I have a 97 F150 4x4, the front brake pads will burn and stop working in a short period of time. I have upgraded to ceramic pads but no help. new rotors and brake hoses to front. The new pads will only work after replaced for a short time and only if your VERY easy on the brakes. I burnt one set of pads just burning them in. I have a good pedal but only rear brakes work. The calipers will work past the area where the pads burn so I'm sure the calipers are ok. Any suggestions?

 

The push rod the comes out of the brake booster and goes into the master cylinder is probably adjusted out too far. Turn it in a couple of turns and see if that helps. Have you had your master cylinder changed?

 

Something is keeping excessive pressure on the pads.
They are only supposed to barely have a little contact pressure.
I would look at the hoses to see if there is a buldge indicating the inner shell has a hole and leaking fluid to the out shell and causing pressure to be applied to the pads without braking.
The other place to look into is the anti lock circuit keeping pressure on the calipers.
Also be sure the calipers relax pressure after application and the wheels turn. If not you see the fault from whatever reason.

 

do both sides burn or just one side of the disc? how do you know they are burnt? does the disc show damage or just glazing on the disc. are yo usure the rear brakes are applying and helping or is the front doing all the work?

 

Bluegrass, yes the calipers do relax after applied when jacked up off the ground and both rubber hoses to calipers have been changed.
Steve, yes both sides burn up and harden to where they will not work, yes the rear brakes are working because thats all I have when the front stop working. what about the proportioning valve would that do it? (may be misspelled)

 

Torkum, no the master cyl has not been changed or has it ever been off the truck.

 

Well, you have something going on that has to be found.
The next thing to do is put pressure gages in front and rear lines and look at the pressure being applied if all else seems not to be obvious by looking.
There is bias to cut the pressure to the rear so they don't lock from the weight shift forward during braking. The device has a calibrated ramp up application so needs to be kept OEM for replacement and not one out of just any other model. Putting different pads on front and rear will even change the bias as will different tires' grip etc under hard braking.
ABS problems??
This testing will tell you either it's pressure out of bias or the calipers are not functioning as intended.
I tow at gross weights over 11,000 using Titanium pads in full sets and have never had overheating problems. These pads are an execellent improvement over the OEM pads for stopping power with no other changes.
Good luck with it.

 

Perhaps the master cylinder itself is not allowing a full release of pressure.

 

are the front disc burnt? how do you know the front pads "burn", what is the symptom you notice? lots of pad glaze on the surface. they are not burnt and they still function.