Seized Caliper?

[griffigr]

This afternoon, I was driving down the highway at 70 m.p.h. when all of the sudden, I heard a loud concussion and immediately noticed my Explorer begin to drastically slow and pull to the right. I thought I had initially blown a tire, so I pulled off on the closest exit ramp I could find to investigate the problem. As I entered the exit ramp, the entire truck came to a dead stop (from 55 m.p.h.) and kicked sideways on the exit ramp. With quite a bit of persistence, I was able to get the truck rolling and got it home. As I was driving, I kept hearing a very loud rubbing/grinding noise, coupled with a very loud banging and squeaking noise. It sounds absolutely awful. I noticed a ton of metal shavings inside the inner driver's side wheel. I'm pretty sure it's a seized caliper. Any other thoughts on what it could be? I've never heard of a seized caliper causing a vehicle to come to a dead stop while going 55 m.p.h.

 

[Willard]

Doesn't sound like a seized caliper to me, because you would have to be braking for that to happen. It would also smoke on you bad. Wouldn't put out metal shavings, either.

Sounds like something else, I'd venture to think at this point that it's a blown bearing or something of that nature. Can you get pictures of it with the wheel off?

Also, is the wheel sitting crooked at all?

 

[griffigr]

The wheel is sitting fine. I'll try and get a picture of it up by tomorrow, as my camera isn't with me at this time. When I drive it, I can definitely tell something is binding up within the wheel. It has a large dragging sensation. I can also smell what seems to be burned brakes. I would yank the tire off tonight, but my jack and jack stands are like 50 miles from my house. I'd like to get this figured out pretty quick, for I don't want whatever failed to seize on me again. It damn near flipped the truck on the exit ramp. Scariest thing ever!

 

[fixxxer]

I wouldn't rule out the brakes being the culprit. If one of the pads has worn down to the backing plate, the backing plate can grab the disk, fold itself in half and scrape away most of your rotor and break the caliper piston (bakelite pistons). Ask me how I know that one. The caliper slide-pins stick causing the outer pad to wear much faster due to constant dragging. There's very little to hold it in once it wears away enough pad.

 

[Anime]

Get under there with a flashlight and check the inside of the brake rotor for gouges. If you see nothing, pull the wheel, caliper, pads, everything down to the bearings to find out what it is before you drive it again. It's likely the brakes, either a stuck caliper like you guessed, or the caliper is stuck on the slide pins like fixxxer mentioned.

Rebuilt calipers, new pads, rotors, bearings and seals are pretty inexpensive. If something's messed up, replace everything involved on both sides.

 

[griffigr]

Okay. This is totally screwed. I pulled off both wheels today and found that not one, but both calipers were seized, causing both rotors to bind up and not spin. I had to literally spin the rotors with a breaker bar. The brake pads were seized on the inside of both rotors. After playing with them a bit, I was able to get the rotors to spin. Yet, when I drove the truck (1/2 mile test drive), it still made this awful grinding noise. I ordered two loaded calipers and they should be here by tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping it's not a wheel bearing, but if it was, that still wouldn't account for that crazy, violent grinding noise. I even pulled off my 4x4 hubs to make sure it wasn't them (it wasn't). Now, I'm stuck wondering how the hell both calipers could seize at exactly the same time (if that's actually the problem). The BMC checks out, no fluid leakage, lines are good, fluid level is fine, etc. Perhaps it was the hand of God.

 

[Four0Sport]

the hoses may look good but alot of times from years of the inner part of the hose deteriorating the hose sucks in on itself during braking causing the piston and inner pad to 'stick' after you release the pedal. this may have contributed to the sudden and unexpected wear of the inner pad which could have also caused the piston to be pushed so far out that it was unable to move back into the caliper, the caliper itself may not be locked up, the piston may just need forced back into the caliper. just my opinion, but worth checking out, brake hoses for first gens are around $35 depending on where you shop.