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Man I tell ya...the brakes on these things. Especially the back ones.
I put a new caliper on the rear passenger side about 13 months or so ago. First one they sold me leaked right out the box from the piston seals, so back it went for another one. Worked fine until I parked it at the end of December and it sat for most of the winter only being driven sporadically every couple weeks to keep the batteries up. A few weeks ago I fire it up and make it about a mile down the road...something's dragging. Sure enough the rear passenger side rotor is way too hot. Drove it home and parked it. I put a Russell speed bleeder on it when I installed it so I cracked it open and gave the pedal a few pumps. Closed the bleeder and went for a drive. That seemed to fix it.
Truck sat for a spell again until a couple days ago until I fired it up again to go for a washy. Trouble again, and bleeding it is not seeming to help this time. Took it apart yesterday since I had the wheels off anyway to replace the sticky parking brake cable going to that side. Pads are fine. Rotor is fine. Slide pins...a little dry. I forgot the dielectric grease so I used some hi temp wheel bearing grease. They plunge in and out fine. I opened the cap on the master cylinder reservoir used an 8" C-clamp to push the pistons back in far enough to get them clear of the two nubs on the back of the pad clips. I didn't push them all the way back in figuring it wasn't necessary. They didn't seem to be seized. Took it out today and trouble still. Flex hose maybe as a cheap shot in the dark? Can't recall if it's ever been replaced. The ones on the front were a few years ago. Those calipers are $150 so I'd like to be fairly certain before shelling out to put a new one on (again). Would you try the hose first in this scenario?
I had the same issues with my back brakes and replacing the flex hoses seemed to cure my problem for about a year now. Seeing you have already done everything else would be worth a try, fairly cheap and easy also
I always seem to have trouble with reman calipers. Cardone was especially bad.
My daily car got so it was needing replaced about every year for like 4 years in a row. Finally started investigating a little and saw the piston was rusted badly. Then noticed on the new-reman part that the boot clip wasn’t secured well. I eventually started disassembling the boot, greasing the sealing portions, reinstalling and making sure to seat the clip well. That was a few years ago, so far so good.
I’m so skeptical of reman calipers that I recently bought a bracketed caliper (for other side of the car) and reused the 250k mile OEM caliper. I only needed the bracket since it was sticking at the slide.
You should check about a warranty on the caliper if it’s only a year old. Wouldn’t hurt to ask. A lot of the parts I buy have a lifetime warranty.
E99 here. Bought truck 7+ years ago with sticking brakes, mostly front actually. The rears joined in on the fun and games from time to time. Did the usual replacements, got the same results after awhile. Mitigations efforts included losing the rubber lines early on.When it got to be intractable again, it was time to figure this out. After swapping things out, I started looking closely at the old calipers. What I noticed was that a subtle ring of corrosion was forming at/right behind the piston proper. I should point out my truck will sit for weeks on end due to my travel sched. That ring of corrosion appeared to be just enough to not allow the piston to easily retract (by the dynamic action of the spinning rotor) when the brake pedal is let up on. There is no spring or active retraction force in these brakes. Anyway, what this told me moisture was a problem and I needed to focus on that.
I have since switched to DOT4 fluid (specs say 3). It has less capacity to absorb water. I am also flushing out all my fluid yearly - regardless how few miles I drive. Lastly, I have backed off on my downshifting for slowing down (manual trans) so that I am using the brakes more.
It has been 3+ years and I haven't had to drive into a lake to keep my truck from catching on fire (like I had to do once. The folks who were sitting on their porch next to the small ramp I used certainly got an eyeful).
I'm not sure how much minimizing downshifting has played a role, but I am pretty sure keeping the brake fluid fresh - by not allowing moisture to accumulate - has been the key for me.
Seems like sitting out in the weather, especially the cold wet stuff is really the kiss of death. I will also admit I have never flushed out all the fluid so maybe that is making it worse. (Is there a writeup for that?) The DOT 4 fluid is a good idea.
I think it's possible what makes the backs worse on mine is that they aren't covered by a pickup bed, so they get exposed to rain and snow when sitting. Fronts I haven't had nearly as much trouble with. One needed replaced after about 3 years and the other one is still going.
I always seem to have trouble with reman calipers. Cardone was especially bad.
My daily car got so it was needing replaced about every year for like 4 years in a row. Finally started investigating a little and saw the piston was rusted badly. Then noticed on the new-reman part that the boot clip wasn’t secured well. I eventually started disassembling the boot, greasing the sealing portions, reinstalling and making sure to seat the clip well. That was a few years ago, so far so good.
I’m so skeptical of reman calipers that I recently bought a bracketed caliper (for other side of the car) and reused the 250k mile OEM caliper. I only needed the bracket since it was sticking at the slide.
You should check about a warranty on the caliper if it’s only a year old. Wouldn’t hurt to ask. A lot of the parts I buy have a lifetime warranty.
What's a bracketed caliper?
Yeah pretty frustrating you can't even trust a part out of the box. I wonder why you can buy new starters and new alternators but with brake calipers that doesn't seem to be an option. Generally speaking I am not a fan of reman parts store parts.
Seems like sitting out in the weather, especially the cold wet stuff is really the kiss of death. I will also admit I have never flushed out all the fluid so maybe that is making it worse. (Is there a writeup for that?) The DOT 4 fluid is a good idea.
I think it's possible what makes the backs worse on mine is that they aren't covered by a pickup bed, so they get exposed to rain and snow when sitting. Fronts I haven't had nearly as much trouble with. One needed replaced after about 3 years and the other one is still going.
A full brake fluid flush would help tremendously for future problems. I think I remember skyskijason saying that the brake fluid will attract water which will cause corrosion over time. The motive power bleeder is a little pricey but IMHO well worth the investment for times like these
Brandonpx just curious if you have found any decent write-ups on changing out rear brakes on a DRW? My pad squeakers are squeaking in the rear and need to replace so figured I would ask, never had to replace the rears yet but I understand that it's much more involved than a SRW.
Brandonpx just curious if you have found any decent write-ups on changing out rear brakes on a DRW? My pad squeakers are squeaking in the rear and need to replace so figured I would ask, never had to replace the rears yet but I understand that it's much more involved than a SRW.
It's a chore if the rotors are shot. If it's just the pads that need replaced there's nothing extra special involved.
It looks like the flex hose should be replaceable with taking anything else apart? If so I guess it's worth a try. Without seeing the new part I'm a little unclear about what happens at the end connecting to the hard line. Looks like you'd need a flare wrench for the big fitting and a smaller one to hold the hard line fitting steady?
Yeah I'm going to change the rotors as well don't know when the previous owner last did them
I wouldn't touch them unless I was very positive they have worn too thin. I have another thread on the front page where I measured the fronts with a cheap digital caliper and some washers to get the caliper jaws up over the lip on the outside of the rotor. There is a link to the shop manual somewhere around here that will say what the minimum thickness is.
It looks like the flex hose should be replaceable with taking anything else apart? If so I guess it's worth a try. Without seeing the new part I'm a little unclear about what happens at the end connecting to the hard line. Looks like you'd need a flare wrench for the big fitting and a smaller one to hold the hard line fitting steady?
That little nut on the hard line just unscrews from the flex hose. I would definitely soak it with some Peavey blaster for a while first, not only on the threads but on the hard line where it meets the nut as the nut spins freely on the hard line. The new flex brake hose will come complete with a new mounting bracket. Luckily yours doesn't look too rusted up so it should be pretty simple with a little soaking to get things loosened up. I just used a regular wrench and it worked fine but I'm sure a flare wrench would probably be better
I was just meaning the bracket came with it. This car has a bracket the caliper bolts to, which then bolts to the car. The sliders are in the bracket on this model. I just needed the bracket with sliders so that’s all I used. Put a note in the box with the “new” condition caliper stating I never touched it and only used the bracket. Wonder if they remanned it again anyhow? Lol
Brake fluid change, YES!
I bought some test strips for the antifreeze check. The other side would check brake fluid. I was shocked at how bad the fluid “read” on my garage queen truck.
To flush I just had someone help me do a heavy brake bleed process.
1- sucked out what I could from master cylinder
2- added new fluid
3- bleed at passenger rear
4- keep refilling master cylinder
5- repeat until fluid looked clean, and then some just for good measure
6- repeat for other wheels
It took about 1 large jug to complete the job.
