FYI, I saw quite a few threads on here about soft brakes on the early 3rd gens...I too was experiencing the issue on my '05.

I saw one thread mention getting calipers from an '07 to fix the issue. I priced them out, and while they were reasonable (~$115/side-loaded) I opted to try pads first at $55.

When I did the replacement I made sure to clean all the caliper parts and grease the bolts and guides when reassembling.

I just wanted to update you all and say that this seemed to fix my issue. I could tell I probably had a stuck caliper, because the outer pads on both sides were nearly gone, while the inside pads had 3-5mm more material left than the outers.

I don't have nearly the issue with pedal travel that I had before, and though the pedal still has some softness to it, the brakes are at least immediately responsive. I've been meaning to bleed my brakes thoroughly to see if that resolves this, but haven't had someone to lend me a foot, and I don't have a brake bleeder. By no means is this softness anything like what I was experiencing before. I just wanted to do a complete brake bleed just to flush the fluid anyway.

I can now drive this truck with confidence, as before I felt like I had be wary, because the pedal never seemed to respond right when I needed it.

Maybe this isn't the same issue that everyone is talking about, but I just thought I'd share my experience.

 

yea the brakes on my 04 are really soft. i feel like i can press the brake almost halfway and have to braking power yet. i just got my front brakes done yesterday and they are really really soft but i guess i have to break them in? yet its nice not to have squeaky brakes anymore!

 

Mine didn't have to break in or anything...my issue was more a pedal travel issue I think, where the caliper piston was pulling away from the rotor surface, so the pedal had to travel so far just for the pad to make contact. This made the pedal feel soft and unresponsive.

As soon as I got everything back together and "seated" things in with a few stops, the pedal was much better. There is still some give, almost like once the pad hits the rotor, I can still smoosh the pedal a bit, but it is not the spongy feeling when you have air in your lines.

 

Just had a new ms put in....


But still doesn't matter if i pump my breaks or not..they are still spongy as hell and i can push it to the floor...

These brakes suck...i'm afraid to have to have to panic stop..cause it won't stop

 

yeah upgrading to calipers from an 07 will help out immensely...i got a set from a buddy of mine at TRW while i was working at Chrysler and it really was a night and day difference