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I had this same problem on my '07 F350. Two out of the four original calipers failed with cracked pistons and needed to be replaced. Everyone I've talked to regarding this echoes the same sentiment: the slide pins like to stick and the pistons really like to shatter. One friend had an '06 with really low miles. Was driving on the highway about an hour from home, unloaded. Started smelling an overwhelming smell of brakes and realized the piston shattered. No trailer, no heavy loads, and no hard braking. A few people I know factor in buying new calipers when doing brakes after anticipating and preparing for cracked pistons either from wear or careful removal. Can't tell you how many of my friends get around to doing the brakes on a Friday or Saturday night after every parts store has closed for the night, only to discover the pistons shattered in the caliper. They do seem to be pretty finicky and the sticking slide pins really seem to exacerbate the issue by way of excessive heat.
Wow I feel like I'm back on PBB... which doesn't bother me in the least but the FTE culture tends to be more of a liberal "everyone gets a participation trophy".....so I guess here's my obligatory IBTL
Lets all play nice here. Insults do not help the discussion. There are and should be differing opinions.
I had a cracked front rotor on my 08 F250 and a rear rotor on my current truck a 2013 F350 DRW come apart in two pieces when doing the breaks. Right around 60K on it.
Lets take an exercise in critical thinking, shall we?
Buh-Bye.
I believe critical thinking began to decline shortly after WWII and is seriously close to meeting the fate of the dodo bird so you most likely lost a good portion of the readers of your excellent post after the third sentence!
Wow I feel like I'm back on PBB... which doesn't bother me in the least but the FTE culture tends to be more of a liberal "everyone gets a participation trophy".....so I guess here's my obligatory IBTL
AHHHH!!!1!!ONE!!!11!,,,, The good ol' days of the PBB (not the Canadian version though).
I've had trouble the past few years with sticking pistons in two cars....a mustang and a taurus X. The slide pins were fine but the pistons while not completely stuck, were barely moving. With the mustang I went through 4 reman calipers at the Ford dealer in one day before giving up on them getting me 2 good calipers. I ended up getting reman calipers from Napa.
FWIW, I've also had trouble with sticking pistons on my wife's Volkswagen multiple times.
I flush brake lines in all my cars/trucks every 4 years so I have no idea what's causing it. I check my wheels every once in a while for excessive heat or heat differences from left wheel to right wheel is how I usually catch it. I definitely believe there's something wrong with caliper pistons the past several years.
I've never seen destroyed pistons like the photos in this thread. That's beyond unacceptable...more like inexcusable. Looks like the OP's caliper got really, really hot.
Bottom line here is that these trucks are not light. Our loads and trailers are not light. The braking system takes an enormous amount of abuse.
Whether you like it or not, those brakes got very hot. You have to build up some very serious heat to melt the backing plate.
No matter if it was caused by a seized piston, a stuck slide pin, worn pads or malfunctioning trailer brakes, it happened.
Yes, the brakes could be a better design. I was under my '07 every 20-30k miles messing with the brakes. Inspection, slide pin lubrication, pad replacement, backing plate painting or complete brake overhaul, all way too much fun.
Bottom line here is that these trucks are not light. Our loads and trailers are not light. The braking system takes an enormous amount of abuse.
Whether you like it or not, those brakes got very hot. You have to build up some very serious heat to melt the backing plate.
No matter if it was caused by a seized piston, a stuck slide pin, worn pads or malfunctioning trailer brakes, it happened.
Yes, the brakes could be a better design. I was under my '07 every 20-30k miles messing with the brakes. Inspection, slide pin lubrication, pad replacement, backing plate painting or complete brake overhaul, all way too much fun.
I agree, these are not light-duty-trucks as they're labeled. We do push them to their limits (and sometimes beyond). I'm just wondering why these pistons are breaking the way they are. It's not like we've never over-heated brakes prior to 2008. I've never seen anything like this on any other vehicle (which is the reason fro the thread; to get insight, not lectured).
I'll be adding some additional maintenance to the brakes moving forward. Not a hard task to pull and lube slide-pins. It'll go with tire rotation cycles from here on out.
I'm going to take my favorite fall back position here. Just because someone posts something that is not a commonly reported on the Internet does not mean a number of folks do not have a similar experience it. It possibly means they are not reporting it. And simply because something is reported multiple times on the Internet does not automatically mean it is a common event.
All I am saying here is none of us really know the actual base rate of the events that seem to draw heated debate. Frequency of reports on the Internet or lack thereof does not automatically correlate with the frequency of the actual event. As an additional thought, I am not sure insults help to clarify the situation.
New guy comes on here and posts a problem. A couple tech friends say this is a common problem.
Originally Posted by CTJocko
Did the front brakes on my 2012 F-350 dually. This is what the driver's side caliper looked like after only 50k miles. I have done numerous brake jobs and have never seen anything like this. How are these inferior parts being put on pick-ups designed to haul (and stop) thousands of pounds?!?!?
A regular member here posts his opinion that this is not a common problem and call BS on the tech buddies.
Originally Posted by Slowpoke Slim
I don't think that is common at all.
I'm calling pure "BS" on those "tech friends". Sorry, but BS. The forums would be blown up with threads about this if it was true. I have no idea what caused this in your truck, but it's not at all "common". Search these forums for yourself to see who's speaking realistically, and who's "whistling dixie".
I'm still on my original brakes on my '12 F250 at just under 70K miles on the odometer. I only pull 2 trailers, one is 9K and the other is 12K. My original brakes are fine.
Are you the original owner on your truck? Are those the original OEM brakes?
Look cupcake, I don't care if you've known these guys so long you pulled one of them out of their momma's birth canal by their ears, slapped his butt and gave him his name. Or if one of them saved your life back in 'Nam by taking a bayonet to the lungs for you.
Not. Relevant.
Lets take an exercise in critical thinking, shall we?
Do you (or your experts) know how many Super Duty trucks have been manufactured since 2008? A million? 2 million? Seriously, anyone KNOW how many? I tried a quick Google search, and even Google can't seem to find an accurate number. About the closest I got to any real Super Duty numbers (that didn't include F-150 numbers) was from this recall article:
That article states the recall was for 547,538 trucks built only at the Kentucky plant, and only with a certain carpet and seat combination from Oct 2015 to Oct 2019 (article also contradicts this and says 2017 to 2019). But if we take the longer of the 2 time periods (4 years), that comes to 136,884 trucks (not going to count half a truck) made per year. Again, this is only counting those trucks with the equipment options that fall under the recall, but I'll "give you back" all the rest of the trucks produced in that time frame that didn't meet the recall spec.
Are you with me so far? Have I lost anyone? Anyone? Buehler?
So, with your statement of fact, based on the extra smart knowingness of your expert buddies, this is "pretty common" from 2008 and up. Yes? Your words "pretty common"? Lets call it an 11 year run then, since really, 2020 isn't "all in" yet, so I'll give you that year back. 11 years of production at an estimated 136,884 (and a half, but I'm also giving you the half a truck) comes to 1,505,724 trucks. Now I'm sure it was more trucks than that, but I'm giving you a bunch of trucks back every year.
Now, what is "pretty common" mean, EXACTLY? Hmmm? Anyone? Shall we say "at least half", "more than half", "three quarters"? I mean "pretty common" means More Likely to Occur than Less Likely to Occur, wouldn't you say? But, I'll "give you half". Even though that's being pretty generous, imo. Okay, HALF.
So HALF of the Super Duty trucks made between 2008 and end of 2019 (because I let you have the "2020 trucks", remember?) have had this problem. Right? After all, your "experts" did say that this was "pretty common".
752,862 Super Duties have had this EXACT PROBLEM that you're posting about, and as indicated in your pictures, as "Not Acceptable".
Sorry cupcake. It. Didn't. Happen.
Now this will take an effort in critical thinking on your part, so hold on to something tight now, cause here we go...
Do you REALLY THINK that Three Quarters of a Million Super Duties would be able to have this EXACT SAME PROBLEM as you have, without the Mother of All Fecal Storms hitting the news? All the news? Every channel, every version of "60 Minutes", EVERY FORUM on the internet? And say, oh I don't know THIS one?
Remember now, it's "half of ALL Super Duties", right (because it's "pretty common")? So half of the members of FTE Forums who own Super Duties. Do you not realize the sheer rain of threads and posts that would generate on FTE alone? It would be a P.R. nightmare for Ford. Recalls right, left and center. A corporate blood bath.
Yeah, No. Nope. Didn't happen because it didn't happen.
Now, is it happening at all? Yes. Yup. Affirmative. It's happening. There are threads. There are pictures even. Is it "pretty common"? Nope. It isn't. Now, I'm about to take a left turn on you, so hang on tight again...
You know what is common about those occurrences of brake issues like yours? Brake caliper slide pins going ungreased and sticking, causing the calipers to stick, and then get hot. That has been a "pretty common" theme to these incidents of brake problems LIKE YOURS. Now it seems to me a guy like YOU, with 2 (not 1, but 2) extra super tech buddies would KNOW TO GREASE THE DAMN SLIDE PINS.
So there you go.
I return control of the internet to you, FTE and good 'ol AlGore (the inventor of the internet-that's one smart fella' there).
Buh-Bye.
New guys response.
Originally Posted by CTJocko
Listen here sugar-****! You've got Ford's appendage so far down your throat, mud-flaps are bouncing off your chin (and not the cool Yosemite Sam or resting lady mud-flaps I'm talking plain ol' dirty black mud-flaps). Your eyes are watering so much your mascara is running down your cheeks and you can't see what's plainly in front of your eyes. I get it, you don't like to lose arguments on the internets. If you think just the level of failure IN A BRAKE COMPONENT posted in this thread is ok, we can agree to disagree. If you've spent 20 years not experiencing this kind of failure doing brakes, and then all of a sudden, post '08, you start to see this kind of failure on a SOMEWHAT regular basis, I'd call it common. It doesn't have to be half of the fleet showing failure! We aren't talking about a DEF tank heater or a waste-gate solenoid; WE ARE TALKING ABOUT BRAKES!
IMHO, there is something not right when a caliper piston comes apart like that. In 280,000 miles on my '99 7.3, I never had an issue like this, and that truck got abused.
I appreciate others posting their issues and where those issues may have stemmed from. I guess I'll add lubing the slide pins to my annual maintenance schedule.
Like I said earlier... Brakes could have gotten hot but if they did, there were no signs (smell or feel).
Over the years I've owned a 97, 99, 02 and 08. The 08 is an F450. While I have had slide pin issues, (who hasn't that's owned one of these truck) I've never had a piston break. So, for me, that would be highly unlikely. It's one thing to call BS on someones claims that aren't on here. It's entirely different to accuse that guy of sucking someones dick. This thread has been an enlightening experience. Hope everyone has learned from it.
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