Bewildering Brake Issues

[camREEtrDEE]

So I have had an ongoing issue with the front brakes on my Exp. It’s a 1993 XLT 4WD. This gets confusing (and long winded) so please bear with me.

I was driving down the road and all of the sudden my passenger front brake became stuck about 40% applied. Pulled over to smell burning brakes, and see smoke coming out the passenger fender-well. I turned around, went home, replaced the calipers on both sides, the pads, and the rotors. Bled the system thoroughly. Drove the truck and the issue was mostly resolved but, I felt that the drivers front was now dragging a hair. They would get hot, and you could nearly smell them, but they don’t glaze and there was no smoke. My father-in-law, supposedly a great DIY mechanic, had the wonderful advice of “Well that’s normal, your brakes are going to get hot and drag when they are new. There is nothing wrong. It’s just an old truck.” The strange thing is, it would pull to the passenger side under braking, even though the drivers side was the one dragging slightly.

Fast forward two months later. Someone cuts me off and I have to hit my brakes a bit harder than normal. To make an already long story a bit shorter, the inner brake pad on the drivers side came out of the caliper, and wedged itself in between the rotor and dust shroud. I didn’t know this at the time, I just felt horrible vibration from that side when hitting the brakes, since my caliper piston was hitting the slots on my rotors. Upon investigation, my new brake pads are gone after less than 5k miles. That’s why the inner fell off. It was 1/2 inch thick of the metal backing. but only on the drivers side. The passenger side is still new looking. I will be replacing the caliper again, since it shattered the piston using the brakes to get home. (Again, I didn’t know my pads were gone.) So two questions.

Why would the dragging switch sides after both calipers were replaced.

What would the most likely culprit be? I have a new master cylinder I am going to install, but I am leaning towards a partially blocked brake line.

 

[Kesp4.0]

I’d say the hoses are shot. Cheap and easy fix

 

[BKennedy]

The caliper sliders have always been problematic. If they are not greased they will stick, causing your issue. I don't see how a brake line could cause a sticking caliper. The new calipers could be bad out of the box.

Did you bleed the brakes properly after changing the calipers? If you let the brake lines run dry, you are going go have issues due to air in the ABS pump. The pump would need to he power bled. Did you bleed all four lines, starting at the bleeder farthest from the master cylinder? I've had good luck with gravity bleeding. Crack a line and let it slowly drain for 30-45 minutes seems to work well for the 1st gens. You can also get bubbles out of the master cylinder by putting pressure on the brake pedal overnight. Use a board or whatever you have handy between the seat and pedal and come back in the morning. I would also run enough fluid through the system so it comes out nice and clean at the bleeders.

 

[massacre]

The soft brake lines can definitely cause a sticking caliper

 

[410Fortune]

What brand calipers?
Did you replace the slide pins? Those things wear out

95-97 ranger knuckles would give you dual piston calipers with no slide pins

Replace the master and the soft lines

 

[camREEtrDEE]

What brand calipers?
Did you replace the slide pins? Those things wear out

95-97 ranger knuckles would give you dual piston calipers with no slide pins

Replace the master and the soft lines

I believe they were Dynamic Friction. I know they aren’t the calipers because I had to replace the drivers again due to the damage, and it still has the issues. I was unaware you had to lubricate the pins since I thought they just held the caliper on. I just finished replacing the pads and damaged caliper, re-bled the system, and got all new slide pins+slathered the slide pins in high-temp grease. The wheels seem to spin free-er now, so I’ll see if it fixes the issue. I still have the new master I gotta put in anyways, and the brake lines are pretty cheap and easy to replace.