Hey all,

Just got done replacing my front calipers and brake pads on my truck, everything went fine and was a real simple job, bleed the front brakes till no air was coming out and making sure the master cylinder never went under the half way point. Now i just got my tires back on and when i went to test the brakes( driving down the driveway ) it feels like my brakes are locked slightly or something along that line, i put it in drive and before i did everything i would slowly "roll" or coast down the drive because everything was free so to say, same for reverse. Now when i put it in drive ( or reverse ) i dont move at all. When its in drive i have to press the gas alot more then i should to even move a little bit and as soon as i let off the truck stops ( like im braking when im not ) reverse i dont have to apply as much gas as like when im in drive but same then when i let off i instantly stop. I dont know what could have gone wrong, everything was pretty straight forward. Brake lines look fine, calipers went in without an issue, new pads went in with alittle force but i think thats just because they were new.

Can anyone give me any ideas why this is happening?

( F150 XLT 5.0 V8 302 Automatic )

 

Did you release the parking brake?

Did you let the calipers hang by the hydraulic hoses when you were working on the brakes? That can damage the hoses.

Lube the new caliper slides, and made sure they weren't cross threaded? Were these rebuilds or brand new?

Set the preload on your wheel bearings correctly?

 

No i did not let them hang, i know better then that, i had them propped up on a 5 gal bucket so there was 0 slack or pressure on the hose. Everything was lubed correctly and I put all the bolts and such in by hand so i know they were not cross threaded. They were rebuilds but they both seemed to be just fine. I did not mess with the wheel bearings since i didn't replace the rotors, only calipers and pads. Didn't want to mess with anything in the wheel assembly

Edit~ and yes i pulled the handle to release the parking brake, so i would assume that it was released unless that broke...which i hope not

 

Okay then you'll just have to jack the front end up and spin each wheel by hand to find the one that's dragging. Then listen to it as it turns, you might be able to tell what's hitting what. If not then take a prybar and see if one of the calipers is locked up by trying to pry it away from the truck (which moves the piston inwards) and then you'll know for sure.

 

I will go do that in a minute and report back, in the mean time, someone told me that it could be an issue with the caliper bolts being to tight or under tight. Would that effect anything?

 

I don't see how. The calipers ride on slides, the bolts just hold the slides in place. If it worries you then you can cure that by tightening to factory spec with a torque wrench.

 

Did you replace the rubber part of the brake Lines? If they're old, they could be coming apart on the inside acting like a check valve and not letting the fluid drain back to the MC. Basically the inside lining of the hoses are collapsing when you let off the brake peddle causing the bakes to stay active.

 

Yeah im kinda thinking that after doing some research, i jacked up the front and spun each tire, the left spins perfectly freely while the right spins 99% freely, very slight resistance when spinning, after each rotation there's a very faint sound like the pads are hitting it but barely. Once this storm is done and stops raining i can go back and check some more. How would i go about testing the brake hose? and yes they are old, almost everything on this truck is original besides the stuff i have replaced

 

Test brake hoses by starting the engine and mashing the brake pedal down a couple times. Then crack each bleeder open and see if any pressure is trapped in there.

 

Alright, Sorry for late response but we had storms and couldn't do much in the rain. So i jacked the front up and both tires spun freely, the new pads are rubbing just a hair but im thinking thats just because they are brand new and got quite some meat on them. ran the engine and the rotors still spun fine, agian very little rubbing from the pads but not locked, had someone hold the brake down and the calipers work just fine, brake down and the rotors locked, released brake and rotors released, so the piston works fine and since it released fine im guessing the hoses are fine as well. with the engine off i was able to crack the bleeders and move the caliper back and forth( slightly ) and brake fluid came squirting out, rebled the brakes and about to jack up the back to see if when i had the e brake on maybe something happened...even though the cable is fine and all is released. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

You need to check your rear brakes next.

 

Definitely check the rear. If you did have the parking brake set it could be just a case of a shoe dragging or something like that. The hardware in the rears can get pretty ugly if left alone for many years.

 

Yeah, 20 years and from the looks never had the drum off,so much brake dust and dirt it was insane, come to find out the E brake cable snapped inside causing the tensioner to lock the brakes at max. Jacked the rear up and wasnt even able to turn the left tire so i knew it was that one for sure, cleaned everything up and removed the snapped pieces and put the tire back on and it works perfect now( minus having no e brake on that side ) now to figure out the issue with the spongy brake petal and im all set