Hey guys,

I have a 2000 F250 SD 4x4. I noticed the other day that after driving the truck for 10 miles or more and then stopping and getting back in it feels like the parking brake is on. I drove the truck home and on my way back I smelled brakes burning but it wasn't pulling while driving or braking. When I got home I put my head in the wheel well to get a look at the brakes on the drivers side it seemed ok, but when I did it on the passenger side it was hot as Hades! It's been my experience that if the caliper is hanging up it will pull either while braking or regular driving. I just want a better idea before I go ahead and buy a new caliper and hose and tear the dang thing apart. Thanks!

 

Yep, looks like you have a stuck caliper. To verify take the wheel off and see if it's dragging. If it is, slightly open the blender screw and see if anything changes.

If it's still dragging you have a bad caliper. If it frees up you have a problem with a collapsed line or master cylinder.

 

Had the same thing happen on my 2005 F350. Brake was actually smoking one time st a traffic light. Nothing worked until the entire caliper was replaced. No problems since the new caliper was put on.

 

Thanks guys! I am gonna checkout the slides first and grease em real good. If there's any obvious signs of it being bad I'll just pull it off and put a new one on. I'll update when I'm done! Thanks again!

 

Living in the northern WI rust belt caused a similar problem for me. I noticed the drivers side ft. rotor was hot. After tearing it down I found that the pads were very rusted and sticking in the caliper mount. I knocked the pads out, cleaned them up and installed new pad hardware. Its been working great all summer.

 

don't be surprised if the wheel seal goes out on that side in the near future. I had the parking brake on my '05 F150 dragging and I only drove it a mile before realizing it wasn't right. The hub was pretty warm and less than six months down the road that wheel seal went out. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I think the heat killed it.

 

I forgot to update! So here goes:

I tore it down and the first thing I noticed was the brake pads crumbled in my hand. Then I couldn't push the caliper cylinder open. My first thought was the hose was bad. We attempted to crack the bleeder valve but it was too rusted and wouldn't turn so we took the hose off and tried it, but it was still stuck. That told me that the caliper needed replaced. So I replaced the caliper, hose, pads and rotor and all is right with the world! Now she rolls down the road with no problems! I'll watch out for the wheel seals though! Thanks for the head's up Fordman!

 

What brand of caliper do you use? I'm thinking I need to replace mine.

 

Here's exactly what I got:
BrakeBest 18-4790 - Brake Caliper | O'Reilly Auto Parts

O'Reilly was the closest parts store to me so that's why I got this one. Make sure you keep all of the hardware from your old caliper because the new one might not have everything you need. There were some brake pad retainer clips that we had to reuse and I seem to remember some other stuff like the banjo bolt maybe? Just don't throw anything away or smash it up because you might need to use it later.