may sound stupid but ever thought of checking your E-Brake

 

thats definately not stupid becuse there is definately a problem with e-brakes dragging in our trucks and destroying the ebrake drum in the rotors. i had to have my ebrake shoes replaced and they had a new clip to install in there that wont let up and let the shoes drag...thankfully the side that was dragging didnt get damaged because luckily (or unluckily which ever way you see it) my axle seal was bad and was leaking so the dragging side was all lubed up nicely lol

 

The E-brake is a good one that I didn't even think about.
I replaced my E-brake shoes on my previous 2000 Chevy Silverado.
They still had some pad left though. just decided to replace them since I was already replacing everything else.
If you decide to upgrade or change rotors/ brake pads, go with the Hawk brake pads and Power Slot rotors. They are an excelent direct replacement rotor and pad combo. They are also not all that expensive.
They work far superior over the stock replacement components.
If you replace your calipers, get new factory GM replacement calipers WITH NEW slider pins!! I've went through a great deal of trouble getting bent slider pins that came with the new calipers from these following autoparts:
Autozone, O'Rielleys, and NAPA.
I returned them each time and decided to get the calipers straight from GM.
Their new pins were of course not bent. They were also more expensive, but I received quality parts.
Maybe you or anyone else has had or will have better luck with this issue when getting calipers from retail autopart stores.
A bent caliper slider pin will or can cause the caliper to bind and stick, and or create uneven or premature pad wear.

Good Luck to anyone replacing thier calipers on any Chevy Silverado from 99 to current.

Jim

 

good thing i went to page two before posting this, if noone used the ebrake ever, which is a very good possiblilty, cuz i never do, then the cables would get rusty, so if it was pressed once it would stick, even if the pedal isnt down...

 

That sounds logical. I have a habit of using my e-brake everytime I park.
I think it is a good habit.

Jim

 

just outa curiousity why? i know they told ya to do it in drivers ed, but the tranny has a park for a reason, i guess its just habbit, you either always do or never do, when you do something different **** hits the fan. Anyone know what the ebrakes look like on these trucks, are they a drum type brake that rides on the inside of the rotors?

 

I always use my ebrake, Why? I dont know? Habit i guess, I have always owned sticks prior so......

 

Why? Well, not just habit, safety too.
Have you or anyone ever seen the part in the tranny that holds your vehicle in park? It's very small. Like the size of your thumb finger. It's designed to hold the vehicle in place without too pressure applied.
I was in a parking lot once, and watched a lady back into the rear of a Tahoe.
It wasn't much (didn't even dent the bumper), but enough that the park lever in the tranny let go, and the Tahoe rolled 25 ft across the parking lot in PARK. You can tell it was in park as I could here the internal park lever clicking pretty loud.
It did not hurt the tranny in any way. Why? The park lock is designed to release under certain amounts of force applied to it. That is a safety feature so that nothing will actually cause damage to the inside of the tranny.
So think about it. Setting E-brake: Habbit..... a little, but well worth it in certain situations.
Is your driveway grade steep?
Do you only park on flat surfaces?
What about launching or retreiving your boat or jet skii?
Always set the e-brake in any of these situations.
Before you place your tranny in park, set your e-brake, release your foot off of the brake pedal (slowly, too make sure the e-brake holds ) then put the tranny in park. This will keep the vehicles weight load off of the tranny's internals.
I personally (my particular habbit), stop where I want to park, place the tranny in Neutral, set e-brake, release brake pedal, then place tranny in Park.

Did you know that in some states (TX is one of them) requires you to always have your e-brake applied when the vehicle is parked. At least everywhere but your own driveway. A police officer/ parking attendant can actually write and leave you a failure to apply parking brake while vehicle is unattended ticket.
I've never seen this kind of ticket given out, but I know it exists as a non-moving violation.

Oh yeah, duwem: if you have rear disc brakes, you have a small internal drum brake on the back side of your rear disc rotors. That will be your e-brake.
Anyways, I hope I didn't bore you guy. Hope you found it informative.

Jim

 

Nick! So.....what have you found out about your 5 mpg 4.8 Silverado?

Jim

 

I would like to know too what the problem is I cant imagine how much drag from whatever it would take to get 5mpg.