I own a 2010 Ford F-350 King Ranch, 6.4L Diesel, 4x4 DRW, 52,500 miles. I have a high capacity rear differential cover installed with 8 qts of Amsoil 140W oil, and the Firestone RideRite Airbag Suspension helper springs installed in the rear.

I live north of Jacksonville, Florida and in early September took a trip to Northern Ohio pulling a 40’ fifth wheel travel trailer, weight roughly 15,000#. Trip was approximately 2,000 miles round trip.

About a year ago, I changed my front brake pads myself. I don’t think I installed the clips properly. During my trip to Ohio, the right front break started dragging - the smell was obvious, and it got pretty hot. Fortunately, I was already at my destination and familiar with a good service garage.

They checked the calipers and said they were working fine, and I had them reinstall new pads …correctly.

I took a short trip to Ocala, Florida last week, and on the way home, I could smell the brake dragging - not as bad as before. It definitely was not getting as hot as it did the previous time either.

I spoke with a Ford Dealership and they said it could be the caliper or it could be the right front wheel bearing. The service technician said that if the wheel bearing is damaged, it could cause the wheel to ride on a slant and cause the rotor to rub a pad.

If there were a wheel bearing issue, would there not be other indications - pulling to the right, noise, perhaps some vibration or wobbling?

I received the following quote from Ford, and would like to get opinions of whether it is fair, or where else I might want to go for a better price.

Caliper 159.90 ea
Rotor 147.15 ea
Pads 89.99

Labor for brake job 210.00

Labor for calipers 105.00 ea

Recommend brake flush also 149.99

If bearing is needed its a complete hub and bearing cost is 697.53 ea side and 105.00 ea for labor

At this juncture, I want to replace the calipers on both sides, the rotors and pads. That seems like a pretty straight forward do-it-your-self job.

Pretty much all of the modifications and maintenance I’ve done on the truck I did myself, getting instruction through You Tube Videos. As mentioned, I don’t think I had the brake pad clips installed correctly when I changed the pads, but didn’t take the time to watch any videos.

If anyone can suggest You Tube Videos that might be helpful, I’d appreciate that too.

 

first question.. when you did the front brakes.. did you clean and grease the front wheel bearings. it is part of a front brake job... OR SHOULD BE.

brake fluid should be changed/flushed every 2 years .. not by miles..

brake fluid adsorbs moisture from the air.. and collects in the calipers.. and cause RUST and making the caliper piston to stick.. and not retract.

 

Checking and greasing wheel bearings makes sense for vehicles that have serviceable bearings. My trucks have sealed hubs. The only way to grease them is to pull the ABS and shoot some grease in there, which I do, but I doubt many garages do that.

Wheel bearing failure would be noticeable, especially with the hub stripped down with nothing on it, including the rotor. You would hear some grinding noise if that's the case.

As for the cost? Hubs are available at much better prices through Rock Auto, and likely other retail establishments for sure. But your Ford dealer likely won't install nothing but Ford OEM parts. The prices quoted are likely typical Ford/garage prices. Are you sure the hubs are bad though?

 

Just to be clear when you say hubs you mean bearings or the bearing unit in this case, right?

I would suspect that if a bearing unit was worn out enough to wear the brake pads you'd notice it driving. Also as stated it should be pretty easy to feel/hear the bearing if the calliper is off and you spin the front assembly.

 

Loose wheel bearings would push the pads away from the roror and give more pedal travel, not binding brakes, in most cases. I have had a problem on several Super Dty's that the pads fit too tightly in the caliper anchor bracket and do not release properly. This is sometimes caused by rust under the stainless clips. I have had to grind the tabs on the ends of the pads to gain enough clearance to prevent this. I have had this problem on both OEM and aftermarket pads.

 

Have you thought about lubing your slide pins in the calipers?

I had the same thing happen on our Expedition on a trip through Death Valley this year. Stopped in Bishop, CA to get gas and noticed a grinding noise. Right front wheel had metal flakes around the wheel and was obviously dragging. I had taken it in to my local Ford dealership before the trip to address it and they said everything looked fine. It wasn't. It work the outer pad down to the rivets between Houston and Bishop, CA. and was now eating into the edge of the rotor.

Long story short I was going to replace that caliper until NAPA ordered the wrong side (Bishop Ford was no help either). I pulled it apart in a parking lot and noticed the caliper slide pins were not sliding. I bought new pads and some grease. Greased up the pins and have had no problems since then.

Moral of the story. $10 worth of grease could fix your dragging caliper.

Pic of damaged pad.

 

It could also be a bad brake hose. Especially if the caliper hung from the hose while the pads were being changed, or was twisted around while the pads were being changed.

 

No to both cleaning & greasing the bearings and to flushing the fluid. I am pretty cure I have sealed bearings on the 2010 4x4.

 

Yes, when I did the pads, I did clean and grease the slide pins.

 

I think I would start by pulling the right front apart to see if there is an obvious case of dragging on the pads. Should be pretty easy to tell. You might also buy an infrared thermometer to check temperatures of your rotors/calipers after a short drive. A big temp difference will at least give you some insight that something is askew.

You can jack up the front end and pull up on the wheel to check for play in the bearing. I'm with you...I think you would see/hear other issues if the bearing was messed up bad enough to cause a dragging pad. I've been wrong a few times before though.

 

I've pretty much committed this weekend for me and my Yellow Lab to work on the right front wheel. If the wheel bearings are serviceable (not sealed) I'd like to service them. I have not serviced wheel bearings on a car since I was in my 20's. Would you know of a good You Tube Video that I can watch to give me some guidance? If they are sealed bearings, I will probably just replace them, and lubricate the caliper slide pins, since I'm pulling apart the assembly.

Someone in this thread recommended flushing the bike fluid every two years. That is something that I will probably take into a garage and have done, since it has been a few decades since I've done that. But, it probably can't hurt to have the fluid changed out.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks.

Dave

 

Take a look at this. I didn't watch the whole thing, but did skip through it. It looks to be pretty good. I did the bearings on my old 2002 and it wasn't too bad. Make sure you have all the seals and o-rings you need before your rip it apart. (not my video)


Also...this is a ball joint article, but goes through bearing removal as well.

They should be sealed unit bearings.

 

Thanks Very Much !!!

 

No problem.

Just realized I didn't actually paste the balljoint article. Here it is.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...ll-joints.html

 

As crazy as this may sound check the rear pads . I had noise what seemed to be coming from front and changed front pads and rotors twice until rear pad let loose and figured out rear pad was sending sound thru frame as if it were coming from front . I Changed rear and good to go.