I finally decided to put new brakes on my 88' I recently acquired from my grandfather, only 70k. I had to push pretty hard to get it to stop and sometimes had a slight jerky feeling when coming to a stop (even without applying break just not as noticeable).

Ha! This is what the brake pads looked like, there are cracks all over them!



Even worse the rotors!




I went out and bought the best brakes I could find locally, Wagner premium front pads. I wish I took a picture of them they must be at LEAST 3x as thick:



New front rotors as well, I think I had two to choose from and these were supposedly the better of the two (or maybe just more expensive):



Also new rear shoes, again Wagner were the "premium" option (Advanced Auto). I did not get new drums though, I just took a hand grinder to the ridge and threw them back on there (grandfather told me to do it..)





NOW... the problems, for one the shroud that goes around the back of the rotor is deteriorating. When I installed the new rotor it was rubbing on the back ever so slightly so we took the hand grinder to what was left of the flange on the tip of the shroud and then some. After that the rotors spun nice and freely, so even when I get new oem shrouds they probably will not fit either (which I definitely need to replace because these are rotten bad). Now that they spin freely we put the calipers back on, used C-clamps to get the new pads in and such. The rotor/pads/caliper is a tight assembly now, very tight. They do not spin freely with the front end on a jack stand, moving them by hand. The drivers side is much tighter/turns harder, I do not know where to start?? Wrong rotors, the combo could require new calipers, who knows. I took it for a test drive and they work amazing, you barley have to touch them to start to grab..and smoothly! There is no difference in idle forward rolling, I do feel as if there is a small impact to my acceleration though so I'm concerned. Can anyone give me some pointers??

 

Having replaced the brakes a couple times on my dakota, I can definitely help you with this one.

I would get rid of the shroud/guard, you don't need them, I wouldn't even bother getting new ones, they aren't good for much of anything and just cause problems such as vibrating, rubbing etc. I took the ones off the front of my dakota a few years ago for these exact problems.

As for the rubbing you have now, you may need to just bleed the brakes some more. I would get a quart or 2 of brake fluid handy and have a friend pump the brakes while you control the bleeder valve so you can get all the air out of the brake lines via the bleeder valves on the brake calipers.

I hope the picture on the box in the second to last picture you posted does not match the pads you got because those are for rear drum brakes and you need front disc brake pads. I realize you have your brakes all back together etc. and they seem to be working ok for the most part and it would be difficult to put those pads on the front of your truck. But if by some chance you managed to mount those pads on the front of your truck I would take them off immediately because they are the wrong ones, lol.

The pads you need for the front rotors look exactly like this: http://images.marketplaceadvisor.cha...BORBP529-2.jpg .

Good luck, let us know how it goes?

 

The shroud/guard isint there to protect from water/snow? I was going to try to grab some off a 92-96 from a junkyard if they will fit on my 88'

My grandfather has bled brakes thousands of times and claimed since we did not open up the air lines that they do not need to be bled but I insisted he tried and all he did was opened them without a full bleed, it helped but not much. I plan on trying a full bleed tomorrow morning, and no haha those shoes went on the rear drums.

Yes I got the correct pads except I do not think they had that flare down on the edges.

I just Googled the rotor # and it comes up as a 10" now I believe they had either a 9" or 10" available but since the Dakota came with a 14" or 15" wheel, and mine are 14" I should have the 9" rotors which is what I thought I told them to order...

 

You may have a caliper that is not releasing completely, or a brake line that is collapsing, holding a bit of pressure on the brakes. If the vehicle pulls to one side when braking, or the wheels get hot to the touch after a drive of a few miles (can't put your hand on the wheel(s) and leave it) then something's definitely not right. Also, if the brakes are binding/sticking, you will usually be able to smell the brake liner material after you stop and get out of the truck. Any of those things happening?

 

It does not pull to one side when braking that I noticed. I went around the block getting up to 55mph and slowing down rapidly but slowly (5 or 6 times) and then touched the inner hub caps, they were slightly warm but not hot. I did however smell the brakes when I got out of the vehicle but then again they are new.

 

Yeah, you can smell new pads normally. If you drive 15 minutes, and the brakes are not releasing fully, the wheels (in my experience) will get too hot to leave your hand on. You shouldn't have to bleed the brakes doing a brake job, as long as you didn't open any brake lines. If the wheels aren't getting real hot, the brakes aren't dragging much. Maybe you didn't have one of the cylinders mashed completely in its bore when you put it all back together. That would explain the wheel being harder to turn when it was up on jacks, but wouldn't cause a problem when you got on the road.

 

Well today I took a 10 mile drive (about 15 min) and when I got back I touched the hub spindle that sticks through the rim, it was slightly warm to the touch but certainly not hot. We tried bleeding the brakes fully, and it did not help it only switched from a snugger drivers side to a snugger passenger side now and the drivers side is about as loose as the passenger side was before the bleeding. I measured the hubs they are 10-1/2" both new and the old, the fact the stiffer side swapped after bleeding the brakes makes me think it is not a problem with the hardware but rather the L/R balance on the calipers/lines know what I mean?

 

I just did front and back brakes. i got great brake drums from junk yard. i didnt need to even have them turned. everything went on great on right rear, but kept having prob with left rear. (hub didnt wanna go on). I had to disable the emergency brake on left side (must have been stuck). the hub finally went on, but after driving short distances the hub is too hot to touch. i took apart and put together a few times. still wants to "stick". any ideas?

 

We used the old bearings which were fine but with the new race that was in the new rotors, my grandfather insisted there was no point and hed "done it a million times". Here are 2 photos of the old races I knocked out of the old rotors, it does kind of sound noisy at 55+ but I think it's the mild studded snow tires I can't tell I just hope a bearing is not dragging.

 

on the front did you put anti sieze on the caliber brackets and also did you make sure the pads slide in them, if the pads are not sliding in the brackets it can make them feel hard to spin, On the back, the cable you said you unhooked isnt getting caught inside the drum is it? no fluid from wheel cyl on drum? springs on right pulling shoes back after brakes are applied? just some things that come to mind