Questions about my Brake Rebuild

[gpintler]

My truck is a 2004 2500 4 door 8 foot box 93K miles

I just did a brake job on my truck. That included pads and rotors on all corners

The rear pistons pushed back in without any real problems, but the the front pistons were much harder to push back in. All the outer seals were fine. I ended up opening the bleeder valves on the front calipers to get the pistons pushed back in. I then assembled the fronts, hung them and was very careful to use short strokes on the brake pedal to move them out before I bleed the fronts.

I did the same steps to do the rears. the rears just pushed back in with a lot less effort. Could it be that the fronts are tied to the Anti-lock system?

 

[Ozymandias]

I would say your fronts are on the way out, binding.
After so many years not uncommon, i changed all four calipers at around 10 years of age because two started binding.
Also i changed all brake hoses, they start to swell internally, locking the fluid inside the calipers.

The ABS doesn't have an influence on pushing back the calipers.

 

[JR]

Did you take the cap off the master cylinder before trying to push the fluid back up?

I don't ever push old fluid back into the system. For one, if your fluid level was full before it will be overfilled after pushing the fluid back up. But more importantly the fluid that's in the calipers see hundreds of heat cycles over the years. It will be the most contaminated fluid in the system. I always push the fluid out through the bleeders and add new if necessary once the job is done. Brake fluid is cheap.

 

[seafish]

^^^what he said!!!

opening the bleed screws before pushing in the pistons is the best, and really the ONLY way to push in the caliper pistons and AVOID contaminating your brake fluid in the MC, even if you are going to be flushing the fluid, there is NO reason to push the worst of the contamination in again when opening the bleeder prevents that and lets you EASILY push the pistons in.

 

[MGreer]

Earlier this year I replenished the front and rear brakes on my truck also. The work the truck would pull to one side after the work was completed. The right front pistons seemed a lot harder to push back in than the drivers side, both calipers were brand new. Bought a new flexible hose and that resolved the problem.
It was impossible to blow air through the old hose, so I decided to investigate the old hose. I started dissecting the hose in sections and the hose was open up to the clamps that hold the hose to the frame. I couldn't run a piece of mechanics wire through that section. I put the piece in a vise and opened up the bracket and cleaned off the built up rust under the bracket and was then able to run the wire through easily. The rust had built up and squeezed the hose closed.
I then opened up the bracket on the drivers side with the bracket still on the truck and cleaned out the rust on that side. Then carefully hammered the bracket closed. The brakes have been working great ever since. I believe this is one of the problems that is diagnosed as a collapsing inner hose. I took pictures of the hose and bracket if I can figure out to load them.
Hope this helps.