Hi All

ON MY 2003 EXCURSION WITH THE 7.3L

I had a case of pulsing, so I brought it to the local Ford dealer. After getting 4 new pads and two rotors. No pulsing, but it don't stop worth a damn. Especially when pulling a trailer.

I brought it back and they say nothings wrong.

What to do NOW?

 

Can you do your own brakes? I'd try different pads unless you're still breaking-in the Dealership's pads. New pads are maybe $50-70.

I just swapped everything out on the front a couple of weeks ago. That eliminated by truck shuddering problem. Reman. calipers, Centric Premium Rotors and Hawk LTS pads. $330-350 total including the fluid. I did it myself (well son helped out a little with the brake bleeding) to save the labor cost, etc.

I'd say it's great that the shuddering is gone but this brake setup does not feel as if it has that same aggressive-firm-bite the Powerslot Cryo and old Hawk (cant remember which) pads had. I put the reman. calipers in because every now and then the wheel wanted to dive to one side when I came to a stop. No sense trying to figure out exactly what part was failing in that caliper, just replace 'em for $63 each.

The 3 year-old rotors were clean on the outside but both insides had a coating of black brake pad material all over where the pads hit. Don't know if they were warped or if the rotors were just skipping off that backside's mess. The steering-wheel never shook side to side, just the whole truck shuddered below 40mph when brakin'.

 

I have Power Slots at all corners with Hawk Pads...initially they didn't work well but I found out I made a mistake. I have an 05 Excursion that has the rubber stopper on one caliper pin per side (front only). I put too much caliper grease on the passenger pin and it cause the pin to lock (Guzzle warns of this this). Once I cleaned it and only applied a thin coating, the pads/rotors work great! I have about 23k miles on them and I do have some warping but I think this may have been caused by one caliper doing most of the work for a short while. So, be careful on how much grease you apply to the rubber stopper!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

Thanks for the info.

I just had my brakes done at the ford dealer. When I got it back it was worse than before I brought it in. The pulsing stopped, but it did not stop well at all.

I posted the problem here and got a suggestion that improved the braking substantially. They said to bleed the brake lines and check the rubber tubes that go to the calipers. The tubes were fine but the brake fluid was jet black. I bled all the lines in the correct order three times and used 5 jars of dot 3 fluid. it's a light brown color now and the truck stops a lot better. Should it be compleatly clear? Just to mention there was no air in the lines. Should the dealer at least check the color of the fluid? Is there a recommended time to change/bleed out the fluid?

Thanks
Frank