Help- Emergency brake draging

[DMcGalliard]

Hello to Dodge owners, I have had no problems with my 05 except today. On a short trip to Goodwill I noticed that the brake of the rear drivers side smelled hot, I had set the brakes twice but released them, they were hot on the rear drivers side(emergency brake side). I set and snapped the emergency brake several time hoping to get it to back off and it did not seem as hot when I got home. Two questions:

1) Is there any service that can be done to make sure it releases, this has not happened before. We were just up in Vermont where it was really wet. What can I do to make sure this does not happen again? We are headed out west in Sept so this has to be fixed.

2) Could this be piston sticking, the brakes are working fine and none of the other brakes are hot.



Your help will be appreciated, Dave Mc

 

[jelag]

You have 1 or 2 possible problems... .

1 - you could have a piston hung up, which will allow the pads to drag... and will cause rotor failure if not addressed... .

2 - you have something wrong in your emergency brake... and its usually from lack of adjustment, and one of the springs drops loose... .

In either case it needs to come apart and be inspected... Either one can be expensive if left un attended... .

There are several threads about pistons sticking in calipers causing brakes to drag. .

and maybe, just maybe you've had a rock bounce into the backing plate and its dragging... .

Inspect it. .

 

[rbattelle]

the rear drivers side(emergency brake side).

Beware that both rear wheels have parking brakes, not just the driver side.



Ryan

 

[bighammer]

For some reason my left side parking brake shoes got bound up (then ground up :-laf) this last winter. I just replaced everything last week. It was driving me a little crazy not having a parking brake. (not that I use it much)

It's a lousy design. Driver's side adjuster is up on top and pretty much inaccessible. If yours is stuck on, you will have a tough time getting the drum/rotor off.

 

[DMcGalliard]

I checked it out today by jacking up both wheels and they roll easy, no drag. The brake did get hot though, the paint on the metal cover pealed off. I also drove it about ten miles and it did not get hot. I WD40 the emergency brake parts. I am going to drive it about 100 miles next week to see if is working ok. The disk looks ok, no distortion or cracks.

rbattette you indicate the emergency works on both sides, how does it work, I don't see how it gets to the right side, help.

Thanks for your ideas,Dave Mc

 

[jelag]

On the drivers side of the truck, there is a common cable that runs down the side of the truck... . about mid bed, this cable connects to 2 cables... one cable runs to the drivers side ebrake and the other cable runs to the passengers side ebrake...

It's easy to back off the star adjuster by inserting a small screw driver into the slot... . and push apart the self adjuster tab, and turn backwards the star adjuster...

Note that these adjusters turn in different directions... one is left hand threads and the other is right hand threads... . they we're designed to self adjust but don't it well... we've always adjusted ours by hand...

Where the cable comes from the front of the truck and the 2 cables come from the wheels meet, there is a threaded rod but understand this is not an adjustment but to just remove the slack from the cables. .

After new shoes are installed and the truck is back together... they should be adjusted with a brake adjustment tool... The key to adjusting the brake is to turn the star adjuster, and spin the wheel... when you can just feel the drum start to drag, or actually hear the rubbing, its like one or 2 clicks tighter and let it go... once the shoes are applied once or twice they will center themselves and will no longer drag. .

If you remember to release the ebrake and never drag it, they will last thousands of miles... if you don't remember to release them, you might be under the truck adjusting them 2-3 time a year... .

Excessive amounts of chemical on these cables will allow them to attract dirt... they are to be left dry... with maybe some dry graphite... . remember that if they get anything in the cable that can freeze during the winter, its possible for the cable to freeze in the locked position... .

Hope this helps... .

 

[DMcGalliard]

Thanks for your explanation of the ebrake. The problem I am faced with is knowing how hot the brake got should I go ahead and have it rebuilt. The heat could have damaged the wheel seal and the next thing could be leaking diff oil. We are leaving in Sept for a long trip pulling our 15k fifth wheel. I am still not for sure what caused the problem, sticky piston or sticky ebrake.

Should I rebuild?

Thanks for all your input, dave Mc

 

[jelag]

I wouldn't worry about the seal... its a ways away from the brakes. . Remember that a disc brake working hard can turn red from heat...

If you have ever noticed the rust, flaky material in a vented rotor... this flaky material is from the heating and cooling of the metal... and its scaling off...

I'd be sure to get it apart, and see what the problem is...

A slight piston drag, something you might not notice, can wear out one pad in no time... . look for damage to the piston to caliper boot... any damage to this boot is the first sign that something is wrong, and dust and dirt past this boot can keep the piston from fully retracting. .

 

[rbattelle]

I checked it out today by jacking up both wheels and they roll easy, no drag. The brake did get hot though, the paint on the metal cover pealed off. I also drove it about ten miles and it did not get hot. I WD40 the emergency brake parts.

What cover?

WD-40 is for displacing water and preventing rust. Never never never never never never never never ever use it as a lubricant. Never. People say, "never say never", well I'm sayin' never!

Ryan

 

[DMcGalliard]

Hello rbattelle,
There is thin metal cover that directs air to the disk. I did not use the WD-40 as a lubricant, just to get the dust out and prevent rust on sticky parts. I see now that the ebrake cable goes in on the top on the right side. Still not sure how it works is there a small disk under the ebrake lever? The ebrake is a good brake as it will hold the truck and trailer and I trust it.

I jacked it up again today and tested for drag, no drag.

Thanks for comments,
Dave Mc

 

[rbattelle]

There is thin metal cover that directs air to the disk. I did not use the WD-40 as a lubricant,

Ah, okay I think I know what you're talking about.



Glad to hear the WD-40 wasn't an attempt at lubrication!



Ryan

 

[DMcGalliard]

Just a quick update on my brakes, Dodge got the parts yesterday, replace the caliper, new seal, resurfaced the disk and replaced the pads. Most was covered under warranty(48K miles). They could see no reason why there was problem with the old caliper, just fixed. Although there all kinds of mods to my truck they did not say a word, (of course none of the mods have anything to do with the brakes) just did the work. Good dealer in Marion, NC.
Dave Mc

 

[FJfonda]

wow --- sounds like parts got thrown at the problem. My bet is the parking brake fulcrum lever is bound up. This is the piece the cable attaches to at the rear of the brake assembly. It is actually in 2 pieces and pivots as the cable applies tension. When the pivot point stops pivoting, the net result is the parking brake shoes stay actuated when tension is released from the cable.

 

[DMcGalliard]

Hello FJfonda,
Is there any service I could do to the parking brake pivot? When I inspected the brakes after they got hot it looked like disk got hot not the ebrake. I will inspect the cabling on the ebrake, question is still what service should I do to make sure the pivot works. Dodge could not find anything wrong just that it got really hot. I know that I had released the ebrake, but snapping it several times let me get home. Any ideas welcomed.

Dave Mc

An

 

[FJfonda]

Dave,

The pivot point is under the rubber boot and is not visable unless the rotor is removed. A quick check would be to verify the spring on the brake end of the cable is pushing the pivot lever fully back. On the back of the brake assembly, look at the end of the cable where the spring is -- with the brake off, push the lever in the direction of travel the spring is pushing it (towards the rear of the truck) -- if you can move it more than 3/16" or so, I would say it is binding at the pivot.

You can also compare the left and right side movement of the lever to see if one side pulls the cable back further when the brake is released. Mine was pretty obvious with the drivers side returning a 1/2" less than the passanger side.

Another check would be to remove the rotor and look at the mechanism. If you have a SRW this is very easy only requiring the removal of the wheel and caliper to allow the rotor to slide off the hub. On a DRW, the axle will beed to be pulled and hub/ bearings pulled as well.



An FYI --- My 04. 5 had 45K miles on it and both levers were bound up, the drivers side was completely siezed and the passenger side had approx 1/2 the movement it should. I freed them up and reinstalled ---- now wishing I had purchased new instead.



Chip

Hello FJfonda,

Is there any service I could do to the parking brake pivot? When I inspected the brakes after they got hot it looked like disk got hot not the ebrake. I will inspect the cabling on the ebrake, question is still what service should I do to make sure the pivot works. Dodge could not find anything wrong just that it got really hot. I know that I had released the ebrake, but snapping it several times let me get home. Any ideas welcomed.



Dave Mc



An