Greetings,

New to the forum. I just picked up a 2003 B3500 RAM VAN . Recent oil change, trans flush and fuel flush.

I was hoping to check out the brakes tomorrow. I am pretty sure I've got either a stuck caliper or a plugged hose. I bought the full monty just in case. Calipers. rotors, pads, guide pins etc.

Symptoms: Van drives pretty well. At speeds 30 and under, you hardly notice anything when applying the brakes. 35 and up, when you step on the brakes van veers hard left, counter it with right steering, then let off the brake and the van veers hard right.

Also it appears there is some brake drag (not sure where). I don't think it's a severe drag as i never smell anything burning, but I do feel a bit of drag when starting from a stop. I do notice that after a fairly short drive (5 miles) Both front rims are rather warm/hot. Rears are cool. E-brake holds well.

I'm not sure how many of my parts I am going to have to use, but I wanted to be as prepared as I can be,

The calipers and rotors are huge. I noticed the rotors have races in them. I've always been told to use bearings and races in sets. If I end up using them, do I take the races out of the old rotors and put them in the new ones? Do I buy new bearing and race sets for inner and outer on both sides?

I've done many many of brake jobs on various cars and pickups so I have a fair amount of experience. But I don't do it for a living. I was hoping to find a DIY or vid that showed a B3500 front brake job. Most of what I saw were 4x4 trucks with different front ends or 2500s.

I'm hoping I can keep the original rotors. I suspect the calipers and pads are pretty straightforward. With any luck it's just a brake hose.

Any thoughts, tips, suggestions appreciated.

Thanks....

PS. Yes, already looking at shop manuals on Ebay. I saw one called a supplement. It makes mention that I need to get the 2002 service manual, and that this 2003 manual is a "supplement". Thoughts? Thanks.

 

common issue on these vans is that the front rubber brake hoses deteriorate on the inside and hold the fluid from flowing back keeping the brakes on... replace both sides and bleed

 

For some reason over the years my passenger front brakes have always been more problematic than the left side. guess as alloro has said, that side tends get get more abuse... curbs, puddles etc.
I replaced calipers,pads and the soft brake lines about 3 years ago due to the passenger side caliper was sticking and beginning to groove up the rotor.
I didn't replace rotors or bearings but sanded and scored the rotors and cleaned and repacked bearings. I know... not the correct way to do things but the results were good and normal brakes (night to day difference) ever since, till this happened...

A few days ago, 10 minutes into a 30 minute drive to home my steering wheel began to shake and progressively get worse, it was pulling opposite of yours, to the left and applying brake pulled to the right.
I pulled off at the next exit and in the rain crawled under to take a look, shook the wheels but all seemed good to me. I decided to get to the next off ramp and see how it goes, but the shaking had not returned so made it home no problem.
Drove it the rest of the week with no apparent issues but seeing through the wheel spokes have noticed that the outer rotor is now getting grooved pretty bad. looks like i may be doing some similar brake work as you soon
I haven't had the wheel off yet for a closer look but thinking the caliper was sticking and heated up that day causing the shaky wheel and pulling.

 

Thanks JFloors and RSdata,

I embarked on the issue early this AM and some initial testing on the passenger side revealed just as RSData said... a bad hose. I replaced both sides, and then did a complete fluid replace and bleed. Brakes are back to normal. I was able to replace a few zirk fittings and grease up some well needed joints.

Thanks again.

P.../NH