Well... with 43,000 miles on my truck now, the right front caliper decided to seize up on me causing the wheel to start smoking when I parked it and the awful odor of burning brakes. First, what would cause the caliper to seize up as the truck had been running perfectly with no issues. The truck is a 2005 F150 FX4 super cab with flare side body and factory 18" rims. The brake fluid seems to be clean as it has always been. I have read somewhere that these 2 piston calipers had some kind of bakalite pistons in them. Would this be the problem? Has anyone else run into this situation before? Ford wants $135 for the caliper alone plus the core charge which is something like $50. I know I can do the job myself as I have changed out calipers and brakes before but I would like to know if there is any problematic areas that I should be checking. I did a brake job about 15,000 miles ago and have had no issues with it since then as the brake change went nice and smooth. If it matters, the truck was built 01/05

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Don't get your stuff through ford unless its warranty or something. Go to O'reillys or autozone or somewhere like that. If you can find a rebuild kit for them, its not that hard to do it. The seal on the inside of the caliper that brings the piston back could have broke or just be worn out in one or both cylinders. (Though I dont see why it would do that with only 43000 miles.) If you want to just rebuild it and can find a rebuild kit then just let me know and I can give you step by step instructions on how to do it. (if you dont already know how)

 

I just got of the phone with Advanced Auto (sister business to O'Reileys) who can get the caliper in for me tomorrow by 10-11 AM for $78 for a rebuilt one. It still blows my mind as to why this happened all of a sudden.

 

Thats not a bad price for one. I dont remember what it cost at O'reillys. I get all my stuff at cost. Good luck with it. Hopefully the caliper is your only problem...

 

I'll probably pressure bleed the system after I get the new caliper on just to make sure there is no crap inside the system either. For what the cost of brake fluid is, it is cheap insurance.

 

When you go to bleed the brakes you may want to check with your parts guy about the process. There may be a certain sequence you need to follow. Something about unbalancing the system proportioning valve. Sometimes there's a flag in either the retailers online parts system or book concerning brake replacement and system bleeding. I ran into this as far back as the late 90's brake systems. I got my info from a very knowledgeable Carquest parts specialist.

Jim, 06' FX4

 

I had the same thing happen to one of the rear's on my 05. Replaced both rears with life time warranty calipers from parts plus. It's worth the extra cash