Hi there. Noticed today that front driver side brake is kind of sticking/dragging. When i let off the gas at any speed the truck will slow down and stop right away. It stopped going down a hill while off the throttle. Its creating a lot of damn smoke and smells like burning brakes. I'm thinking it might be brake pad sticking or a bad caliper. Any ideas?

 

It could be a bad caliper or the pad sticking. The pads do tend to wear a groove where it slides on the mount.

It could be a bad brake line too. If they start to fail internally they can act as a "one way valve."

 

If locking up that bad look forward to replacing your Hubs as that Hub has been very hot from the friction and cooked any lube left in the bearings.

A common Dakota problem

From my experience always fix the back brakes first then move to the front if done in reverse the front brakes locking up happens.

First time it happened to me my rotors turned black they got so hot I replaced both rotors at that time.

 

Yep... rotors will warp too. Likely have already and need replacing, as you mentioned. I would pull everything down pronto, haul out the slide pins and steel wool them down. Drape a cloth over a screwdriver, spray it with brake cleaner and clean out the hole where the slide pins go. Let it all dry and grease everything with sil-glyde.

 

Yes Sil-Glyde





If you ever work on your brakes at anytime check the front brakes for binding I always check and if binding I pull off the calipers and press the caliper pistons in till they free up then bolt back together and that usually fixes things a little lube on the brake races helps it will wear off ASAP but helps. Be sure everything moves in and out with ease after you bolt things back together.


Remember to check again to be sure its fixed not binding


What causes this its not very clear what causes it just be vigilant every time you do any brake work to be sure its not binding.


Also be careful installing the slide pines they have a bad habit of wanting to go in crooked and stripping the threads out use caution and be sure the caliper pistons are pressed in all the way before installing them only use about 15 to 20 Lb. torque on the slide pines its not much.

 

Yupp.. when i did mine they were stripped would just spin in place but i got luckey it was not the threads in the knuckle.. it was just the guide pins their self.. dodged a bullet on that one... be very careful and use some blue lock tite..