2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission smokeing front brakes.

[firefighter]

I have a 2001 dodge diesel 1 ton 4x4, this month on a road trip with a 3500lb camper and a full load of everything, we were comming down some 11 to 14 % grades, I had to pull over to let the front brakes cool down, the were smokeing pretty bad for about five minutes, I sat for 30 minutes to let them cool,I think we were fairly close to a fire, has any one had this problem, if so what was the fix to prevent this from re ocurring? Thanks in advance.

 

[LRutigliano]

I have a 2001 dodge diesel 1 ton 4x4, this month on a road trip with a 3500lb camper and a full load of everything, we were comming down some 11 to 14 % grades, I had to pull over to let the front brakes cool down, the were smokeing pretty bad for about five minutes, I sat for 30 minutes to let them cool,I think we were fairly close to a fire, has any one had this problem, if so what was the fix to prevent this from re ocurring? Thanks in advance.

This exact same thing happened to me when I had my 2001 2500. I was towing our 4000lb boat to Lake Billy Chinook and we were renting a house boat for the week. To get to the water level at the lake from the plateau's of Central Oregon, I came down some fairly steep grades. When we got to the Marina, my front brakes were SMOKING !!! Cooled off and they were fine after that, but it sure had me concerned. There is no fix that I am aware of. My truck had rear drums and they didn't do very of the braking...

 

[ewcmr2]

Exhaust brake!
I can come down Cajon, grapevine, east or west from Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel towing 12k gooseneck with just a little help from the service brakes.

11-14% doesn't sound like something normal roads have much of.

 

[NIsaacs]

Make sure your rear brakes are adjusted. If you smoke your brakes you need to gear down. Yes, an exhaust brake is the best towing mod there is.



Nick

 

[ewcmr2]

'01 should have rear disc brakes, no adjustment necessary.

 

[ed9824v]

rear 4x4 have a proportioning bar for the rear brakes, and 1 ton chevy wheel cylinders are better. Exhaust brake on mine work good and helps a lot.

 

[wcjp]

Not all 01's have rear disc. Exhaust brake would be the best mod. Also, slow down with lower gear. Most mountain passes I never touch the vehicle service brakes. On steep downhill grades I ride the exhaust brake and aim for at least 5mph under the speed limit. According to my infrared heat gun my service brakes rarely go more than 10deg above ambient air temp.

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

EXHAUST BRAKE!!!!!!!! It's a spendy upgrade but you will love it! Overheating the brakes can and does happen to lots of people and is usually no big deal as long as you get 'er stopped before brake fade and vehicle runaway. If you are concerned you can pull the wheels and look at the rotors and look for heat checking, shiny spots, etc.



IIRC - Only the 2001's with the HO option have 4 wheel discs. They will also have the 6 spd. trans. and that happened in 2001. 5.

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

Some words of advice I got from an older guy who drove run down semis..... "Drive like you have no brakes. " Meaning: gear down and allow plenty of room to creep to a stop. It gets boring creeping down long steep grades but it offers peace of mind.

 

[rrl989]

I have a 2001 dodge diesel 1 ton 4x4, this month on a road trip with a 3500lb camper and a full load of everything, we were comming down some 11 to 14 % grades, I had to pull over to let the front brakes cool down, the were smokeing pretty bad for about five minutes, I sat for 30 minutes to let them cool,I think we were fairly close to a fire, has any one had this problem, if so what was the fix to prevent this from re ocurring? Thanks in advance.

Same happened to me in Nova Scotia, mine really smoked !! I mistakenly rode the brakes. Next time almost happened again coming down off Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge mountains. That time they started to smell, I drove slower, braked harder and less often and used the transmission better this time. Both times I was hauling a 4500 lb truck camper. I can't wait to buy a new Ram with the exhaust brake !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Missouri Mule]

When you have heavy load on back wheels the front seem to work harder/more or your braking harder.

Many years ago I had a half pallot of sod put in the back of my 88 ford extended (15 passenger, no rear seats) van (Beast of Burden), my front brakes were smoking when I got home. Never had that problem when I loaded it down with produce (or with utiliy trailer loaded with produce too).

 

[Midnite]

It can't be emphasized enough what NIsaacs said, and others touched on as well--you *must* make sure your rears are properly adjusted. The self-adjusters on our drum brakes are notorious for being worthless, so I manually adjust mine twice a year.

Any accessories like exhaust brakes (wonderful as they are) are simply band-aids if your rear brakes aren't working properly. Making sure your service brakes are operating at 100% capacity *must* be the first step.

After you've verified that, only then should you be looking at an exhaust brake. The exhaust brake is truly wonderful if you tow or haul heavy, and you should absolutely look into getting one, but it is no replacement for properly working service brakes.

Mike

 

[Matt42]

Some words of advice I got from an older guy who drove run down semis..... "Drive like you have no brakes. " Meaning: gear down and allow plenty of room to creep to a stop. It gets boring creeping down long steep grades but it offers peace of mind.

I could not say this better. Yes, it's boring to crawl down and let traffic go around. While looking for a pile of gravel to head into instead of over the cliff is not boring, it is terrifying. I have been bored and terrified.



What to do? I have smoked the OEM front brakes in my 1996, towing a trailer down the Rim on Arizona 260 into Camp Verde. I replaced them with Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads and then also upgraded the cylinders for the rear drums to the Chevy 1 ton size. Then I spend the money and added an exhaust brake. Do I get bored? Yup.



It wasn't the smoking brakes on my Dodge that terrified me. They were still working while they smoked. It was the four-wheel drum brakes on a 1961 Ambassador coming down the west side of Ebbets pass in California, behind a timid person driving a shiny new 1968 Caprice wagon with a big "equipped with Disc Brakes" emblem on the back. He could ride his brakes, and I could not. So with no brakes at all, I found a pile of pea gravel to land in. I was a convert, when I could afford a new car in 1979. In between, I drove as if I had no brakes at all.

 

[gcorron]

You need to consider another possibility.



I had this happen a few times, removed the tire to check it, all OK?



Turned out the flex lines were collapsing, but would return to normal at some point.



Finally, it did not return, and ate a rotor for me! #@$%!



Replaced them and all good. There are super lines out there BTW.



Good luck.



George