Hello!

Any Ram mechanics out there that can give me an idea what front calipers, brakes and possible rotors should cost to replace?

Unfortunately I feel that most of these shops overcharge women. (Sorry, but it has happened too many times to me!)

I had a stupid situation happen where my truck was parked in a hot garage for 3 months while I took care of my sick mother.

While I was gone, chlorine gas accumulated in the garage from a bag of chlorine granules I had sitting in the garage. It was a new unopened bag, but I am guessing from the heat of Florida and me being gone much longer than anticipated it caused some serious rust issues on everything in my garage. I could smell strong chlorine when I opened the garage and most everything metal was rusted really bad.

My chrome bumper on my truck was even pitted. I was seriously upset.

A few weeks later when driving my steering on the truck went completely out. That was a $3000 dollar repair at the dealer.

Now I am pretty sure my right front caliper is locking up. I am worried that maybe the chlorine gas has caused issues of rust in the calipers.

I told the Dodge dealer about the chlorine gas and asked if that could have caused the steering mechanism to fail. They said no. I also asked them to check my truck all over underneath to
see if there were any other issues. They said no.

This brake issue happened just weeks after the steering mechanism went out.

I have had zero issues with my truck until the chlorine fiasco.

Am I stupid for thinking that the chlorine gas has damaged my truck calipers as well as the steering mechanism?

I have been ripped off so much that I need someone honest to tell what is a fair price to replace the calipers. Probably will have to get brakes and rotors as well.

I would appreciate any advise. I am in Cape Coral, Florida.

Thanks!

 

In a hot and humid environment, chlorine can break down, and create hyrdrochloric acid, with, being an acid.... is indeed rather corrosive. Did it cause your failures? Don't know, we need to know what exactly failed. Even then, proving it was due to chlorine exposure would be difficult.

As for the brakes..... I doubt the chlorine had anything to do with that. You may get some surface rust, but, that's about it. That particular failure was more likely due to just sitting for so long. Age likely plays a role there too.

As for cost of repairs...... You can do the shotgun approach, and replace everything, or, you can get it properly diagnosed, and just replace the parts that are bad. (I recommend the second option.....)

Yeah, there are shops out there that give the evil smile, and rub their hands together when they see a woman coming in..... They essentially see a blank check, as they don't expect you to know anything, and therefore they can sell you all sorts of stuff you don't need. The trick is, find a shop you trust. The dealer *should* be trustworthy, but, they are hideously expensive...... They charge exorbitant prices for their parts, and their labor rate tends to be higher than the independent shops.....

As for the cost..... you can look up parts prices at any of the big-name parts websites, or, call the local parts store. Expect any shop to mark those prices up a bit, but, if you price it out at 200 bucks worth of parts, and they wanna charge ya 300..... Find another shop. Most shops will give you an estimate for free. (the name-brand chain shops anyway.) However, I have seen shops, once they have the vehicle on the rack, tell the customer that they can't legally give it back to you, until it is repaired, due to 'liability' reasons...... I have suggested to folks that they just tell the shop a flatbed will be coming to pick it up, so, put it back together, and set it where the driver can get to it. Sometimes the prices changes dramatically after that conversation......

Talk to your friends, co-workers, whomever, see where they take their cars for service..... see if anyone can recommend a good shop. Unfortunately, they are getting harder and harder to find.....

 

I just bought a 2012 Ram 1500. I test drove it about 10 days before I decided to buy, it and when I actually did buy it.. Between my test drive and my actually buying it, there was a total of ~20 miles put on the truck, by who knows who. The carfax shows new front brakes, about 5000 miles before I bought it //and the pads and rotors look like it.
Upon signing the papers and driving home with it for the very 1st time, this truck's front calipers seized. I paid $76 each with exchange for replacement calipers/ being that the brakes were essentially brand new and showed no ill effects from the caliper issue I didn't change them again. I replaced them myself, luckily the stealership reimbursed me for them with no questions asked. Although I was back there with reciept in hand for parts less than 3 hours after leaving the lot.
I have had calipers lock up on my Dakotas. This past spring I replaced everything on my wife's Durango, calipers included before a 2000 mile road trip just because it had been a while. I had a set of "new" reman Bendix (brand) calipers on the shelf in my garage for a while because I'd gotten a "good deal" on them from a starter/alternator shop that was going out of business. I have no idea how long they had been sitting between the reman process and my installing them. I had one of these new reman calipers lock up on me, within 15 miles of fresh install. Luckily we had a week before we were to leave when it happened.
(and I only replaced the originals because this Durango had 270,000 miles on it at the time and I had no idea if they had ever been done previously!) I've had it for many of those miles, and I know I had never replaced them!! and now I got to make up for it, and replace them twice the same day!!! !

I am a fleet mechanic for the state, a state that loves their Fords. (which I hate) and I see sticking calipers on the state's, trucks all the time. It seems like the ones with 2 pistons in each caliper, are worse for it than the single piston calipers ever were. and the Fords are notorious for this happening, within 1000-2000 miles of recieving fresh pads and rotors. Squeeze them back and all seems fine at brake job time/ no hangups, no torn dust boots or anything, caliper slides are free, everything. Not every one mind you but probably if I had to guess 10-20% of them. We have too many trucks to automatically replace them every time "just because" if they don't show any signs of issue at brake job time.
So, I'd probably replace the calipers, the rubber hoses, plus any pads/rotors needed at the time, and drive on.

 

Thanks to ones that took time to reply.

I took truck to shop and all seemed fine. Prior to getting there I seen that the weights used for tire balancing laying on inside of the rim on the side I “thought” might be a caliper sticking.

I seen what looked like little knicks in 5 places on rotor, but felt no groove.

The jumping around on truck may have been from the weights falling off tire and wheel being out of balance. I was driving about 45-50 mph. I slowed down when truck started bouncing.

I am thinking that the weights somehow got stuck on the rotor. It’s just super weird that I seen the weights later.

I just had brand new tires put on less than 200 miles ago. Told the guy at shop and he agreed that before doing anything to get tired rebalanced.

Only reason I am posting this is because sometimes it’s something minor and luckily I seen those weights and know a “little” but about cars and stuff. Lol. All that chlorine gas I garage concerned me that rust in calipers was the issue.

 

Awesome.

 

Yep, chlorine gas can be nasty. I'd like to make some suggestions. First off, unless there's a recall, don't take your truck to the dealer. Find an independent shop. Usually, those guys get started at a dealer then go indie. Your brake issues might be due to your location. Salt spray gets around on a windy day and if you drive on the beach, rinse the under carriage promptly. Invest in a remote infrared thermometer. You can get a basic one with a laser pointer at Harbor Freight and it will find a lot of problems. For instance, if you think a caliper is sticking, check the wheels near the center after driving. If one is dragging, tha wheel will be hotter than the others. Sometimes quite a bit. Engine running rough? Check the exhaust manifolds. A weak or dead cylinder will be cooler than the others. The exhaust manifold might be 190 degrees and the rest over 300.