Rear brake trouble

[CIverson]

So I've been hearing a grinding noise when stopping for the last few days and been putting off checking it out. Suspected it was the rear brakes.



So I get the caliper off and find the inner rear pad dissintegraged. There are pieces of it in the caliper pistons, and the rotor is completely gouged.



No big deal right. Take the rotor off and get new ones and new pads. The rear rotors are PITA to get off. that inner parking brake wanted to hold it on. I had to pound the hell out of it w/ a 5lb sledge to get it out.



Now my parking brake pads have a few nicks in them from prying and such. Not sure if I should just leave them or not. It's not like I ever use them anyway, and they should still function. I dunno, but I don't feel like doing it right now.



I also have to wait to get the new rotors, and they are 100bucks each because of the damn internal parking brake.



Interestingly enough the outer pads were still ok, but the inner was bad. I haven't taken the other side off yet, but looking at the grooves worn in the backside I suspect the same stuff.

 

[DavidBurt]

How are the caliper slides working?? Sounds like maybe they set up and only alowed the piston side to work.

Dave

 

[CIverson]

That was what I was thinking too. But after I got the caliper off I checked them and they all slid nicely.



I'm going to replace them anyway, as I went to crack the bleeder on the drivers caliper and it snapped right off. So I did a taboo and compressed the pistons w/o opening the bleeders.

 

[rbattelle]

I'm going to replace them anyway, as I went to crack the bleeder on the drivers caliper and it snapped right off.

#@$%! #@$%! #@$%! Great engineering, Dodge!!!



Link.



I'm going to pull my calipers and rebuild them at some point when the weather improves. I think.



#@$%! #@$%! #@$%!

 

[CIverson]

#@$%! #@$%! #@$%! Great engineering, Dodge!!!



Link.



I'm going to pull my calipers and rebuild them at some point when the weather improves. I think.



#@$%! #@$%! #@$%!

Yours even look clean! Mine are all rusty and coverd in mud so I figured it was the rust. I'm contemplating taking the bleeders out when I get the new calipers and putting a little antiseize or grease on the threads.



Edit: Ryan I just got through reading all 4 pages of that thread. I'm gonna try welding a nut on the broken bleeders after I replace the calipers and see if I can get them out. I'll try to remember to update if it works or not.



BTW: The backing on the pads was gone. The metal pretty much rusted off the pad. The truck is only a lil over 2 years old and 56k on the ticker.

 

[jelag]

My 04 dually went 160 K before it needed brakes but we found that the caliper boots were fried and were hanging in pieces... it forced us to rebuild the calipers... We assume that the heat and chemicals from the roads here damaged the rubber...



Make sure you check the boots, and like mentioned above. . the slides... .



BTW it helps if you back off the adjuster to the e-brake... .

 

[rbattelle]

Yours even look clean! Mine are all rusty and coverd in mud so I figured it was the rust. I'm contemplating taking the bleeders out when I get the new calipers and putting a little antiseize or grease on the threads.



Edit: Ryan I just got through reading all 4 pages of that thread. I'm gonna try welding a nut on the broken bleeders after I replace the calipers and see if I can get them out. I'll try to remember to update if it works or not.

I already bought a factory-fresh passenger-side rear caliper to replace the broken one. I'm assuming the other 3 calipers will be in the same condition. #@$%! I plan to try to remove the broken bleeder once I have the caliper out and can mount it in a jig for my drill press. What I'd really like to do is drop it in an envelope and mail it back to Dodge headquarters with a nasty note.



Fortunately I found out last week from Rock Auto that A1 Cardone reman finally has recieved enough cores that they can sell you a caliper outright. That's good, because from A1 they're only $50, but brand new from the dealer they're $100. So I'd urge you to go to Rock Auto... don't reward Dodge for their idiocy by buying parts from them.



In all fairness, a lot of blame lies with the brake manufacturer for doing this to us. But I hold Dodge accountable for failing to control their suppliers. I am tremendously angry about this, in case you can't tell.



On edit: CIverson, I assume everything else came off the caliper without any trouble? Sometimes when I think about this impending project I have nightmares of the brake line bolt snapping off when I try to remove it. Or worse, a caliper adaptor retaining bolt.



-Ryan

 

[CIverson]

IOn edit: CIverson, I assume everything else came off the caliper without any trouble? Sometimes when I think about this impending project I have nightmares of the brake line bolt snapping off when I try to remove it. Or worse, a caliper adaptor retaining bolt.



-Ryan

The caliper bolts and adapter bolts came right out with a blip of the impact wrench. I made sure to coat them all with antisieze.



I haven't tried the caliper bolts, but I'm thinking of getting some when I get calipers "just in case".



I got everthing back together today and they work great. I did notice a disturbing trend. Ever inside brake pad (ones that physically touch the pisions, was rusted pretty good on the backside (rears were worse), and all of the inside pads were worn more than the outside. Something in the braking system is making the inside pads wear faster. Every outside pad looked like it had alot of miles left in it, but all of the inside ones were worn enough that it was about time to replace them. All of the slides on the front calipers slid nicely too so that wasn't an issue. .



I did find that one of the slides on the rear caliper (side that was making noise) was a bit sticky which must have made that one so bad.



Finally, I would like to add that that EBC greenstuff 7000 pads work awesome. The truck brakes great with them and no noise, time will tell on the pad life though.

 

[DavidBurt]

I just changed pads all the way around on my wifes 04 Liberty and noticed the same thing that CIverson mentioned. All the Pads on the piston side had wore considerably more than the non-piston side and all the slides worked very well. I don't know maybe its a DC design thing, the force of the piston coming out somehow cocks the caliper preventing it from sliding???? Just a thought.

Dave

 

[HullD]

One of of the the bigest factors is the road salt used today.

Road salt is so corosive it can eat through practily anything but stainless.

Ask the guys in the south how many rusted parts they deal with.

You would think in this day and age they would have somthing better.

Also think of the extra cost on repairs you have just living in the north east or other places where they use road salt

 

[nickleinonen]

i am very much tempted to next time i am at the dealer for warrnety work before it expires, pay them to bleed the brakes on my truck. . let them break the screws off...

 

[BStoecker]

I pulled into my driveway Wednesday night and backed up in front of the garage. I immediately smelled something burning. I jumped out to see smoke pouring out of my driver's side rear wheel well. I got the truck out into the barn, jacked it up, and popped the wheel/tire off to make sure it wasn't literally buring under there. Once it cooled off enough to get under there with a flashlight I can tell that the caliper is frozen and I dragged the brakes for an unknown distance. I felt no dragging, heard no noises, etc... The rotor is screwed inner and outer sides. It is getting towed to the dealer on Monday. Of course, the cheap ***** DCX warranty only pays the first $100 of any tow. The tow truck placed quoted them $200 to tow me 34 miles... Screw that. I called up AAA to renew my membership for $75. 100 miles, no matter what...



Hopefully they will replace that caliper and the pads and rotors on the rear since it was the caliper failing that wiped out what had been a lot of pad left. It looks like it is the inner pad that is dragging the worst, even though both pads are dragging... We will see what happens. I am friends with the tech that is supposed to work on it. Even if DCX lies to me, he will let me know what was up with it.

 

[rbattelle]

I've been out for the last week... any updates?



-Ryan

 

[BStoecker]

Yeah...



Brake Rotor $189

New Pads for both sides $92

Total Bend-over Brake Job $300



I called DCX "customer service" and what a waste of wages those guys are. It took me literally 45 minutes just to get to the "nice young gentleman" that sternly informed me that at no time are pads and rotors covered under warranty. At that point I asked if I could speak to his manager. He informed me that there was no one else to talk to and his decision was final. I guess he didn't like it when I asked for the correct address to which I should send my small claims paperwork. At this point he was just being rude and I was getting nicer by the minute. He explained that this information was public information and that my lawyer and I could look it up on the internet. I was then placed on hold again for another 25 minutes. At this point I am going to try to reach the district rep for one last attempt to be civil. After that I go to small claims. The service writer and the tech (a friend of mine) both admitted that the caliper did in fact cause the damage to both the rotor and pads. So, we shall see what happens from here. I just get a little pissy when my extended covers everything supposedly warranty proves to be totally worthless. They even refused to cover my torn driver's side door seal that there is a TSB on. Oh, well. I guess I don't need to play nice now either. But, the guys at Brighton Chrysler in Brighton, Michigan did excellent work and were great to deal with, other than they forgot to mention I needed to be there before 6pm to get my free loaner...

 

[CIverson]

Hopefully you will get them to cover it someway or another. They really bent you over on the rotor, but the pads are average price.

 

[WStephens]

The 99 I had had the calipers freeze up on the front axle twice, the first time I let the dealer do the work. They put reman calipers on it and turned the rotors. The second time I did the work myself and replace the calipers and rotors with new and replaced the pads and rear shoes.



The sliding caliper with one or two pistons seems like a bad idea from the get go. My 78 Land Cruiser has 4 piston calipers with over 103K and only needed the pads replaced once but wore evenly. They are big and bulky and limits the wheel offset but they work.

 

[Elite1]

How many miles are you all getting out of the rear brakes? I got about 60K out of the front & haven't replaced the rear yet. I now have about 78K on the truck. I don't tow often.