Just did a brake swap as some of you know, took the truck down the street for the first time and the front driver's side brake is sticking really really bad. Squeaks everywhere I go, smells of burnt brake pad and the rotor is ridiculously hot after only 1/4 mile of driving.

Here's a vid of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2TJRFrvYUU

I assume I'm gonna have to pull the caliper off and rebuild it? Anyone have any other quick fixes/thoughts? I'd hate to pull it off if there is something I could try first.

 

have you re-bled it?

 

Nope, that's gonna be my first attempt at fixing this, the other wheel works fine so I'm hoping it's a localized problem. Anything I can do prior to disconnecting the brake lines and rebuilding it is what I'm shooting for. Wilwood wants be to rebuild it which by the sound of it doesn't sound too complicated but it means I gotta disconnect the brake lines and bench test it. No biggie but would like to avoid it if possible.

 

wilwood brakes are soooo good they stop your truck WITHOUT stepping on the brake pedal...


Im sure Tarrant will help you out.

 

Hey Julien,

Try putting the brake pads in correctly. Also, make sure that the pistons in the caliper are retracted all the way in. Then, make sure that the caliper is centered onto the rotor. You should have equal gaps between the pad face and the rotor face (front and back side). Holla at me if you need anything else!

Tarrant

 

you need to take them off and send them to me and i'll send you my brakes. your problem will be fixed and will now be my problem

 

Go get your brother your to small to turn the tire...

Most likely the pads are not in correctly, also rebuilding calipers is easy just make sure you got a big C-clamp to put it back together.

 

Thanks guys, and thanks Tarrant for helping me out today, I got it fixed...they were just stuck from sitting so long on my shelf with gunk that became caked onto the piston walls. I took the calipers off and worked the pistons with a C-clamp and actually took one of them out by accident and cleaned that one up good and re-installed everything and she spins freely now...Also makes me realize that I need to do the other one!!
I'll post some pics and vids later!

 

Ummm...might of spoken too soon!!
Here's a video of the sticking brakes before...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2TJRFrvYUU

And here's a clip of that same wheel after I re-installed them and bled the brakes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oipYCj7vq2k

However, after I got them on I went out driving and "bedded" the brakes in and my god those suckers got hot!! I actually burned my hand when I touched my RIMS, not the rotors but my rims were scalding hot too!! But anyways, after bedding the pads I parked her for a while and let her cool down and just now I went for a quick little drive to get something to eat and log some short runs and noticed that when I'm at a stop and have it in Drive she won't roll or even creep forward when I release the brakes, same as when the brakes were sticking so it looks like the brakes are sticking again! Tomorrow morning I'll jack up the truck again and see which one it is and I'm hoping the passenger front just got worse rather than the drivers side front is at it again!!

 

Shot of the calipers when there supposedly is no pressure applied to the pistons...



With both bracket mounting bolts removed...



The calipers still clung to the rotor like the jaws of life!!



I literally had to pry the calipers off the rotor with a pry bar!!

After out an hour of working over the pistons and a few helpful tips and phone calls from Tarrant I finally got the pistons all the way seated with the help of some C-clamps.



I popped one of the center pistons out with some compressed air and as you can see there's some residue around the piston skirt...





I think that's what might be obstructing the pistons from retracting into the cylinder cleanly once the brakes are released...

Quick shot of the cylinder with the two equalizing ports at the base of them, I would of thought they would of been bigger but hey I'm no fluid dynamics engineer!! ::



I put the calipers back on and just to make sure I double checked to make sure that the caliper was shimmed right (used 2 of them) and it was centered on the rotor...





And then threw the brake pads on, bled the brakes and went and bedded them...feels ok...brake pedal feels "jolty". Not sure if it's the ABS or air in the lines or what but it's not a solid pedal feel at all!!