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Brake caliper sticking

iminaquagmire

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iminaquagmire Enthusiast

iminaquagmire

Posted
Posted

My driver's front caliper is sticking slightly. Not enough to steer the truck or anything but sticking nonetheless. Ordinarily I would just say replace the caliper and be done with it but I've already done that just a few thousand mile ago last fall when it was doing the same thing. When I did the brakes in the fall, I replaced both calipers, rotors, and pads. The slide pins got a liberal coating of caliper lube when I put them on. The brakes were also flushed at the time as well.

 

I hate to just throw another caliper at it but I'm at a loss for what the problem could be. The lines are rubber and not kinked. I can't see any leaks anywhere. I don't now what the deal is. anybody have any ideas of what else could cause the caliper to stick?

waumo1 Enthusiast

waumo1

Posted
Posted

Did you replace your caliper hoses when you did the calipers? They have been known to collapse on the inside and cause the calipers to drag. I had this problem on my 98.

iminaquagmire Enthusiast

iminaquagmire

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So I have now replaced the caliper and hose. This is the third caliper for the driver's side since new 38000 miles ago. I also file the tabs down on the pads slighly so they slide easily. The caliper still sticks. I was at a loss and extremely frustrated after putting it all back together so I took it to the shop. After having it all day, they told me it was indeed sticking, but only 40 degrees hotter than the passenger side, and that it wasn't bad enough to throw any more money at it. Well I'm not satisfied with that answer. Its definitely sticking and hotter. I can feel the heat coming off of the rotors and there is a definite burning brake smell.

 

I don't know what else to do. I don't want the heat to cook my brakes and hub. The heat has already started to crack apart the pad material from the backing plates. I can put new pads on to fix the bad pads but I cant see it being any better since the others slide freely in the calipers.

 

Anybody have any other ideas? I can't think of anything else besides the master cylinder, but its only the driver's side front caliper that has problems releasing. Are there any valves? It has ABS so wouldn't think so but I don't know. Sorry for the novel, but I'm lost on this and its very frustrating.

oldscsc Enthusiast

oldscsc

Posted
Posted

Chances are, if it's ABS related, you'd probably have a code. It might be worth a shot to disable the ABS (pull the fuse) and take it for a spin. Obviously, you won't have ABS when you do this...just a warning. But if it is ABS related disabling the system would temporarily fix the issue.

 

If you had a Tech II you could look at live ABS data, but I'm assuming you don't have access to one.

iminaquagmire Enthusiast

iminaquagmire

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So I seemed to have fixed the issue with new pads. The EBC's had cooked themselves and were cracking on that driver's side set. Passenger side set was fine. Replaced them with some Wagner ThermoQuiet pads after compressing the pistons, which went back fine BTW. My only guess is that the EBC pads were shaped just wrong to stick in the slides when the brakes were released. I had suspected this and filed down the backing plates but it didn't work.

 

So anyways, I went for a drive and while the pads aren't as good as the the EBC Yellowstuff pads, they still are better than stock and with the tradeoff of dust accounted for, they'll be okay. I got home, jack up the front, and the wheel now spins freely. Yay me. So I'll keep an eye on it but I just wanted to update the thread and say thank you to those that offered advice.

 

You can see the wedge shape of the pads and how heated they got.

IMG_0275.jpg

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