1st Gen Durango 1998 - 2003 Durango's

Rear brake grabbing

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  #1  
Old 03-11-2012 | 06:03 PM
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Default Rear brake grabbing

my left rear brake keeps grabbing and locking without me pressing the pedal very hard. The passenger side one isn't locking. Then the abs kicks in and gives me no back brakes. I took the abs fuse out and carefully drove it home. with the abs fuse out the back drivers wheel was still grabbing. I took the drum off and I can see that my wheel cylinder is leaking some, but it doesn't appear to be on the linings. I'm going to try cleaning everything out and see if that helps, but if anyone has tips in the meantime I would really appreciate it.
 
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Old 03-11-2012 | 09:51 PM
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make sure both drums are properly adjusted, the adjusters dont activate unless you back up, and if you go too long without backing up they wear beyond the point where the auto adjusters will activate.
 

Last edited by shrpshtr325; 03-11-2012 at 10:41 PM.
  #3  
Old 03-11-2012 | 10:13 PM
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I got everything taken care of, for now at least. I changed the wheel cylinder that was leaking, which I believe was the cause of the problems, the linings on both sides, and all of the springs. I think what happened was the leaking wheel cylinder soaked the linings to the point where they just grabbed as soon as they touched the drum.

I had been noticing that the rear abs (i only have rwal) was kicking in recently at times when it shouldn't have been needed, which I believe was the linings slowly getting more and more grabby.

I also figured out the cause of my excessive pedal travel while I was at it. The auto adjuster's lever that turns the toothed wheel on the adjuster has a notch worn in it (on both sides) so that it wasn't able to adjust the linings which caused them to be adjusted too far inside (away from the drum) which was the reason for the travel. (all the parts stores around here were out of the adjuster kit so that'll have to wait for another day.)

And yes I did adjust the brakes manually as well as by reversing with the brakes on (the adjuster lever doesn't have a groove worn in it in that spot so it still worked there) and all seems to be good now.
 

Last edited by that_guy; 03-12-2012 at 01:53 AM.
  #4  
Old 03-14-2012 | 10:59 PM
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ok, so now when I hit the brakes it pulls slightly to the right. It's not locking the right wheel like the left wheel was before, but it is definately pulling to the side. Could it be that the auto adjusters aren't doing their job correctly since they have grooves worn in them or something else going on? My other thought was could it be because I only replaced the wheel cylinder on the driver's side (that was leaking) and not the one on the passenger's side? I was planning on replacing those auto adjusters anyway on friday when I go home for the weekend so I'm hoping this will take care of the problem. Any thoughts?
 
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Old 03-16-2012 | 10:44 PM
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I think I finally *knock on wood* got everything working propery. I replaced the auto adjusting mechanisms so that they're working correctly now. I replaced the other wheel cylinder (that wasn't leaking) so that they'd both be done at the same time. Changing the linings and leaking wheel cylinder was the solution to the grabbing brake that I orgininally posted about. The problem with it pulling to the right was because of the crappy duralast linings that autozone is selling. They were dragging on the drum (100 degrees hotter than other side) even though everything was adjusted as far inward as possible. It turns out that the linings that the duralast linings were too thick (i measured with my calipers) and was the problem. They also weren't very even and had several areas along the edges that were dragging so I filed them down (which took a LONG time) to be level with the rest of the lining. Now its not pulling or dragging anymore *knock on wood again* and hopefully they will wear in nicely.

I guess the bottom line is don't buy brakes from autzone
 
  #6  
Old 03-16-2012 | 11:09 PM
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Glad you figured out the problem


But I think the solution is don't buy cheap brakes! Lol.
 
  #7  
Old 03-16-2012 | 11:15 PM
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definately, my problem is that since I'm broke and in college my parents are paying for my parts so I don't always get to be particular about things. although the good thing that came from this is that my parents, seeing me frustrated and then getting frustrated themselves after helping me, said no more duralast!
 
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Old 03-17-2012 | 12:53 AM
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Haha nice im glad you fixed the problem. I always have that fear of getting bad brake parts at autozone.
 
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Old 03-17-2012 | 11:02 PM
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said no more duralast!
Whats the problem?

Auto Zone has almost always be a hammer down on whatever I've ever fixed. Now their clerks have always been let's say a little lacking in the smart department, however I quickly correct them. But as for getting me the right parts damn near every time 98% that is hard to beat not to mention their prices and good products. Now (O Riley's) well they completely suck!

Just sayin, most issues with parts are the customer fault because they didn't bring the part for match up or don't know what they are doing. Not to be rude or anything.

Can you please explain further because what you posted doesn't make sense.
 
  #10  
Old 03-17-2012 | 11:23 PM
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I've just been kind of disappointed in the quailty of duralast parts recently. The most recent thing was these brake linings. The part number was correct and everything but they were too thick on one side. There was a fairly good difference in thickness from one side of the lining to the other which caused it to drag on the drum. Everything was put on and adjusted correctly. I had to spend an hour filing them down to get them to fit since it was past their hours and I needed it working that night. When I called the guy there and talked to him all he wanted to say was that I did something wrong and it couldn't have possibly been becuase of the linings. I know for sure that everything was back on correctly because I took pictures of everything before and as I was taking it apart for reference, and my grandfather who has been a mechanic for nearly nearly 60 years looked at it and confirmed that everything was on correctly. He also agreed that the linings were too thick. He confirmed this by measuring them with calipers. The drums were both fine too.

Other than that I've had 3 duralast belts that squealed like crazy. I then put on a gates and it never squealed again (If it ever does again I'm going to try a gatorback like you suggested several months ago).

I've also had to exchange 2 duralast alternators that went bad within a week. (replaced oem one with a duralast which went in a week, then the one I got it exchanged for went again withing a week again.) I'm on the 3rd one now which has been alright since june.

The duralast starter that was put on my mom's vw went in less than a month and is now on the second one.

As for the people there it's been hit or miss for me. If the manager is there then everybody is extremely nice and very knowledgable, but when he's not there, there are different people (who i like to think of as their b squad) that are complete fools and are very rude and smart-assy (if that's a word). The most recent cases of that being the guy I talked to about the brake linings and before that the guy that didn't know what a sealed beam headlaight was and tryed selling be glue that was supposed to seal headlight lenses instead even after I explained to him in detail what I was talking about.

I used to be very happy with autozone and the quality of duralast parts, but I think after recent experiences with them and their parts I'm going to use Napa and Advance until they get things straightened out.
 


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