The front rotors on my newly-acquired non-dually 2002 F350 have cracks. (I knew this when I bought the truck.) The rotors are drilled & slotted, and several of the holes on each rotor have a thin crack running to the edge of the rotor. There are some other holes that have shorter cracks. See the photo. Obviously in need of replacement... I'm looking for suggestions on what to replace them with. I'll be fairly well loaded up with a camper (but not towing) so more effective braking would be good. On the other hand, given this experience I'm inclined to go with stock, non-drilled rotors. What about slotted but not drilled? Thoughts on specific brands?

Also, what about the pads -- type and/or brand?

Any ideas why this cracking happened?

 

I’ve learned to stick with Motorcraft brake parts.

 

The brakes where overheated. The one with the big crack needs to be replaced now before the rotor breaks. Before you replace anything drive the truck and use the brakes and them jack each side up and see the wheels spin free, you may have a caliper dragging.

Denny

 

All rotors will crack with heat --- I'd stick with Moto parts and invest in a small jug of 3M Silicon Paste to lube the pins / cal hardware.

 

Thanks, all. Motorcraft it is, and I will check for caliper drag first thing. The previous owner towed 5000 lb in addition to the camper, which I suspect is how the brakes got overheated. Each rotor has several cracks as big as the one in the photo. They don't appear to be very deep, but I'm certainly going to replace the rotors before they have a chance to get any worse.

 

Not to hijack your thread but I just did the rear brakes on my 2010 F250. The brakes and rotors were original so I went with Motorcraft pads and rotors from Bayshore Ford Truck Center which sells/service big Ford trucks. I was surprised to see the rotors were made in China!

 

I tow very heavy and I don't use Motocraft pads but I have my original OEM rotors, I've found Performance Friction Carbon Carbon Metallic pads to work about the best and I've been through a few different brand's with big claims that don't live up to expectations. I've also found Ford pads are don't last as long under heavey usage where the Carbon Metalic do. Are all your rotors drilled and slotted or just the front? Just a quess but I'm thinking the previous owner didn't have brakes on his trailer or they weren't working properly and he kept cooking the front brakes.

Denny

 

Only the front rotors are drilled & slotted; the rears are solid. The previous owner towed boats with surge brakes. Electric trailer brakes are easy to test, but I have no idea how one would test surge brakes. Maybe they weren't working too well....

 

I went with 2 sets of the drilled slotted rotors with very disappointing results and absolutely terrible customer service with the brand. I bought a complete set of Detroit Axle brakes/rotors for my '04. Best brake investment I made. Outperform the previous by miles. And it was easy on the wallet.

 

Those are the Motorcraft rotors, made by Federal-Mogul (Wagner) for the Motorcraft program. The OE rotors are made by TRW, made in USA. In the parts list, they are often listed as OE Design or Service Design for rotors. Price is usually a good indication.

 

Heat checked and cracked. Drilled and slotted can work if the rotor is designed for that from the get-go, but doing that to a set of rotors that were designed around being solid is never a good thing. The 2002 model year has more evenly distributed braking front to rear than other years, so a front to the rear examination might tell part of the rotor story.

Maybe.

But, heat checking like that can be caused by a friction material that is not sufficiently compliant and heat bands the rotor towards the OD of the swept area, or to one axle getting a brake job with a different friction material formulation.

Since '99, Superdutys have been designed around having the same friction material front and back. If you install a set of pads with a higher coefficient of friction on the front axle only, you will shift the bias to the front. This is also what may be a contributor since the front rotors are drilled and slotted they may have come with a higher coefficient of friction pads like the Powerstop Z36 kit is.

Or it could be as simple as the caliper o-rings are heat aged and don't retract the pistons well anymore letting the pads constantly, but lightly touch the rotor. That can happen with the 2002 MY if there is rust build up between the brackets and the pads too.

I tend to stay with the "OE Design" Motorcraft rotors rather than the "Service Design" Motorcraft rotors. The OE rotors are made by TRW in the USA, the service design by Federal-Mogul (Wagner) in China. If Ford is still providing OE Design rotors.

 

trailer surge brakes are pretty horrible in my opinion, they put all the work on the front pads/rotors for just long enough for them to get way to hot.
My 150 ate something like 14 sets of pads and rotors in 100 k miles because of that damn surge brake (not to mention the 21 transmissions, long story but never will use amcrap again) switched it to electric trailer brakes and drove it 100k on the last set of ceramics from amazon...

 

Never been a fan of the drilled slotted rotors for trucks that tow and haul for a living.
Unless you spend a lot of money for high quality equipment, those holes and slots are there for show only and is a real detriment to the brake system. Those holes and slots are claimed to give the "gasses" a path to escape and to cool the rotors, but all it really does is weaken the structural integrity of the rotor itself and make it weak.
I've taken off my fair share of those cheap drilled/slotted rotors of customer's vehicles due to cracking or chunks of missing rotor surface material. I've seen plenty of them just come apart under heavy loads too.
I've always had good luck with Napa brand "severe" or "service" duty pads and rotors. I've used them exclusively on a fleet of ambulances and lawn care company's fleet of Super Dutys before. In fact, that's what I have on my '11 F250 SD.
You also can't go wrong with Motorcraft parts.