sound like a stuck caliper?

[lonestar]

piston wont retract to be flush with the caliper body. is this normal?

Calipers do not retract. The piston simply comes out as the pads wear. The pads typically maintain contact with the rotor, the squeezing force just releases. You should see virtually no movement in the piston or pads when the brakes are applied and released, you might notice everything tighten-up, that's it, the piston does not retract back into the caliper.

maybe their worn unevenly, causing them to not be square to the rotor.

Quite possilbe. When applied, the pads may flex to make full contact with the rotor, but when released, the pad becomes "wedged". You could try to sand them even, or just drive them about 100 miles or so and they should straighten out. I wouldn't worry too much, unless they are so tight that it pulls.

 

[jgilbs]

i just spent a few hundred for all new brake parts(replaced like the whole system) and countless hours of time so I figure I might as well get new pads and not destroy my brand new rotors.

 

[jgilbs]

Calipers do not retract. The piston simply comes out as the pads wear. The pads typically maintain contact with the rotor, the squeezing force just releases. You should see virtually no movement in the piston or pads when the brakes are applied and released, you might notice everything tighten-up, that's it, the piston does not retract back into the caliper.

Well, looking at the caliper, you cant see much, but when you watch the piston, you can clearly see it expand and contract against the back pad.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Well, looking at the caliper, you cant see much, but when you watch the piston, you can clearly see it expand and contract against the back pad.

That seems normal to me. One thing to think about, is that since calipers do not retract, only get pushed back by the force of the wheels, it can take true driving to get the wheels spining freely, unless the bleeder is cracked.

Your problem has me stumped, since you cannot turn the wheels with the bleeder cracked. This would imply a bad caliper, bad rotor, etc. But these are all new. I know how frustrating this is!

Can you put it together, bleed it, and drive the truck around safely as see if wearing/breaking the system "fixes" the dragging problem?

 

[Canadian X]

The front rubber flex lines can cause the brakes to drag when they get old and swollen.When you release the pedal the fluid can't return to the M/Cyl. properly and can cause the brakes to drag

 

[jgilbs]

yea, the flex hose was the first thing i replaced, as i expected the same thing. i put some better quality pads on there, and it SEEMS to be fixed. ther is a little resistence, but when I seat the pads, hopefully it will disappear. My bleeding screws for the wheel cylinders in the rear are completley rusted in(vice grips didnt work) so looks like I'm going to be drilling out the bolts and replacing the cylinders and hardline so i can properly bleed the system. Ill let ya all know how it went when I'm done.

 

[jgilbs]

haha - the plot thickens. looks like im getting new wheel cylinders and hardlines to the splitter since I had to cut the lines off to remove the cylinders - everything was just so rusted. looks like ill get all the rest of the parts tmo and hopefully that will finish this brake job from hell... :exporange

 

[boominXplorer]

well i guess it might be too late to suggest this but have you tried bleedign the breaks with the truck running? When the truck is running there is pressure in the system and would force any air thats in there out.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

well i guess it might be too late to suggest this but have you tried bleedign the breaks with the truck running? When the truck is running there is pressure in the system and would force any air thats in there out.

Good tip. Bleed everything normally, once it's all bled, turn on the truck and re-bleed each cylinder.

 

[jgilbs]

yep. thats how i usually bleed the system. much faster :smoke:

 

[jgilbs]

OK - now this is where it gets interesting. so i put new pads on there, new wheel cylinders and some new hard lines and tried to go for a test drive. now the pass side caliper is sticking and overheating! could this be from the spindle nut being too tight on the oppisite side? also, the oppisite side was missing 1 lugnut(couldnt find it when i put everything back together.) heres the weird part tho: a) when braking hard, i noticed the headlight on the pass side would go out. b) after driving just 2 blocks, my engine wasnt overheated, but a decent amount was in the overflow resivour(more than the cold fill line) so i took the caliper off, let the rotor cool down(after driving for like 1/2 mile) and i noticed, there is a mark where the caliper was. (its not dirt - it looks like a heat mark) does this mean my new rotor is warped? do i need to get ANOTHER one?!

WHAT GIVES?!

 

[jgilbs]

goddamnit!!!!! BOTH wheels are sticking!!! wtf is wrong here?!!! ive replaced everything!!!

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

goddamnit!!!!! BOTH wheels are sticking!!! wtf is wrong here?!!! ive replaced everything!!!

Pedal linkage? I'm out of ideas as well. Everything is new, right?

 

[jgilbs]

but i have excessive pedal travel as well. if anything, the linkage should be too short.

 

[tbird2340]

Not to thread crap but jgibs you never sent me a tracking number for the EATC head unit and you never responded to my email.

 

[jgilbs]

sorry bout the delay Tom. PM sent.

 

[DirtyDog]

I don't know if this has been said yet but here it goes. Try bleeding your brakes starting with the furthest from the master cylinder working your way to the closest.So like this:

#1: Rear Passenger Side
#2: Rear Driver Side
#3: Front Passenger Side
#4: Front Driver Side


Give this a try and let us know how it goes.

 

[jgilbs]

tried bleeding them like that. didnt work.

 

[general x]

go without breaks lol

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Any updates?