P. Brakes, what a drag

[Prairie Dog]

So twice in recent history one of the parking brakes has stuck.



The drivers side was about a year ago. Got out of the truck and could smell it. After cooling it was fine and didn't screw up again.



Today, I'm backing into the driveway after a short run with the trailer land I get this hideous squeal from the passenger side. Wheel is very hot but not as hot as the drivers side was a year ago. I try setting the brake hard and popping it loose but no change. So ti's sitting out there cooling now.



Anybody have this happen? What gives?

 

[Prairie Dog]

Come to think of it, I'm not sure it's parking brakes.
Just went out and checked on it, brakes are cool and no more drag. Lots of brake dust on the offending wheel though.

 

[rscurtis]

Probably a frozen caliper. Parking brake dust won't make it to the wheel surface.

 

[Crunch]

Come to think of it, I'm not sure it's parking brakes.

Just went out and checked on it, brakes are cool and no more drag. Lots of brake dust on the offending wheel though.

Are you sure it's not the trailer brakes? I ask this because I've seen trailer brakes lock up when the adapter that connects between the trailer cable and the connection on the truck is an older version or not making good contact. Everything was fine on the trailer until the brake pedal was applied, then the trailer brakes locked up until the connection between the trailer and truck was broken.

 

[Prairie Dog]

It was definitely the truck brakes - they were hot and squealing and it did it after I dumped off the TT.
The frozen caliper theory makes sense. Both times there was a lot of brake dust on the wheel.

I plan on flushing the brake fluid soon so maybe that will help got some crud out of the calipers? Hope so.
Or should I swap out the calipers with rebuilds?

 

[jhenderson]

I've got 285,000 on my truck. I have had 2 rear calipers hang. 1 at 100,000 and one at 175,000.

 

[Shadrach]

The rear callipers slide on a pin that is protected by a rubber boot. If the boot gets torn dirt and water will get on the pin and cause the calliper to bind. Here you can see the difference between old and new. Shad



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[Prairie Dog]

Thanks Shadrach, My truck sits for days and even weeks without being driven so there's a good chance those parts are rusted. At a minimum I should probably replace that hardware. I think I'm going to see if I can break loose the bleeders and if they're stuck, I'll just replace the whole caliper.
How can I tell if the pads have gotten too hot?

 

[Prairie Dog]

Removed the caliper pins and a couple had a white chalky residue - the start of corrosion. No real pitting or hard rust though.
I cleaned all 8 up and applied a dab of brake grease. I'll order some new ones and replace all of them. Not sure that little bit could cause the sticking problem though. .

 

[steved]

I've had both my rear calipers seize (the piston, not the caliper slide pins)... I've been lucky to squirt a little oil under the piston boot, compress and expand the piston a few times, and never have the issue come back.

 

[cerberusiam]

If the pins are not corroded or rusted its a good bet the piston in the coliper has something that is causing it to jam. Crappy composite pistons only last about so long and they stick. Generally by the time ones gets to 200k a caliper replacement is in order.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I've only got 78K!
With the EB, I was hoping to go much longer before a brake job and if I change out calipers, I probably need to change disks too since they only have . 005 to their wear limit.

 

[cerberusiam]

I have 190k and the rotors are done, can't be turned in spec. Ruined one when the caliper hung. Two sets of pads on the front, 1 set on the rear in 190k is pretty decent I figure.



Going with some EBC slotted rotors and high quality EBC pads to see how they work. The replacement pads have never seemed as good as the OE ones.

 

[TGVET]

I have 190k and the rotors are done, can't be turned in spec. Ruined one when the caliper hung. Two sets of pads on the front, 1 set on the rear in 190k is pretty decent I figure.



Going with some EBC slotted rotors and high quality EBC pads to see how they work. The replacement pads have never seemed as good as the OE ones.

My thought, they'll be great but, we'll have to stay tuned for some time to come to find out how they hold up after many thousand miles.



Mine were recently done with new rotors, but the next change will be with EBC as well and better calipers.

 

[S.Morris]

From what I have seen up here in the salted winter roads, 9 times out of 10 the rear calipers pistons are siezed and will not return during a brake pad change. Front calipers usually good for 2 or 3 sets before same thing. This is with sliders that are no corroded.



The remans are not as good as the OEMs and on our trucks it turns into calipers and pads pretty much everytime.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Went for a short drive today and both sides stuck. Rotors were more than 540 degrees (IR gun was pegged) and it felt like I was pulling a trailer.
Ordered new parts - I'm done screwing with this!

 

[Prairie Dog]

$600+ in parts (pads, calipers & rotors) and she's good as new - I guess because it is new. One nice surprise was that you don't have to pull the axles on the back to replace the rotors on a SRW.

 

[seafish]

Ouch, but glad that it worked for you.

Did you go with oem??

Where didya get the parts??

Wanna post a list of part#'s??

TIA

 

[RHestand]

Just as an after thought, I've had a bad flexable brake hose not let the pressure return back up the line and caused the brake to hang. My RR brake also got very hot before I found the problem.
Ray
PS This problem was with one of my old Porsches, not on my Ram.

 

[cerberusiam]

$600+ in parts (pads, calipers & rotors) and she's good as new - I guess because it is new. One nice surprise was that you don't have to pull the axles on the back to replace the rotors on a SRW.

Was that all 4 corners or just the rears?



How hard did the rear rotors come off? Did you loosen the parking brake first or did they come off and go back on without PB adjustment?



The SRW's are easy if the PB's are not worn too bad. . The DRW's, on the other hand have to have the axles and hub removed to change the rotor.