So j drive a 1999 Dodge ram 1500 4x4 and on the way home a few days ago I started hearing a rubbing sound coming from the driver front and i started feeling a pull to the left side, when I got home after that 10 min drive pulling into my driveway my brakes went out completely and smoke was coming from the driver wheel. If anyone knows what the problem is or where to start looking let me know. Please and thank you, hope everyone has a blessed day.

 

Either a seized caliper, or a failed brake line. They can fail internally, so there is no leak, but, they simply will not pass fluid.....

 

Yep, seized piston or collapsed hose. REPLACE BOTH. Also, carefully inspect the new hose where the bracket crimps around it. Make sure the bracket isn't "mushed" and squeezing the hose too much. Sunsong has had a problem with this. If the copper washers aren't at least .045", discard them and get quality washers.

Fortunately, your single piston caliper is just GMT400 stuff = SUPER common.

If you order all your parts from someplace like Rock Auto it will be surprisingly affordable. I'd do rotor and pads since it was smoking. Just do both sides. If money is REALLY tight have that rotor turned and just put new pads on that side

When ordering your hose make sure you check all the right options: 4wd or 2wd and RABS or 4WABS. Dodge offered a zillion different front brake hoses.

Replace all slide pins and use a quality lube. I use AC Delco's paste anymore as it's super goopy. The Mission stuff actually doesn't last that long. A new caliper will likely include pins. Don't trust their lube, they hardly use any because they don't care

 

Sounds like a seized caliper. A collapsed hose might cause this but a seized caliper will heat the fluid up to past the boiling point. then you get bubbles and lose braking. I'd go whole hog if you can afford it and replace both calipers, flex hoses and rotors.

 

hey man I appreciate the response, I took the wheels off and did some digging and found I have a collapsed flex brake line on the driver's side as well as a non existent hub bearing so imma replace the hubs, calipers, pads rotors and that flex line to start with

 

A non-existent hub bearing will cause quite a bit of problems with the rotor & hub wobbling all over the place. Glad you caught it before the wheel fell off...

 

Replace both front soft lines. They live in the exact same environment, so, if one failed, its a good bet the other is not far behind.

 

Is there anything else I should check while it's apart that would cause more issues down the road, this is the first vehicle I've had interest in fixing myself myself

 

There's a decent chance you'll need new hub bolts. Dorman offers a kit that's 6pt. Make sure you have a 12pt 14mm socket to start with. Clean the heads with a wire brush as best you can. I've had REALLY good luck with bolt extractors that grip the head if necessary, but you gotta have the correct size to start with.

I could be wrong and your factory bolts will come out easy. On the D60s you can cheat the hub out of the knuckle by wedging a socket between the inner C and a stub shaft ear. Not sure if this works on the D44s? Start truck (DON'T PUSH BRAKE PEDAL!) and turn the steering wheel into the socket like so:

 

Alright, I'll do that for sure if I have trouble, would any of y'all happen to have like Snapchat or Instagram I can add you on if I have more questions it seems easier than forums that way