Brake Fire, Probable Damage?
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Brake Fire, Probable Damage?
long story short, noticed truck started pulling to the right a few miles away from home. about 1/2 mile from home, could feel something definitely was off with the front right wheel, felt like it was going flat. zero smell, zero grinding. pulled into the driveway and jumped out to check, expecting to find a nearly flat tire but instead see smoke pouring out behind the wheel. looking through the wheel, the rotor is molten red hot with embers and some flames starting to come out the top. luckily, hadn't put away the garden hose for the year just yet. take a good five minutes of dousing before the the steam and heat start to dissipate. dumb luck I was that close to home. if we'd been on the freeway or no hose accessible, truck probably would have been toast.
luckily, sounds like insurance will cover the repairs because it was a "fire."
haven't taken the wheel off yet until the adjuster comes out to see it. but from a quick visual inspection, there's really no "visible" damage, especially to the steering knuckle, but I'm guessing with that much heat, the caliper, pads, bracket, hub, bearings, flex brake line and auto 4x4 hub will all be toast. anything else you'd be sure to have inspected?
luckily, sounds like insurance will cover the repairs because it was a "fire."
haven't taken the wheel off yet until the adjuster comes out to see it. but from a quick visual inspection, there's really no "visible" damage, especially to the steering knuckle, but I'm guessing with that much heat, the caliper, pads, bracket, hub, bearings, flex brake line and auto 4x4 hub will all be toast. anything else you'd be sure to have inspected?
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Joined: Dec 2014
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From: Jersey Shore
We actually used to do basically that test with the Excursion at GVW for the German marketplace. The AMS test. You went a little farther.
For the Excursion Ford's prodecure included after the last stop to sit and measure how long the brake pads and caliper boots would burn. Then run the recovery stops. We all hated that because you smelled like burning rubber for the rest of the day.
With our testing we only needed to replace the calipers and of course experimental pads after each test. The brake hoses stayed cool enough to not be damaged, and the thermal transfer to the hubs was minimized as the rotor hat section keeps the heat energy in the rotors twin rubbing discs.
That said, I would change the hoses as we don't know how much more you exceeded what testing we did. At dusk it was not abnormal to see orange rotors. Again, since yours was an uncontrolled event, an inspection would be the best judgement.
Did you experience any elongated pedal travel? That would indicated some brake fluid boil, but the brake designs for this vehicle was very deliberate getting away from fluid boil situations, hence the phenolic Pistons.
For the Excursion Ford's prodecure included after the last stop to sit and measure how long the brake pads and caliper boots would burn. Then run the recovery stops. We all hated that because you smelled like burning rubber for the rest of the day.
With our testing we only needed to replace the calipers and of course experimental pads after each test. The brake hoses stayed cool enough to not be damaged, and the thermal transfer to the hubs was minimized as the rotor hat section keeps the heat energy in the rotors twin rubbing discs.
That said, I would change the hoses as we don't know how much more you exceeded what testing we did. At dusk it was not abnormal to see orange rotors. Again, since yours was an uncontrolled event, an inspection would be the best judgement.
Did you experience any elongated pedal travel? That would indicated some brake fluid boil, but the brake designs for this vehicle was very deliberate getting away from fluid boil situations, hence the phenolic Pistons.
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That's good info, thanks. Wish I had the time and facilities to do it myself but I'll have to have it towed up to the shop and have them tear down the whole system for inspection. And nope, don't recall and noticeable pedal travel so I guess at least that's a good sign
Hotshot
Joined: Dec 2014
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From: Jersey Shore
If insurance has you covered it's the best way. A shop doing the work may overcompensate as they don't want a liability issue for something they miss. You should be good, but if they try to turn the rotor rather then replace argue the point. It too big of a chance for hard spots to have migrated.
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From: Spanaway
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madpogue
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