2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission HELP... rear brake stuck.

[GBrock]

When arriving home after an hour long drive last night I noticed a burning smell... kind of like brake or clutch smell. Upon further investigation I noticed a light haze-type smoke emmiting from the right rear fender well. After putting my hand on the inside tire I felt a considerable amount of heat.



I surmise that the right rear brake is sticking or even completely stuck on.



As a busy man, I would normally just drop the truck off at some brake shop and get it fixed. But since I am running 40" military tires, they always want to charge me some bs fee for working with the extra large tires (usually upwards of $150 just to R&R the tires). Accordingly, its probably more cost and time-advantageous for me to repair this problem myself.



Anybody have ideas what I may be facing here?



thx for any input.

 

[steved]

Two things come to mind... stuck parking brake cable or siezed wheel cylinder.



steved

 

[GBrock]

Thx steved... I just posted 5 min ago and already a member is helping me. Man, TDR is great.



Couldn't be the pkg brake cable... . I know this because I loaned my truck to one of my foreman recently to move. He drove around all day with the pkg brake on and fried the pkg brakepads. It won't engage at all since there are no pads left.



Perhaps the wheel cylinder could be the right tree to bark up. could you elaborate more?



I am mechanically inclined... but I am certainly no mechanic. I have replaced brake pads many times in the past but its been a while so I'll be a little rusty at fixing this problem.



Ironically, I ordered a service manual CD from Genos a couple of weeks ago. Wish it would arrive.



g

 

[Joe Mc]

G-I noticed you're an 01. Disc or Drum? I noticed that you menitiond you loaned to someone that drove around with the e-brake on and there are no "pads" left.



Either way pads (disk) or shoes (drums) something is sticking. If disks then not to bad once you get the behemoth tires off. Get the caliper (disk) freed up and R&R a new caliper (might as well do both sides) and probably have to cut a rotor. If drums more of a PIA as you need to de-adjust the shoes, beat the drums a few times to release the stuck shoes, then do the "put in gear with foot on brake" thing to get the drums free of the axel and R&R shoes & new wheel cylinder (might as well do both and upgrade to the GMC 3500 cylinders). Not rocket science just a PIA and expens for parts. About a 6 pack job if you're doing both sides.



Have fun!

 

[steved]

First, does this have drum or disc brakes??



If it has drums, the parking brake controls the brake shoes... so it could be a hung parking brake cable. If the wheel cylinder is to blame, they are usually a bugger to replace because the line usually corrodes into them causing them to twist off when you try to remove them. And sometimes the bolts seize into the cylinder's body and break off. Getting them off is the hard part, putting it back together should be no issue, other than bleeding the brakes of air.



If it is disc (I know they changed around this time), it could be the caliper isn't releasing. If it is a caliper, those are fairly simple to replace... the bleeding is the hardest part.



steved

 

[Joe Mc]

Good point about the line nut getting stuck in the wheel cylinder steved. Here's a trick to help coax them out, if the line isn't too rusty. Spritz the nut to cylinder area with a good penetrant, heat the nut to cylinder area (not alot) with a little hand held propane tank, then blast it with the pen oil, heat, pen oil - repeat a few times and try to tighten the nut first, if it moves GREAT, if not heat, oil and repeat. Freeing up rust is a gradual thing, don't get inpatient and it usually works out. Even if you have to walk away for a few hours and try again. Sometimes no matter what you do it snaps anyway.



Good Luck.

 

[GBrock]

Thx again for all the afvice, gents. When the wife complains about my incessant TDR interests, I am always all too quick to remind her how much money this club has saved me in repairs through sound advice.



So here is the latest with this dilemma. Since I first posted, the I the problem never occured again... until two days ago. When coming off the freeway, I smelled a clutch/ burning brake pad smell. Further investigation led me to the same spot, right rear disc brake. In fact, the smoke seemed to be coming directly from the pad. I surmise at this point it is a stuck caliper. Will try to fix myself this week. Hopefully not too big a job for a non-mech like myself.



Just hoping its not a stuck wheel cylinder.



thx again for all the advice.

 

[Joe Mc]

Could be a sticky caliper piston, which would probably best be replaced - remember it's best to replace both sides when doing calipers/any brake work. You should be able to get some remanufactured Wagner loaded calipers for under $70 each, could be less?. When I replaced my front calipers back in 01 (rear drum) I paid $48 each (shop to shop cost) and they were lifetimers. Since then I've replaced them twice - not because they were bad but because the pad wore - I called and said "need to replace right side, sticky caliper piston, pulls to right". Brought old right back and got new (reman) with pads. Next weekend called back and said "need to replace left side is pulling now, sticky caliper piston". No questions. So if you go this route make sure you check to see the slide areas on the calipers are free of any burrs that could hang them up - just file flat if there are burrs.

The other possibility is that the caliper slide pins (bolts that mount the caliper) are dry/rusted. You can clean them up and relube with a good quality product designed for disc brake applications such as "Sli-Glide" you can get the tub and application brush at any NAPA, the 6 - 8oz tub will be a "liftime" supply. Be sure to apply a thin coat on the flat slide areas on the caliper and mount surface also.

Let us know what the end result is. Don't forget to take the keys out of the ignition, or even better remove the + battery cables, so if you have a caliper hanging the ABS doesn't accidently activate and blow the pistons out of the caliper - not pretty. And a real SOB trying to re-install the piston in the caliper.

Good luck.

 

[cojhl2]

I wouldn't be surprised if the heat generated by driving with the parking brake applied contributed to this current problem.

 

[TMills]

My vote is for the sticking of caliper pins. All the heat from the parking brake probley burnt up the grease.

 

[BHoffert]

Hello, I have had to replace both rear calipers on my 01 with 4 wheel disk brakes. the pins and everything were nice and clean but both pistons were rusted up something terrible. couldn't even push them back in with huge c clamp. what causes them to rust up? i change brake fluid about every other year

 

[jelag]

Everyone has covered the brake issue..... you mentioned smell but didn't say what kind of smell.....

No oil in the rear end... or lack of oil... damaged bearings on the that wheel... it would get hot, smoke, burn what oil is there..... and soon it would seize up and strand you... .

If someone has had the axle open on your dually and didn't torque the bearings correctly this also could be your problem... .

If you have rear disc pads, the emergency brake is a second set of brake shoes that function inside the rotors... .

Hope this helps. .