Darn brakes!!

RacerX

RacerX

Professional Knucklehead; aka Jeffncs / RacerX
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2012 Ford F-150

Replaced rotors and pads on front axle maybe 18 months back... Everything went together with typical ease.

I noticed a burning smell close to my front drivers wheel a few weeks back but just wrote it off as a fluke. Today I smelled it again and did a quick check on things - the front, drivers brakes are dragging heavily on the rotor. I’m hoping to pull the wheels off tomorrow to triage the situation.

I’m prepared to replace both calipers, the binding rotor and all pads. I’m hoping the caliper just hung up and regressing the slide pins fixes things up.

I hate the idea of spending another $400 on a brake job this close to the last one!

Edit to add that the shop that balanced my tires used an impact gun to run the lugs on so tight my breaker bar may need to get extended with a pipe.
 
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It can also be a brake line. Sometimes the lining to the brake line can collapse preventing the fluid from flowing back toward the brake master cylinder. Something else to look for.
 
SilvrSRT10 said:
It can also be a brake line. Sometimes the lining to the brake line can collapse preventing the fluid from flowing back toward the brake master cylinder. Something else to look for.
Click to expand...

Should I plan to replace the calipers if the brake line is collapsed?

Bleeding is easy enough, just don’t want to keep taking things apart!
 
If you can push fluid from the caliper up to the brake master, it's probably not the line. That sounds more like a sticking caliper.
 
Brake hoses look normal. Is it possible to see any collapse from the outside? Or strictly an interior lining issue that’s invisible from the outside?
 
The caliper is def stuck in the compressed position. I really hope a little brake grease takes care of things for me!

I’ll have it apart tomorrow. I’ll check brake fluid movement and see if I can free up the caliper.
 
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Not normally. It's just very difficult to push fluid back toward the master. If fluid is flowing freely, then it's not a line.
 
I just went through this with my '02 F-150. It was the brake lines btw the calipers & the ABS unit. wish I'd learned the trick sooner: release the fluid pressure btw the caliper and the line to determine which one is the problem.

Put a wrench on the bleeder valve. Get the caliper to stay in the compressed position (should be easy, since this is your problem!). Loosen the bleeder valve.

If the caliper releases, it's the brake line. If it doesn't, it's the caliper.
 
This is a common issue with later model Ford trucks brake calipers. Just bite the bullet and do all four corners now
 
I pull mine down every year and grease up the caliper brackets. The salt and brine they love to spread here has made it a routine maintenance item.
 
Just set everything into my online O’Reilly’s shopping cart (25% discount for ship to home).

2 calipers
2 hoses
front pad set

Assuming the rotor should be fine.

Hoping to hit the local store tomorrow to work some price matching magic. I’d really like to do the job tomorrow afternoon (once I know the required repair).

Code works out to a $50 savings!
 
Make sure you get the pads in the proper locations,it does have different pads for the inside and outside. One pad will have "humps" and that one goes to the inside. If it is installed backwards it will make the caliper bind up,but should show up immediately.
Seriously doubt this is your issue if it lasted 18 months.Probably just a bad caliper or stuck slide(s). Just giving you a heads up when you go to reassemble. Seen this way too many times from customers,friends and even a few coworkers.This is not 100%,but usually when I have a hose issue it will show up as a pull to one side not braking ,and a pull to the opposite side while braking. Depends on the severity of the hose damage.And the bleeder screw trick works quite well for isolating hose and caliper
 
Thanks for being my sounding board.

I replaced both calipers, reused the (almost new) pads and rotors (new less than 10k ago and still in great shape).

Shout out to my better half - she ran the pedal while I managed the bleed valves. We worked well to restore full pedal pressure! Go team!!

Parts and enough fluid to completely flush the system was ~$160. Shop wanted $480 to replace calipers and to reuse my pads and rotors. Quote approached $1000 for whole job.

Test drive to check function and antilock brakes - PASS.

I’m $320 ahead due to watching and learning from my dad when I was a kid.
 
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