My 99 Durango 4x4 has a growling noise in the front and the brake pedal pulsates when the brakes are applied. Also the ABS lite comes on, then goes off. I found a Dodge bullitin that covered this problem, their solution was to change the front brake pads. Well I did this, and they did need changing bad, but it did not solve the growling/pulsating problem. Could it need a power brake booster? It will not do it everytime the brakes are applied, maybe 1-2 times a day. Thanks for any advice

 

did you change the brake rotors with the pads? that is something that should be done together especially on these trucks being how hard it is to stop them.

also make sure that the caliper is not rubbing on the rotor and that the fluid is topped off to the correct level

 

Could also be a wheel bearing, but first look at the rotors as Sharps said.

 

Well funny you say something about the wheel bearing. The passenger side rim had grease all over it and the back of hub. So now I guess that needs a new hub and bearings. The driver side was gone thru about a year ago. As far as the rotor, no I did not replace, both seemed to have plenty of wear before needing new ones. What holds the front driveshaft to the hub? Will it just pull straight off after removing the nut and cotter pin?

 

Even when there's plenty of thickness left, when the pads get down far enough they can generate a lot of heat. Sometimes enough to cause the rotor to warp.

 

Ok, guess that will be this weekend's project, rotors. I will give an update on Sunday or Monday. Thanks for the help guys.

 

Sounds more like a CV halfshaft with the grease thing going on.

remove the carter pin, bust the nut loose (lots of torque and regular threads), jack up the tire and take it off, remove brake caliper, take off rotor (have rotor turned in your case), remove 3 bolts on the back of the knuckle, slide bearing off, check the CV joint.

 

Use a little extra care on this part. The pins that the calipers slide on are a bit easier to strip than is usual. If one strips it will cause the caliper to swing out and start grinding into the inside of the wheel. If it happens, the fix is to drill and re-tap the hole in the knuckle, and track down oversized pins to replace the originals with (NAPA has them).

Just a little lesson I learned the hard way.

 

Thanks Coreybv, yea when I did the brake pads last weekend I noticed the drivers side bottom caliber bolt is stripped. It threads in all the way, then tightens and spins alittle. As far as the outer CV seal and grease problem on the passenger side. Once I get the hub off, can that CV seal be replace or need to get new shaft? I have only had this Durango about 4 months, so all this 4x4 stuff is new to me. I also have a 99 Dodge 3500 Cummings, but not 4x4. Lucky me eh? Really the Cummings has been good, 4 yrs and only replaced a lift pump and crankshaft position sensor.

 

Get that fixed ASAP. Have a pro do it unless you're dead certain that you can drill that hole PERFECTLY straight. Mess that up and you're going to have to replace the steering knuckle. Even just a tiny, tiny bit off and that caliper won't slide properly.

There's enough force on that pin just from normal driving/braking that it will eventually work itself out, allowing the caliper to swing out as I described. If that starts to happen before you get it fixed, you can use your lug wrench to pry the caliper back into place, but you're going to be pulling over to do this about once per mile.

Now that you say yours is stripped, I'm very much wondering if that's what's causing the "growling" noise you describe. Having the caliper out of position could conceivably also cause the pulsating pedal. Crawl under there and look at the inside of that rim to see if it looks like something might have been scraping on it.

(Not saying that it's definitely your problem, but having dealt with a stripped caliper pin before, your symptoms are close enough to what I experienced to make me "suspicious"... (Even if it's not the root of your current issues, you still want to fix it right away as it definitely will cause you problems in the near future. When mine had the stripped pin the caliper would rub against the wheel hard enough that it probably would have split the wheel in two had I ignored it for very long.)