2003 Dodge Ram 1500, 5.9L 4x4

Ive put about 25k miles on my truck since I bought it two years ago (currently at 125k), and I figured it was time for new rear brake pads. I decided to go ahead and replace the rotors as well, even though they're in decent shape. When I got the pads off on the right side, I noticed that there's been a fairly severe amount of uneven wear on one of the pads. Has anyone else experienced this/know what might be causing it? I'm hoping new rotors will help solve the issue, but I'm just trying to be safe here, as I don't want to replace the pads prematurely. Thanks in advance for the input.

 

Caliper sticking. Either internally. Or its sticking on the pins. Make sure you lube the pins. Check in a month to see how the wear is.

 

What he said^^^

Its not the piston in the calliper sticking, as on the rears as theres only one brake piston so the pad would be worn across its whole surface. The fronts have two pistons in the calipers, so i could see a piston in the front sticking causing this uneven wear. I think therefore, its one of the calliper slider pins and judging by your pic, its the lower one.
Theres two slider pins in both front and rear calipers. Upper and lower, contained within rubber boots/gators.
Over time, the lube goes and salt and grime gets into the boots. This rusts/oxidises the slider pins causing them to stick. The boots themselves can also be pierced or split, worsening this. Check your caliper brake piston rubber sealing gators for this also, as if split torn or worn, will also cause the calliper pistons to stick/jam.
The calliper sliders should be able to be pressed reasonably easily into and through the calliper, by hand. Hence the trem "sliding" caliper pins.
Either replace and renew the pins boots and calliper bolt and use new high temp brake pin grease or, clean everything up if theyre all ok and renew/replace the grease.
Just make sure that the pins can slide through the caliper easily both ways.
The floating calliper desing of these brakes, means the pads should actually just literally float above the rota when not in use. So if one pin is sticking/stuck, one end of the pad drags on the rota as its not releasing and floating, causing the premature wearing as in your pic.
If you have put everything back together without checking those pins, everything needs to come back off as you will have the same issues in the near future.
Whenever I check my pads which is twice a year, i always take the callipers off, clean all the dust away and examine the pads and rotas for wear. I then re-assemble every thing, greasing up the pins if necessary making sure they slide freely.
I also dab some anti sieze compound to the backs of the pads and caliper piston face on re assebly. This stops any brake squeel from happening.
Hope this helps bud and dont forget to use a torque wrench to tighten the caliper bolts correctly.
Al.

 

the pins are the key.... clean, not dirty/RUST/brake grit/.... and NOT BENT...

the pins are cheap to purchase... if any question of condition.. replace.