2001 3500 4k axle 5.9L

I've had the wheels off more times than I'd like to admit, and yeah, I was trying to solve the squeaking issue with the least amount of parts replacement, but now I've replaced everything but the caliper pistons, and the caliper itself, and nothing is solving the screeching.

I'm doing the pistons today, I had already rebuilt the caliper, but reused the old pistons, but I can't think of any other reason that the brakes would scrape the caliper when they should be retracted.

Unless the noise isn't even from the brakes, even though that seems like the most likely culprit.

So, I guess I'm asking. Beyond the following, what would you replace?
pads, hub/rotor assembly, flushed/bled with Bosch ESI fluid, bearings/races, timken grease and national grease seals. Caliper pistons/boots, slide pins, and boots.

Is it normal in these vans for the brake pedal to travel a long way before engaging?

Id have to hear that...

What brake pad material do you have? Did you use any kind of anti-squeal compound on the backing plates of the pads?

I replaced the brakes on my 1999 3500 4k axle 5.9L and immediately developed a scraping/squeaking sound. It turned out to be the anti-rattle clips. The new clips were ever so slightly too long and would drift to one side and conversely rub on the rotor. After trying a few adjustments which only worked temporarily, I eventually just let the clips wear themselves into place and now they no longer make any noise.

It won't let me upload a video. When I manually turn the hub/rotor, with the pistons all the way compressed, and the pads pushed all the way back, it still scrapes. I checked the runout, and it's within tolerance. At this point I'm thinking I should replace the caliper entirely.

Upload the video to YouTube, then just link to it here.

If you can hear it by manually turning it, pull the tire, see what is hitting where, and see if you can find the 'why'.....

I've had this happen and it turned out the backing plate had bent in towards the rotor just enough to scrape it lightly.

No, assuming all of the brake parts are good, the low pedal is the result of air in one or more of the brake lines, or the rear shoes are not adjusted high enough.

Defaultjust to throw this out there...

the rear wheel antilock pump died in my van...no codes...no lights...just a pedal that almost went to the floor
after pads, rotors, hoses etc...I finally broke down and when to my tech...

he found that the ABS was not working...we bypassed the pump using unions and the brakes have been fine since...

I also did find out that the rotors...esp replacements -- some are NOT THICK ENOUGH...they are not built to spec...when I found a paid for rock auto that was right, the brakes felt right...

good luck

I just wanted to update this thread.
I used anti squeal or whatever it's called in my pads, and a little grease on the ears. I had two sets of the brake pad retainers, I switched them out for the ones that seemed to fit snugger.

The issue was the new rotor hub assembly. There was a high spot from where it was obviously (after install, and bake-in) dropped on the edge. It left a slight indent on the edge, which caused that material to bow out the on the rotor surface. It's going back to rock Auto with a middle finger drawn in sharpie on the box, they should have packed it better. I bought another new rotor locally, installed it and bled everything again.

I'm thinking I'm just used to my super responsive brakes in my car with Regen brakes, so to me it feels like it travels too far. They are better than they were, it doesn't go to the floor before engaging or anything drastic, it never did. They didn't feel spongy, I doubt it was air.

Test drive was successful, no more noises!

And if anyone is interested, the original issue was caused by the rotor assembly being worn uneven internally, presumably from a failed or very worn bearing. So even though the rotor's surface looked fine, it definitely wasn't fine internally.