Brakes Grinding

[walterd140]

Hi all,
When I go to stop brakes work well. When I get to about 1 - 2 mph I start to hear a grinding from front passenger side. Only happens when I press real hard, I can come to a stop in about 20 feet without the noise coming. Also does not happen when I brake in reverse.
I took the tire off & checked the pads, still life on them. Also I did not notice any gouging in the rotor, it seems rather smooth inside & outside. I have not taken the brake cylinder off completely to further examine it (yet).
Would a cracked pad do this? Not seeing any other visible signs of wear / damage.

Walter

 

[Tony H]

There may be a broken pad that is resting against the Rotor.

WIth the riveted pads I've been experiencing breakage when they are about 2/3rds worn.

I hada growl sound on another car when the Rotors were very worn..not worn in their thickness but rather the Diameter got smaller. You know how the ends where the fins are get rusty and you can smakck them with a hammer to get the rust off?, well, after years of this the actual diameter of teh rotor reduced enough for my brake pad to hang over the rotor.. every once in a while the pads would sound horrible against the top edge of the rotor.

 

[walterd140]

Thanks for the input Tony. I didn't see any of that happening. Pads & rotor edge lined up pretty good. Sound is getting louder & snow is falling here in Mass. Guess that means my Easter Weekend will be in the wheel well.

Thanks
Walter

 

[Tony H]

It figures, cold weather and chance of snow when you have work to do.
I'll be under the hood of another car. Oil change/tuneup stuff. I was hoping for 50 degree temps..I guess not


Let me know what you find out.

 

[Glacier991]

There is a 1st Gen Brake Job Diary in the Useful Threads which might be of some help if you've not done this before.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123269

 

[JStrider]

check the pads on both sides... and pull the back tires and drums off to check out the drums... sounds dont always sound like they are coming from where they really are

could also be bearings maybe... lift up the front end and pull on the tires and see if they wobble.

 

[walterd140]

Good Idea JStride. Funny you mention the sound thing. Had the wife drive forward slowly & hit the brakes. I followed each wheel every stop. Not a noise from the outside of the truck. She says it was screaming in the cab...... Odd huh?

I went & got front pads ($21) & will start my good Friday with the fronts. I hope it's not the rears because I'm new at them (done fronts before & the thread Glacier gave re-affirmed the simplicity in the job).

PLEASE GOD don't let it be a rear problem......

Will inform you all later after a few bleeding knuckles & a couple of cold ones

Walter

 

[mikeinri]

Rear (drum) brakes are a pain, but not as bad as you would think. But, if you haven't done it before, be ready to devote some serious time (the better part of a day) to this.

One piece of advice, any time you replace the drum pads, always replace the wheel cylinders. You have to remove the pads to get to those cylinders, and it really sucks to have to do that job twice within a few weeks or months. As the wheel cylinders age, the rubber boots deteriorate, causing fluid leaks and extremely poor pedal pressure (and stopping).

Mike

 

[walterd140]

Well guys looks like the Explorer Gods were smiling on me. Problem was passenger side inner pad was shot. Had both front sides done in about an hour. I found it very helpful to drive the lock pins out with a 3/8 drive extension. This worked better then a flat tip screwdriver.

Thanks all for the input & links to do the job. Cold today so I'm not messing with the rears. I'll get new drums, pads, & pistons & do them when it's warm out there (Which in Massachusetts means about August)
Here's some pics of the inner passenger pad. New pad on left, old on right

Thanks Again & Happy Easter
Walter

 

[Phager]

I hope you greased the caliper slide pins, since it sounds like you are getting excessive wear on only one side the might indicate the the pins were binding up. Also, I'd advise against handling the new pads with greasy hands, it can absorb in to them and cause glazing. Glad you found the source of your problem!

Pat

 

[walterd140]

Pins greased Phager. Also note that is brake dust on the gloves, not grease. I wiped them down before putting them in

So far, so good. Now I need a step by step for the rears. I'm sure they will need attention soon as this is my 2nd set of fronts & I believe the rule of thumb is 2 fronts for 1 rear.

Walter

 

[viper1314]

sounds like I am having the same noise , but comes at differnet times then yours. WHen I stop after the brakes are heated up I get this loud rubbing noise coming from the passenger front. This happend after I put new brake pads on all around (weaver gold series) go figure, no brake noise before pads and then after my front right is awful. My friend had to grind them a bit to get them to fit...advance may have gave me the wrong one but what do I do to prove that.. anyhow noise is for sure coming out of that front right , as he walked beside me when I was stopping and knew for sure it was there. I hae only noticed it once, but it also did not make the noise when backing up and stopping. The rubbing noise starts being audible to me when braking below 25-30 mph. Any faster then that and I don't notice it. When its about to come to a stop its real loud. its not constant, for sure sounds like its in a circular pattern.

Any ideas what this sound may be coming from ? pads are about 3-4 months old now and the front right has bene making the noise since new, none of the others make the noise.

Some days it doesn't do it for a while, others it does it soon as I get to the end of my road(100 yards).

X is about to roll over to 150,000 so I guess I am going to start having all the troubles.

 

[quicklook2]

if you have to grind pads to get them in than you are not doing the job correctly.

the caliper may not have had the piston retracted correctly.

 

[mikeinri]

Hey Viper, welcome to the forum!

What did you have to grind to get them to fit? If you ground the backs, then what quicklook2 said makes sense, you may have a bad caliper. If you ground the ends (to get them to fit into the caliper), it may be that you didn't grind one enough, so it's binding, or it was ground too much, and it's loose.

If this were my truck, at this point, I would replace the rotors, calipers, slide pins and pads. Get the parts at a different place to make sure you get the right ones this time. Total cost should be under $150. Peace of mind will be priceless.

Especially with the mileage you have, this would also be a good opportunity to service/replace the wheel bearings and clean and lube the auto hubs (if applicable on your truck).

Don't fret about "all the troubles." I have over 270,000 and can tell you that this is a great truck, and all of this is routine maintenance on any vehicle. Most don't get anywhere near 100,000 without these parts being replaced.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[viper1314]

The brake paids were not fitting in right on some of them , so my buddy grinded em to fit. He also put the spacers in , at about a month into it we pulled the calipers again , and the spacers were ate up ...we thought they were causing the problem, as they were rubbing against the rotor or hub. well that didn't take care of the problem.

My plan is to replace the caliper with a refurb loaded caliper from advance auto parts. The rotors still look pretty decent, besides all the rust.

If I did replace the rotor would it be bad since I am only replacing one ?


...just an extra note just went to the grocery store in the next town over. truck has been setting most of the day and the brakes didn't make a peep till I got over there about 20 miles away. Then on the way back they were out in full force with their embarrasing noises. I got home and wanted to beat the front brakes with a hammer lol.

 

[mikeinri]

I always replace everything on both sides at the same time. Especially with how easy front brakes are, I'd rather spend the extra hour or two and know that everything is brand new. Rotors are pretty inexpensive, so they get replaced anyway. Plus, you have to remove them to replace/service the wheel bearings.

I figure with all the labor money I'm saving, the least I can do is replace all the parts. I also hate to get dirty more than once for the same job, if you know what I mean.

If you're into spacers and grinding, you have some major mis-fitting parts. These things are plug-and-play, absolutely should fit perfectly right out of the box.

Theoretically, if you put just one new rotor on, you will have more efficient braking on one side, which would cause the truck to pull to one side.

Good luck!

Mike

 

[viper1314]

Id love to buy both sides and everything else to be done with it for a while anyhow , but I got tuition to pay and books to buy can't really afford all the stuff. Just need to get rid of that dang noise.

edit: just a note I am not a big cheapo just this thing is starting to take all kinds of money. tie rods , did new brake pads on all corners, had to replace steel brake line all adds up to lots of coin I need to buy new shocks too

 

[quicklook2]

sounds like you have a stuck piston in one caliper.

after you drive for awhile it heats up and starts making noise.

i have never bought a 'loaded' caliper in my life.

i prefer to make the pad selection and put the pads and any other pieces in myself.

 

[mikeinri]

I understand your situation. I gave you my best-case advice, but I was once in college too, and I do understand the cash flow issues.

For your case, you can probably get away with the one caliper (and slide pins) and new brake pads on the bad side. I wouldn't mess with the rotor at this point, unless the caliper and pads don't fix it.

This is the least expensive route, that should take care of the problem, and will only leave the rotor as the only unknown.

Mike

 

[quicklook2]

i would do the complete job, replacing whatever is needed.

i understand you are a student, this is when you need to ask your parents for help.

safety is not something you should mess with.