Well, tonight on my way home from town I was driving casually on the gravel road and all this sudden I heard a loud squeal from my drivers side. I stopped, got out to inspect and couldn't find anything wrong. I looked around and took notice that the sound was not comming from the engine compartment. As soon as I started moving again the truck started to screech. So I limped all the way home and popped off the tire to investigate. I found that my drivers side front brake caliper had locked up. I can't find any reason of why this would occur, I wasn't even using the brakes when the sound started. So I lubed everything up and attempted to pry the side out a little ways to free it...no good. I got inside and pumped on the pedal a little in hope that it would release on its own...no good, in fact it made it worse to where the wheel barely spins. I took a wrench and bled the caliper thinking that maybe it would let the pressure off...still no good. I used some brake cleaner on the whole assembly and still hasn't made a difference. I lubed it up one more time all around the caliper and will check on it in the morning. Any ideas of what could cause this and how can I fix it? I am getting frusterated and running out of options here. Any imput would help thanks. I will try and get some pictures in the morning if that helps any...

 

Pull the caliper locking pins and disassemble the brakes, it could be a cocked piston stuck in the bore or a stone jammed in the space between rotor/caliper/pad?????.

Did you do any maintenance to the brakes lately, how thick are the pads.

 

The brake pads look like new and are pretty thick. I'd say about 1/4" on the pads. I have not done any maintenance since I bought the truck as far as the brakes go. I forgot to mention above that when I took off the tire I noticed a piece of quartz that looked like it had been milled down real good was resting on the inside of the rim. It was not in the brake system but it had taken some wear. I will disassemble the brake in the morning and go from there. Thanks PLC7.3

 

If you still got the factory calipers then replace them they used plastic pistons and in general were not very good quality. Mine started seizing up right around 60k and I replaced them with aftermarket calipers.

It is usually rains for 9 out 12 month of the year here in British Columbia so my caliper lock pins tend to rust up due to the moisture that gets in them. I have made it a habit to remove my calipers every six month, clean up all the rust and re-install with a thin coat of Never-Seize. Never have had any sticking problems after that.

Seb......

 

Mine have lasted 15 years and about 57,000 miles... I will look into aftermarket parts for these, thanks. I have never seen these just lock up like that though. I guess I am just lucky that I decided to take the gravel road home instead of the highway...

 

Dave,
Several years ago I had a car that had a front brake caliper lock up, or so I thought. It turned out to be something very odd. The flexible rubber line feeding the caliper colapsed with pressure on the caliper. It applied pressure, then colasped and would not allow fluid to return keeping the brake locked up.

Good luck

 

Gumbo. ..........as stated above he bled the caliper so that should not still be a problem unless he pumped the brakes and reloaded the hose......??

 

I have not pumped the brakes since I bled the line

 

Dave, I'm not sure what year you have but this is what i did on my 93.

There are two guide pins that let the brake caliper center itself during braking. Remove the 3/4” bolts and slide the caliper off rotor. The pins have small black dust boots on them is these are cracked or missing get new ones. Do the pins slide in and out easily? If you can’t pull them all the way out then they might be rusted in place. If you can get them out wire wheel them, clean the bore out and paint them with anti-seize before putting them back together. If they are tight in the bore remove the boots by gently pulling them over the pins. Spray the pin / bore area with PB blaster. Using a heavy plastic, lead hammer, or hammer and drift try to drive the pins out by hitting the flat area that contacts the caliper, when you look at the pins you’ll see what I mean there is a half moon lip on two sides of the pin that helps keep the caliper locked in place. The pins themselves have flats on them that match the bore and will not turn they need to come straight out! I tried heating and spraying PB blaster for about a week. Finally I drilled a hole on the opposite side of the pin, sprayed it up with PB and beat it out with a 5/16” punch and a 2-pound hammer. Make sure it’s on a good set of jack stands. Also make sure the hole is maybe 3/8” because the punch will round over and you wont get it out. I hit it a few times real good then removed the punch and ground the mushroom off the end – hit and repeat. Once I got it out (thank god I had to do only 1) I cleaned the whole thing up and drilled and taped the punch hole for a short 1/2” set screw. Replaced the pads, buttered everything up with anti-seize and put it back together. I bought a truck that the guy parked in a field – I know stuck brakes! Every spring I pull the front and back brakes clean them and put anti-seize on them…

As someone mentioned above the pistons are plastic and they will break if you try to pry the caliper back from the rotor.

The second best thing I ever did besides buying a diesel was getting a ½” drive impact wrench - 93

 

These are all good points and worth investigating. I'd like to clarify the brake line issue, though. The rubber brake line actually swells, which restricts the fluid flow. Applying the brakes can overcome the restriction easily, but when the brakes are released, the restriction is able to keep much of the hydraulic pressure in the caliper, which causes the caliper to hang up. This is and inherent problem on the F-series trucks.

 

93_E_350, I tried your process but my caliper was completely shot from what I could tell.

matts156, is there a way to correct that problem?

 

You'll have to replace the hose. They're not very long, and pretty cheap. Autozone has them for $15.99 for the driver's side. Passenger side is $23.99 (I think it's longer).

 

Alright, when I go in tomorrow to get a new caliper I will check on the hose too. Thanks Everyone for your imput, saved me alot of hassle

 

I talked to one of the guys who works at the Carquest in town earlier. He said they sell remans and new ones. The newer ones have a different setup if he remembers right (also more expensive) but he said to bring in the old one to compare. My question, is it a good idea to go with the reman caliper? I have heard alot of guff about reman parts but are calipers any different?

 

I've been using remanufactured calipers in various applications for years. I've rebuilt a few myself and seldom had a problem. They're so simple that there's little to go wrong with them. Many come with a lifetime warranty anyway even though they're remanufactured, so if you do get a bad one you can always just get a new one.

One thing with the Ford truck calipers is that the two pin sets that hold them in place need to be lubricated with antiseize. Also, make sure there's no rust on the caliper glide surfaces and that they're lubricated both in the v-groove and the flat surface next to it. Make it a thin coat of antiseize, though, so it doesn't run down on to the brake rotor or pads when things heat up.