps the calipers from releasing the pressure of the pad against the rotor.
Had it happen to the rear calipers on my truck.
Since you smoked yours, probably looking at replacing it all, rotors, calipers and of course pads, possibly the caliper brackets.
Be sure that you lube up the slides very well with a good hi-temp brake grease.

 

[petersonj]

When I pulled over my brakes were very spongy and once stopped I realized the front brakes are locked up.

You say front brakes as in "plural". Were both front brakes locked up and smoking? What about the rears?

If only one front brake was locked up and none of the rear brakes were hot, then I agree that there could be a caliper problem. If both front brakes were locked up and none of the rear brakes were hot, then I would say something else is going on and will need to be investigated.

- John

 

[Cummins12V98]

Wheel bearing failure!

Happened to my friends 13 DRW Stick.

 

[AH64ID]

Wheel bearing failure!

Happened to my friends 13 DRW Stick.

Does seem more likely given the indications.

 

[B.G. Smith]

I had similar occurrence. Drove about 7 miles to let my son get his truck, on return trip when I stopped at red light I saw wisp of smoke come from under front of truck. I stopped at a parking lot and looked under hood and truck but could not see any obvious problem. Drove on home and when I got home saw more smoke and brakes were real spongy. After inspecting front brakes, the rotors had some rust and evidence that the pads were not contacting the full width of the rotor. I replaced the calipers and pads and still had soft pedal, bled brakes and all is well. Evidently the calipers got hot enough to boil the brake fluid. Have no idea why both failed at same time. This happened back in July. bg

 

[Cummins12V98]

Does seem more likely given the indications.

my friend used first gear to get to a safe place. He said even that was not easy.

 

[Cummins12V98]

At 100k I will be pulling the abs sensor and either greasing or adding gear lube to mine.

 

[jwskrintney]

You say front brakes as in "plural". Were both front brakes locked up and smoking? What about the rears?

If only one front brake was locked up and none of the rear brakes were hot, then I agree that there could be a caliper problem. If both front brakes were locked up and none of the rear brakes were hot, then I would say something else is going on and will need to be investigated.

- John[/QUOTE
I don't know full details yet...will be pulling things apart tomorrow. When I got the truck off of the wrecker I pulled it into my yard and obviously both front brakes were locked up because I drug ruts in the yard from both front tires when I tried to move the truck in two wheel drive. I will update my post after I have a closer look tomorrow now that I have finally got it back on concrete...

 

[RammerJam]

Christmas morning we were heading to San Antonio, TX with our 37 foot travel trailer in tow. About 18 miles from the house the ABS light came on and my cruise control turned off. Unfortunately with my 12,000 pound travel trailer in tow I did not realize that the brakes were being applied. A couple of miles later I felt a shimmy in the front end and noticed smoke rolling out from under the truck. When I pulled over my brakes were very spongy and once stopped I realized the front brakes are locked up. (I am sure they are "welded" to the rotors at this point".) Has anyone experienced this? In my past experiences, ABS failure simply means that the anti-lock function is disabled but I have never heard of ABS failure actually applying the brakes with no interaction from the driver.

A bad ABS system/module can cause your brakes to lock up, especially the fronts.

I'd also check the proportioning valve and all the hoses, calipers, etc.

Good luck

 

[jwskrintney]

A bad ABS system/module can cause your brakes to lock up, especially the fronts.

I'd also check the proportioning valve and all the hoses, calipers, etc.

Good luck

I expect that the ABS module is the culprit since the ABS light was the first indication that something was wrong. My truck was exposed to a very close lightning strike some months back. Since that event, I have replaced one battery that exploded while the truck was parked in my driveway and the main CPU about two months later....now this....Grrr