Tight front calipers

[TShikoski]

I have just replaced my front pads and am experiencing something which I am concerned about.....

Local Dodge dealer did not have OEM brake pads, so went to local NAPA store and purchased "the best" pad on hand. All visual indications showed front rotor and associated calipers to be in "good" condition considering 130K on truck. First removing some brake fluid from the master cylinder, I squeezed the caliper pistons as far back as possible and replaced the old pads. I wire brushed the bearing surfaces of the caliper to the mounting bracket with a power wire brush and obtained a mostly clean surface. I then lubricated these bearing surfaces with high temp caliper grease and reassambeled the brake. All went well with the brake bleed except that now the front wheels are very hard to turn by hand. It seems that the calipers are not "floating" enough to give a release to the rotor. I have not yet driven the truck as I am not sure that this condition will not result in excessive heat build-up in the rotor.



Any comments anyone???



Tom

 

[JLEONARD]

That is why when I replace my fronts I use "loaded caliper kits".

I just did that for the second time since I've owned the truck... I don't want to mess around with sticking calipers.



Jay

 

[1stgen4evr]

A little tight

I have experienced the same with my 93. It could be from the pistons in the caliper being a tad tight. Were the rubber seals on the calipers in good shape. I had to replace the calipers last time I redid the fronts on truck. Water had gotten around the caliper piston and it was definitely tight.



Once I got some rebuilt calipers for a full sized car that were definitely draging and they caused considerable overheating. NAPA replaced those. That was years ago and the rebuilders have gotten better. If you are just seeing a light drag on the wheel as far as turning by hand, I think that is normal. In service, the pads will be kicked back enough to run free. Also, I don't turn my rotors even if I have a lightly noticeable trembly in the pedal. This will serve to kick the pads away for better freewheeling. If the rotors are really warped, I replace them. I have not had good result with turning to true them. Seems the warp just comes back right away. I think I have corrected the problem that caused the warped rotors. My ABS was disfunctional and was causing the fronts to take nearly all the stopping load.



Drive the truck around and then double check. I don't think you have a problem.



My two cents

James

 

[cerberusiam]

If your definition of "very hard to turn" and mine are the same, then, yeas it sounds like there is a problem with the piston sticking. There should be some resistance but it shoud take minimal force to turn the rotor. You should be able to turn the rotor with one hand and a little force by grabbing the studs.



As Mr Leonard said, loaded clipers, and, I would add to that make sure you get the ones with metal pistons not the composite ones. If the calipers are OEM they are more than likely composite pistons. They are crap, planned obsolescence, and should be replaced every time the brakes are done. Once they start jamming and sticking it will quickly eat the shoes off then start on the rotors and kill them if you are not quick to catch it.

 

[TShikoski]

New Calipers installed

Thanks everyone for your words of wisdom and opinions. This forum is truely a wonderful resource for us polish people!



I took a turn around the "block" (about four miles + or -) and when I got back to the garage, the rotors were too hot to touch and I could smell the heat. I think the pistons were fried in the existing calipers, so I headed for the local parts store and bought a set of calipers. Phew, I could have had these installed and been sitting in the shade for MUCH less than half the time I screwed around trying to trouble shoot the old system. Droped in, fill and bleed, drive and stop without hesitation.....



As long as I had the tools out, I also replaced the pads on the rear. Found a small leak in the hub seal on the passenger side so pulled the hub off and replaced the seal. As long as I was that far, I dumped the diff fluid and replaced that..... Wife is wondering when I am going to mow the grass, so will have to quit the fun stuff for now.



Thanks again.



Tom

 

[TKingsbury]

I was gonna take offense (not really) to the polish comment until I looked at your name :-laf. You'd never know it by my name, but I'm 50% myself. Polish that is.

Travis. .

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

I have been lucky, or lazy, but I haven't had to "turn" my rotors yet. When I do a brake service I pull them apart to start with... Then I do as noted above, wire wheel the daylights out of the slides and retainers.

Once I've done that I open the brake reservoir and top up..... from there, I use a pair of visegrip "C" clamps and compress the piston right back hard... then, I stick a large diameter socket (or whatever will work for you) and press the brake pedal till the piston/pad comes out and makes contact.



Once I've done that I crack open the bleed screw and let it "syphon" into a jar while keeping an eye on the reservoir, topping up as needed. It doesn't take long before you've purged a majority of the fluid out. Then, top up, close the bleed screw and compress the piston back again... watch out for overflow on the res.

When I'm done that I use either a high speed hand drill or air drill with a sanding disk, say, 240 grit or even 400 grit depending on the rotor surface condition.

I use the rotation of the disk to spin the rotor, tipping the disk edge first inward on top one way letting it run till there are swirl patterns... . then reverse the process and let the disk spin the rotor the other way till I have a cross hatch pattern.

I repeat this a couple times till the surface has a roughness that you can feel with your fingertips and, move on to the other side.



For slide lube I use a high temp anti-seize lub only.

This process usually "dresses up" the brakes nicely for about 8 - 10 months depending on usage and then I'm out tinkering and doing it again as needed/or not.

It seems to work pretty well and unless you've got some bad bearings you don't even need to pull the rotors off for machining.



OH, if you want to tweak your rear brakes I found this by accident. I had the rear end up on a big floor jack one day looking for possible u-joint problems.

During the process I had the trans in "R"... . while the wheels were turning I applied the brakes and had to really jam them hard to even come close to stop the wheels turning... in fact the ABS came on... eventually I had to shift to "N" then stop the wheels turning... I did this a couple times then switched to running the trans in "D"... same thing happened. I went back to the "R" and repeated this looking around under the old girl for odd sounds/movement but all was well.



Long story short, when I got it back on the ground and took it out for a drive I hit the brakes and nearly "sucked steering wheel"... the brakes had actually "self-adjusted properly for the first time since owning this thing...

That kept things in good working order for about 6 or 7 months.



Wierd what you discover when working on something totally unrelated to the results. .



pb...

 

[TShikoski]

Thanks

Good comments Pastor, I did as you suggested in a previous thread and wire wheeled the slides, high temp lube etc. before reassembly. Guess I need to crawl under it more often and do some preventive maint sooner than the 60K that I waited between brake jobs this time.....



Tom

 

[mysteryman]

your problem is the stock plastic calip. pistons. they expand with age . replace the pistons with steel pistons and your problem will be solved... ... .



Every one of you first gen guys should do this if have not already!!!!!!!!!!!

I just bought 100 of the steel pistons. they can be hard to find these days

due to the fact that no one rebuilds calip,s anymore... ... .



If you cannot find pistons pm me for details... .

I have just replaced my front pads and am experiencing something which I am concerned about.....

Local Dodge dealer did not have OEM brake pads, so went to local NAPA store and purchased "the best" pad on hand. All visual indications showed front rotor and associated calipers to be in "good" condition considering 130K on truck. First removing some brake fluid from the master cylinder, I squeezed the caliper pistons as far back as possible and replaced the old pads. I wire brushed the bearing surfaces of the caliper to the mounting bracket with a power wire brush and obtained a mostly clean surface. I then lubricated these bearing surfaces with high temp caliper grease and reassambeled the brake. All went well with the brake bleed except that now the front wheels are very hard to turn by hand. It seems that the calipers are not "floating" enough to give a release to the rotor. I have not yet driven the truck as I am not sure that this condition will not result in excessive heat build-up in the rotor.



Any comments anyone???



Tom