2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission front rotors

[shendren]

had a brake inspection today. the shaking and jumping in the front is bad rotors, i'm told. they only have 50k mi on them.



question: with no towing, and no hauling, what would cause the rotors to go bad? this is ridiculous!!

 

[Crazy Horse]

"bad rotors"



Why are they "bad"??? Did the inspectors give a reason? Are they too far out of round, beyond the point of resurfacing? Or worn due to being too thin to resurface??? Have the pads ever been replaced?



Heat or excessively hard (metallic wise) pads can cause premature rotor wear.

 

[Fyrmen]

I just had my rotors replaced at 73K due to heat cracking. I am on my 3rd set of front brakes. The first set lasted till 58k, second 67k then 73k. I could understand it if I was pulling something all the time or driving fast and hard. Incidentally I am still on the original back brakes. I think I need to check a post awhile back on here about someone having a brake special on here.

 

[shendren]

they just said they were warped..... ????



what else would cause the front end to shake and pulse when coming to a stop?

 

[illflem]

Water contaminated brake fluid or bad shocks

 

[Crazy Horse]

If they just said "warped". Heat did it either due to ridding the brakes, allot of city driving where the brakes down't have enough time to cool down before next application. Or. . . calipers have a hydralic/piston problem. Could also have a problem with the slides being partially froze not allowing the caliper to slide back when brakes are released. There are allot of possible causes including a partially kinked brake line. . .

 

[Lsfarm]

'96 front brakes

I had a '96 2500 4x4 Auto for about a year and a half. I had to replace the front brake pads every 12K miles, and the rotors every third set of pads.



The front brakes on the early 2nd Gen trucks were inadequate. I could stand on the brake pedal and not even get close to locking up the brakes. Or get close to getting the anitlock to start cycling.



The first time I put a a trailer behind it, I scared myself. I came within inches of rear ending someone who pulled out in front of me: trailer brakes locked, truck pedal on the floor and gradually slowed down.



When I complained about the dangerous brakes, the dealer just adjusted the rear shoes, this helped, but not enough.



So: your brakes are inadequate, the rotors wear very fast, when they are thin it is easy to overheat them and warp them. The other problem is irregular rust buildup on the disc surface. This happens while the truck sits overnight in high humidity or heavy dew.



So replace your discs, keep the rear shoes adjusted up, and if you do a lot of start and stop driving, slip the trans into neutral when stopping so the brakes don't have to overcome the residual push from the trans. . Using this technique, I managed to get 16K out of my last set of brake pads before I got rid of that truck.



All my later trucks had much better brakes, and my 2001. 5 has the best with four wheel discs.



Greg L The Noise Nazi