my 2011 Durango crew has a history of dragging brake pads. Anyone have similar problem? did you fix it?

 

My usual remedy for this is replace calipers and the rubber brake hoses. You could remove the calipers and polish/grease slide pins, but that doesn't guarantee the piston isn't dragging.

 

What are the symptoms of your dragging brakes? Are you getting excessive heat from the brakes/wheels when driving, or is it uneven pad wear between the inner and outer brake pads?

If you confirm that none of the brake hoses are twisted, then you may have a collapsed brake hose or caliper issue. One way to check for a collapsed brake hose is to apply pressure to the caliper to compress it, and if it's difficult to compress, then open the bleeder screw. If with the bleeder open the caliper compresses easily, that indicates that there's an issue that is not allowing fluid to return to the master cylinder. Most often that's due to a collapsed brake hose. This won't necessarily be visible from the outside of the hose, but is common if whomever does your brake maintenance doesn't properly hang the calipers when removed from the mounting and instead lets the caliper hang from the hose. It can also be due to age and fatigue.

If with the bleeder open the caliper still does not compress easily, then the brake caliper is probably in need of either a rebuild or replacement, assuming the bleeder screw is not plugged.

If the caliper compresses easily even with the bleeder screw closed, then the issue is probably with the mounting hardware not allowing the caliper to float properly.

If it's a rear brake that is dragging and overheating, then it could also be an issue with the parking brake system not fully releasing or the friction material may have come lose from the parking brake shoes and wedged itself in an area with low clearance. I don't know if your 2011 has parking brake shoes or a parking brake integrated into the caliper.

-Rod

 

The last time it was the front brakes, because I could feel the heat from the wheel. Also the steering wheel was shaking.

 

The last time it was the front brakes, because I could feel the heat from the wheel. Also the steering wheel was shaking.

 

Replace the front soft brake lines, thoroughly flush both front and rear...... Replace ALL of the old fluid.

 

Fixing a sticking brake though will NOT fix the shaking in the steering wheel (presumably when braking). It would seem the damage that caused that has already been done and you'll need to either machine the rotors or replace them to resolving the shaking, once the source of the excess brake heat is fixed.

-Rod

 

The shaking was when driving. I don't remember the situation of the parking brakes.
also having a hard time with this forum.

 

Should I bleed the ABS module/pump?

 

If a brake caliper is not releasing, that could explain the shaking steering wheel when going down the road and not intentionally applying the brakes, but it could also indicate a different, unrelated issue. So just be aware of that. A normally functioning brake hydraulic system would not cause a shaking steering wheel if the brakes are not applied, unless some rotor is extremely out of true.

You should bleed the ABS module/pump since that's probably the most expensive part of the brake hydraulic system and the fluid may only circulate when the ABS/traction control activates. If you have fluid that's contaminated with moisture just sitting in that aluminum pump/valve assembly, it can corrode and damage that expensive part.

-Rod