Must be a bad weekend for cars. Everyone I know seems to be having trouble with their vehicles this weekend!

Mugly left on the side of the road in Anchorage this weekend but I can't be upset. SO many times I should have been stuck on the road, I wasn't. This time, she left me and my girlfriend at a fine restaurant with a brewery. Thats called thoughtfulness!


Got the truck towed 120 miles home. With AAA, I only paid for 20 miles which ended up at 80 bucks. Up in Alaska, Ford charged 96.00 an hour for labor so I still consider myself ahead.


The long story short: The brakes had been making some odd noises lately and I had thought to myself that perhaps the brakes were sticking. While driving down to anchorage, I noticed alot of odd sounds from the brakes and figured I would check them out when I got home. Sure enough at my second stop of the day, I go out to move the truck into a different spot and notice the brake pedal hitting the floor. I get out to find the right rear caliper leaking fluid everywhere.

In the end I got the truck towed home over night and a GOOD friend drove all the way down to pick us up and bring us home.

When the truck arrived today I was already in the driveway with a camera and tools so that I could investigate and report quickly.

Conclusion at this point: Pinched brake line along the axle force the right rear caliper to stay engaged at all times. This heated the brake pad and rotor over time. Finally the pad gave away and broke, which caused the pistons from the caliper to drag along the rotor. Eventually the rotor wore down in Anchorage and fluid began leaking profusely from the caliper.

Estimated replacements: Right rear caliper, right rear brake line along axle, two rear rotors and two rear brake pads. Probably going to go ahead and use this time to replace my rear axle seals and diff fluid.

I have already scanned RiffRaff's site and I can't quite find the pads for me. Do I need to replace the fronts too? This can get expensive in a hurry and I was somewhat hoping to make a mini roadtrip to California in October, but obviously I won't do it if the truck isn't right.


Let me know what you guys think. I am on my bike for the rest of this month so I want to make sure I get this done right. I just paid off all my CCs too, so of course this would happen.

 

Wow, that's quite the destruction. I would fix all the parts that are broken in the right rear (how's the rotor look?), replace the pads in the front only if needed, regrease all the slide pins on all calipers, front and rear and flush the brake fluid.

 

You're on the right track, Alex. Check the front pads and replace only if needed. No sense throwing away good parts. You probably have the brake fluid pretty well drained, except for what is in the other three brake lines. Definitely bleed those and you should be good to go.

I thought vehicles for a long time had separate chambers for the front and rear brake fluid so you would still have half your brakes if one end let loose. Has this changed?

 

No, this has not changed. Since it's a safety thing, the Feds can mandate it.

Alex MIGHT have made it home with half a brake system, but he was much wiser to have done it this way.

What we aren't sure of is the pre-failure condition of the front brake system. If it had previously failed, and was just "waiting for the other shoe to drop", he would have experienced complete brake system failure when the rears went.

As a result, I'd be looking that front system over real carefully, too!

Alex, it was very wise getting Mugly back to your "home turf" to wrench on.

Pop

 

I concur. Replace what you planned in the back and inspect the front carefully and flush/bleed the whole system.

 

So the rotor is definitely toasted too. Can I replace just one rotor or should I replace both the rear rotors and pads at the same time? I figure everything should be changed evenly per axle.


When flushing the brakes, what order should I go in? Start with the furthest or the closests brake lines?

 

check your rear brake line from the front to the back they rot out behind the fuel tank if it looks bad make a new one sense you are there anyway

 

passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, driver front. That's how I did mine from others advise.

 

I would put new pads and rotors on the rear inspect the front and replace whats needed. have you fixed anything else on the truck since the advetures last winter?

 

Hey Alex,you know how WE do it...without pics...it didn't happen...LOL

 

I know exactly how its done here and you should know I LOVE posting pictures. I will get some up when I get a chance right now I am busy working a 15 days stretch while the gf is out of town.

Figured if the truck don't run, I shouldn't rest!