Hi, first post here.

So I'm having trouble getting the front rotors off on the Dakota 4x4. I have the caliper off, the center axle nut and cotter pin removed, and the three bolts in the back removed. What am I screwing up here? I have pounded on the rotors and they haven't budged. before I go really pound on them, I thought I'd ask here.

Thanks for your quick replies.

 

Nevermind I figured it out.

I'll post the solution later.

best,

 

yeaaaah, you didnt need to go through all that trouble. soak with pb blaster then pound off with a sledge

 

remove wheel, remove caliper...
hit it with a hammer..unless you're saving your rotor...

 

Ok, so I ran into another problem. lets back up and give a little context.

So my dad's truck (2000 Dakota 4x4) had warped rotors. I need a truck to pull my track car down to Infineon and Thunderhill. I do brakes all the time on my cars and have done them before on my trucks. I've never had a Dodge. Only Ford. Not that I am a "Ford man" or anything, its just what I happened to have and thus, what I worked on.

Enough context. A couple of days ago I started the project, thinking that it would be easy. It wasn't. Everything was rusted and the brake fluid is **** black. Today, I finally managed to get everything back together. The passenger side caliper was very difficult to get back on, the driver's side was fine. I cleaned everything up and took the truck for a VERY short trip to the end of the block and back. call it about 100 yards.

Smoke from the passenger side whell well. The brakes are smoking hot. The truck pulls to the right (passenger side). ok, so the brakes are dragging very bad on that side.

What's the fix?

Thanks guys.

 

make sure the caliper can slide on the pins if not it will do that.

 

yup. Also, make sure the caliper is releasing. When our 77 dually had the right front rubber line collapse while towing, things got fun. was exactly what you described.

 

That might be it actually. When i was putting the calipers back on, the drivers side went on smoothly, the passenger was a pain in the a$$.

I'll pull it off on Thursday/Friday and see if I can get it on better.

What do you think the chances are, given my description, that I need new calipers?

 

I'll check that too, while I'm there. Thanks.

 

Well, it's all done. I replaced the calipers and problem solved. It turns out that there was a bunch of corrosion behind the piston in the Caliper. That corrosion was not letting the caliper release fully. Now everything works perfectly and fuel economy has returned to normal.

thanks for the help guys.