2009 Ram 2500, not sure of the mileage (bro in laws truck). He had the local dealer do a brake job (front & rear, pads only) some time last year, about $300+. This may be a bit long winded, but trying to give as much detail about the problem, hoping to pick some smarter brains than mine. Been working on cars 45 years now & never came across this problem before.

2 weeks ago he calls me in a panic about his brakes smelling & smoking on the front left. I pull his wheel & it appears that his left caliper is "hanging up". I then pull the right one and it seems ok, but because of the amount of rust on all the parts & the left one hanging up, I get 2 new calipers and a new set of pads because the left appeared to have been overheated and a bit glazed from the caliper drag.

I start w the bad caliper, & I also remove the mounting bracket, do a fair amount of rust chipping and wire brush cleaning on that side, reassemble it and applying a coating of high temp brake glide on all metal contact points. Everything moves back & forth easily, so I move to the right side & do the same there, then do the bleed, refill re bleed routine, and everything seems fine. By the way, the pistons on the old left caliper did seem to be a bit worn & gritty inside the bore, so I figured thats why the drag on the rotor in the first place.

Today, he comes to my house & tells me that the truck seems to have the same problem on the front left AGAIN! It started 2 days ago, but he didn't see smoke, just thought he smelled some burning of some kind which he thought smelled like the brake linings burning again. The next day he used the truck again, but this time the smell was very bad & he experienced a lot of smoke this time. He got the truck back home & parked it, then of course comes here today to tell me. He also told me that when he thought he smelled the brakes 2 days ago, he decided to let go of the wheel & move slowly forward, and the truck would drift to the left, and that when he applied the brakes it would pull to the right.

Not positive about it because I haven't gone over and pulled it apart yet, but sounds to me like left caliper may be seized/dragging again while moving, then when brakes are applied the right one grabs even tighter & pulls truck to the right. Any other thoughts on this?

Anyone come across this problem before? Possible bad wheel/axle bearing on left side & maybe causing rotor to **** at an angle in caliper & caliper pushing at an angle against mounting bracket/bolts? Is something like this a known or common problem with these trucks?

I would appreciate any thoughts or input or definite known problem or repair solutions for this, as I said, never came across anything like this in 45 years of mechanics.

 

Sounds like the caliper is sticking. I would replace if it were me. I have experienced this on a toyota truck, and had to pry the caliper back, then drive home 20 miles using the hand brake. Oh did that suck.

 

Thanks for the input AtomicDog, but I already know the caliper is sticking, & I replaced it with a brand new one & am positive it is sticking again. I am trying to find out possible causes for this and see if anyone has had the same problem.

 

gotta go check the brake lines for kinks,etc. First thing I would do is pull the caliper and make sure no crud got into it, then flush the line.

 

I did not see in your post that you replaced it. In that case Pedro is right. Start at the line and follow it back.

Hope it's not the hydraulic control unit. That would be my next big suspect.

 

Thanks guys! Expect to pull it apart tomorrow if the rain holds off. I do know the hoses were not kinked or clogged when I put it back together, so possibly the hydraulics. I am thinking that more than likely, a faulty stamping on one of the steel pad backers, as I do recall them being a bit rough around the edges when I installed the new pads, but didn't think much about it at the time because the ones I took out were the same way. Just kinda chalked it up to shabby manufacturing & quality control on all the cheap foreign made parts the US imports these days. I did have a "dog bone" motor mount in one of my own cars & always bought the MOOG replacements. Last one I was putting in just wouldn't fit & compared it to the old one & it was an inch too short. Took it back, had the parts guy pull 4 of them off the shelf for comparison, 2 were made in indonesia & 2 in taiwan, both had same stamping numbers. 2 from indonesia were both an inch short like the 1 I was given. Took the taiwan one home & it fit! Go USA!

 

Sounds like you have a brake hose that has collapsed internally.

 

@ LU229, Thanks, that hadn't occurred to me, because it has been so many years since I have come across that problem or hear of it! I think I had that problem only once in 45 years.

 

I hear ya my friend, i`ve ran into this quite a few times over the years of wrenchin. It happens more than people realize though. Sometimes the best way to check for collapsed brake hose is to pull the bleeder screw out, adapt yourself a high pressure gauge to the caliper, pump up the pedal hard, (apply alot of brake pedal pressure) let off the brake pedal, go look at the gauge on the caliper and see if it continues to hold pressure, it should not. All the pressure should release instantly as soon as your foot is of the brake pedal. If its holding pressure, you likely found your collapsed brake hose. If the vehicle has anti-stupid brakes (ie; anti-lock brakes) you might also have an issue there, if you dont find a collapsed brake hose.

 

Another issue on the locked caliper is that it is super heating the brake fluid so it has pretty much turned to water thickness. so the right side would pull more as it has the better fluid so therefor more effective. Also check the lines that they didn't get pinched somewhere.