I've some issues with my truck severly pulling to the right under braking but not all the time. I was told first it could be a tie rod by a tire shop since they saw the boot was split on it. I changed that and had alignment done and that's fine now. I noticed the brake pads were worn down prematurely when they showed me the tie rod. It was still pulling sometimes after the tie rod and alignment so I checked the brakes. The calipers were suspected of sticking. The entire brake system short of the metal lines was redone in 2019. Not even 30,000 miles since then. I replaced the calipers and pads today under warranty and bled the brakes. The pedal feels right. That was a chore to get it bled by myself. It actually pulls even more to the right now. I noticed when I was bleeding the brakes there was fluid coming from the bleeder screws on the calipers but not much from the right. Could the brake hose have failed in that short of a time or is there something wrong with master cylinder? Or is there still air in the system? Following the Ford symptom chart it ends up stating to replace the caliper, which I already did. Should I replace the right side brake hose or do both? Could the bleeder screw do anything? The new bleeder screw head was rounded off so I had to take it out with vice grips and install the old one. For bleeding I tried the vacuum pump which was a waste of time and then the one man bleeder kit which kinda worked. Then tried gravity bleeding. That seemed to work the best.

 

You could loosen the hose fitting at the caliper and see if fluid exits. That would answer the failing hose question. Work your way backward until you get fluid flow.

 

I'm not sure what's going on with this Ranger. Everything serviceable in the entire brake system was replaced by my mechanic in 2019 which it's only been 23,000 miles. I suspected the calipers were sticking awhile back but it wasn't really bad but now after replacing them I can't even drive it. I guess it wasn't bad before because the brake pads were already getting thin. Now along with the calipers the pads are new. I always have a hard time bleeding the brakes myself, since anyone I can call is 2+ hours away so they usually can't come to help. So I went to Summit yesterday because it's local and I bought the Motive Pressure bleeder. I can home and took the bleeder screws out and put some teflon tape around the threads and bled both the calipers. I did until it was totally free of air, didn't take long. It has a good pedal feel but I imagine because the calipers are stuck too. When I bled the system both sides bled normally. So I'm not thinking it's a hose. Once I got done I tried to drive it just around my neighborhood and right back home. Both front wheels are locked, it immediately was pulling as soon as I left the driveway. I could still turn the wheel by hand but it took a lot of effort. The driver's side took a little less but still more than it should. I did Ford's test of the booster and the check valve. They both passed. I did order some new hoses just in case. I'm thinking that maybe the master cylinder has failed. Is there anything else I could check first?

 

Put the old pads back in and see what happens.

Another cause for sticking brakes is a misadjusted booster rod. It holds the master cylinder piston forward and blocks the return port in the cylinder. You can check that by loosening a bleed screw when the brakes are stuck. If you get a squirt and the brakes unstick then you have a fluid return problem.

You ignored my fist surggestion about your first problem with no fluid from the right front bleed screw. I assume that the pressure bleeder solved that problem? I have used a broomstick on the brake pedal to do a one-man brake bleeding job. Press the pedal down, prop the stick against the seat, loosen and tighten the bleed screw, let the pedal back up. Repeat. It works well, although it takes longer.

 

Oh I did crack the bleeder before I started today on both sides. It's not a stream, it steady dribble, no air bubbles. I took one bleeder at a time out so I could put some teflon around the threads to keep the tiny bubbles from showing up confusing me when I was doing the pressure bleeding. I had already sent the warranty parts back so I don't have old pads or calipers anymore. I too thought maybe it was a collapsed hose. But they still look fresh from being replaced a few years ago and when I did the pressure bleeder both sides bled normally. Not really any air bubbles coming out the whole time, just a few and then a nice steady stream. Pedal doesn't feel spongy at all, but I assume because the pistons are pretty much pushed out against the pads. It's been a couple hours since I messed with this afternoon and I just went outside because I need to get my Dakota out of the garage and the front brakes were still stuck. You can feel it. I'm trying to read through the Ford service manual and it's referring to something called the fluid control valve but it doesn't show it or say where it is. That's one of the possibilities that come's up. It's RABS only, which all that was done too at the same time. The brake module and the RABS valve. No Brake or ABS lights on either.

 

Crack the bleeders when the brakes are stuck. Doesn't look like you've done that. If they don't come unstuck then you don't have a pressure problem.

You can also loosen the master cylinder from the booster and see if the pressure is relieved.

In short - find out if it's a retained pressure problem. Then find out why the pressure is being retained.

If the pads slid right in when you installed them in the mounted calipers it has to be a retained pressure problem. Unless you had the pads loaded when you installed the calipers and bolting the calipers down bound the pads up. Might be that you have the wrong calipers for the mounts and rotors. If you don't find a pressure problem loosen the caliper mounting bolts and see if the wheels free up.

Good luck.

 

As I follow the different Ford service manual symptom charts that's where it's leading to. If I crack the caliper bleeders when both wheels are locked and it releases would I have to re-bleed them? If I unbolt the master cylinder from the booster would I have to do the bench bleeding or system bleeding again? I noticed it has a bleeder screw on the master cylinder, when is that used? I don't really see Ford mentioning it in detail in the service manual. First I followed the symptom chart for a brake pull which led me to replacing the calipers. Then I moved onto the next closest symptom which was brakes drag under light pedal pressure. Answering all the questions it said to replace the brake pressure control valve with a known good one and retest. It bolts between the master cylinder port and the brake line. It's part number XL2Z-2C161-AA. That might be the only original brake part left on the truck which now has 422,000 miles. It's a non cruise control truck too so there's no switch on the front but inline there's a valve that the brake line screw into. Not much detail on it as well in the service manual. It looks like it's still available. When I put the new calipers on they were already compressed so the pads and everything went on smooth, I put caliper grease on the pins because there wasn't much there and torqued everything down to factory specs.

 

I don't know if there's any other suggestions but I tried to fix the stuck caliper on my 98 Ranger today. First I cracked the bleeders as suggested but there wasn't a stream of fluid on either side just a normal drip. Still couldn't move the wheel on the passenger side. I went on to replace both front hoses and the brake pressure control valve on the master cylinder with a new $60 one from Ford. I bled system twice. This time I did all 4 wheels since I had to disconnect a line at the master cylinder. I ran out of time and when I got finished. The driver's side wheel was a little easier to move, maybe almost normal with the new pads already on there. The passenger side is totally locked up. On Saturday I'll try and unbolt the master cylinder from the booster to see what happens there. I'm also going to try and remove the passenger side caliper and see if I notice anything wrong. Is it possible that I could have gotten the warranty replacement caliper which is now sticking? If I get it off and press in the pistons with a c-clamp does that mean the caliper is working right?

 

If the brakes are stuck with the bleed screws open then you must have a physical binding problem. There's no pressure to push the pads against the rotors.

Loosen the caliper bolts and watch to see if anything moves. See if the wheels turn. Sounds like either wrong rotors or wrong calipers.

Might also be something odd like the rotors being misaligned due to bearing problems. Are you sure the bearings and races and seals are properly seated?

 

I'm going to try and remove the caliper on Saturday. The driver's side freed up but don't know if it will stay freed up. We changed rotors, bearings, seals at the same time in 2019. They were actually Motorcraft and they only offered one rotor for 4-wheel ABS and 2-wheel ABS so it has the ring on the back. I thought that was strange. I remember when I was just changing out the caliper I turned the rotor and it was nice and smooth, no binding, no play. I told my mechanic the last thing I can do myself is swap out the master cylinder. I'll check the pushrod length too then. Around here it will be over $100 just to tow it to my mechanic's shop. At least all this stuff I'm doing is under warranty. I'd actually like to find out what was causing it before giving up. I've spent $91 on the Motive pressure bleeder but I've wanted one for awhile. I was going to ask when I was doing the bleeding procedure I noticed the master cylinder had a bleeder screw. Should I be bleeding it too sometime in the procedure? I guess it wouldn't work using the pressure bleeder since it's hooked up to the master cylinder cap.

 

Air in the system will cause less force on the rotor. More bleeding won't help a sticking problem. When you open the bleed screw you're opening the area directly behind the pistons that apply the force on the pads. If the bleed screw is open there can't be any pressure behind the pistons forcing the pads against the rotors.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

I haven't been able to figure this problem out or attempt to all week as I've been working. I want to try and remedy it this weekend. Last time I worked on it, after swapping the hoses, adding the brake pressure control valve, and bleeding the entire system it seemed as if the LH front was freed up. Before both wheels were locked, the RH side totally and the LH not so much. Now the LH side is turning more normally. The RH side is totally locked up. I was asking elsewhere and some Ranger owners let me know to check the ears of the brake pads. That they had to file their's down because they were too tight in the bracket. I remember when installing the new pads they were kinda hard to get in there. Although all the spring clips were new too so I associated it with that. I plan on trying to remove the RH front caliper this weekend to recheck my work there. Is there a quick way to determine if that replacement caliper is actually bad too? Obviously if the pistons won't compress or compress hard with a c-clamp then it's bad. Is that the only way to tell? I've got a new master cylinder in the box that I could throw on. Would it be worth trying that out? If I replace the master cylinder too would having a pressure bleeder aid in helping get all the air out in case my bench bleed didn't get all the air out of the new master cylinder?

 

You're not following up on previous suggestions.

 

I had time before work so I loosened the caliper bolts and tried to turn the wheel it was still stuck. I took the caliper off and the pads were pretty tight in the bracket. I took them out filed down the ears a little and put some new Motorcraft clips on. I pushed the pistons back in and they went in normal, no binding. I bolted everything on and went in and pushed the pedal in a few times and rechecked the wheel. It was spinning freely. So I cranked it up and pushed the pedal a few times and rechecked the wheel. It was locked up. Also with it running it feels like there is air in the system too. Without engine running it felt normal. Also the rotor isn’t interfering with anything. With the caliper off the wheel spun freely.

 

So the pistons are either getting stuck themselves when the hydraulic pressure forces them out of their bores, or the pistons are jamming the pads in to a tight spot on the calipers. One the jamming occurs they don't come unstuck (pistons or pads).

I would examine the contact area between the pads and pistons very closely, and between the pads and calipers. Bright light, magnifier, feeler gauges, whatever it takes.

Don't forget also the pins that the calipers slide on. They can get corroded or bent. The caliper has to slide freely on the pins. Many people miss that because they're hidden in a rubber boot and the way the whole system works can be misunderstood. The whole caliper and pads slide on the pins as the pads wear, and a little bit each time the brakes are applied. It's called a "floating caliper" system.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...lide+pin,10281

There's a bunch of videos out there of varying quality but this one is pretty good. Guide pin, slide pin, same thing.