I did my front drakes on a 2001 4wd abitu a month ago. New rotors / pads and 1 caliper. The truck has 135K on it. Just this past week the side that I DID NOT replace the caliper on started grabbing and at times locking up under medium to heavy braking conditions.
Does this sound like a caliper to you guys? I don't think it is a proportioning valve or bith front wheels would lock I believe.
Also - completely flushed the brake fluid at time of brake work.

 

i replace calipers in pairs if one is bad then the other maybe on its way out

 

i would say to replace the calipers in pairs too under normal conditions, the other possibility is a collapsed rubber brake line if you didnt replace that with the caliper, i would have.

 

Thanks guys - I did swap the other caliper today and I think the problem is gone but it is raining here so I can't get into a hard brake situation.
I didn't even think about the rubber hose - good call.

 

you can feel the rim to see if it is hotter then the other side to see if it is dragging

 

I replaced the caliper on the side that the truck is pulling to.
The problem still exists - I replaced the caliper before I saw the comment about the rubber line so I have another question.
The pads and the rotor looked good on the side the truck pulls to and this only occurs intermittently under medium to hard braking sitiations.
At times the wheel will actually lock.
My question is - does the rubber hose still sound liek a possibilty since the side that it pulls towards also locks up?
Is the thought that the line is collapsed and then with enough pressure from the fluid the line opens sending a rush of fluid to the piston?

 

To answer your question, there is 2 separate outcomes here.

1. Those gouges in the control arm surface is a problem! Those entire flat surfaces should be ground down slightly to alleviate any groves. What happens is during braking (especially hard braking), since the pads just sit in those groves by the pad hangers they grasp the rotor and SLAM forward. The grove in the control arm stops them and keeps them in the right place. Well the energy MUST go somewhere and those pad hangers dig in and BAM, you get groves. Now you leave those groves without sanding and what happens is the new pad arms slide into those old groves on the control arm and "pinch" the pad in the rotor. Usually on the forward side concerting that braking is mostly on the forward rotation. There will be very little on the reverse rotation side. Now what you need to do is remove the pads and make sure they are not cracked in the middle. What happens is since the top of the pad is getting pinched in the grove on the control arm, the other side is up in the air with not much pressure on it so it is forced to bend in half and crack the pad in the middle. Now after you sand down the control arm slightly (just enough to get a semi-smooth flat surface for the pad arms to ride in (I use a very small grinder) you place brake grease to the new surface so that the pad arms can slide easily without groves. Now the trick is you can only grind enough to be safe and not too much or you can loose the pads and you can crash so be careful. If the groves are huge then get new control arms. In fact the best way is only grind on them once or maybe twice AND THAT'S IT! Next clean and grease the slide pins and caliper slide holes so that the calipers slide easily on the pins (bolts). Next when installing new rotors you must clean them! You use brake cleaner and rinse the oil off the new rotors BEFORE installation. If you didn't do this then take them back off, clean the rotors and rough them up lightly with sand paper and clean and rough up the pads and re-assemble (might as well do this if you didn't sand out the groves on the control arm anyway). Either way all these can lead to your issue.

2. Yes it could be a line. Replace the line on the sticky side. If the issue continues replace the other side. Do not heat the brake lines to get them free as this will boil the brake fluid (which is NOT an oil) and ruin it and possibly leave hunks of crap to go into the new caliper.

3. Also ensure that you give the brake system a full bleed and replace all the fluid with a brand new bottle of DOT 3 fluid.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...3-durango.html
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...nt-rotors.html



Disclaimer: Do at your own risk. What is stated here, I or the forum, is not liable for any misshapenings during wrenching, driving, alien abduction, drunken rage, or any other. This might be out of the average persons mechanical knowledge or safe zone. Please take your vehicle to a certified mechanic if needed or out of your mechanical range.

 

I had a problem with one of the front calipers locking. The series of events was such: the cross over brake line from the master cyllinder split on the front brake. replaced the brake line and bled the system. The caliper kept locking up so after numerous attempts to find the issue. (re-bleed the brakes, grease the slides and finally replacing the caliper. It ended up being the master cylinder was the culprit.