Weird brake problem I'd not seen before... (Page 1/1)
82-T/A [At Work] OCT 21, 01:49 PM
Couple of days ago, my right front wheel started sticking a bit, and when I'd take a turn, I'd hear a scraping. I knew it wasn't the bearings / wheel hub because I'd already replaced it a couple of years ago... and my daughter changed out the hub on the passenger side. This is on my 2009 Ford Explorer.

Anyway, bought a few things and figured I'd just change out the pads, even though I just changed them like a year ago and they had almost no miles on them. But I knew something wasn't right and if there was any dragging on the brakes, I didn't want the pads to be mis-sized. So figured I'd get into it and change out everything.

It turned out, the lower caliper sliding pin had seized (somewhat) in the bracket. It's a sealed sliding bolt and it has a type of flexible accordion bushing that keeps the grease in there. I had to pull the slide bolt out of there with pliers while I twisted it back and forth, it was so stuck in there.

At some point, it seems like water had gotten in there and caked up the grease, and it started forming rust. The entire slide bolt was covered in surface rust, and I assume eventually it just seized. I had to sand it down, and use it repeatedly to clean out the shaft hole and to clean out all the rusty greased that was caked in there. I ended up using new hardware and new bolts.. but I'd literally never seen that happen before...
Jake_Dragon OCT 21, 02:39 PM
I have seen that. I took over the brake maintenance for my girlfriends car when I pulled the slide bolts out and they had rust. Confronted the mechanic and he had nothing to say.

You will also notice more wear on the inside pad if there is tension on the slides.
Bottom line always check and lube the bolts when replacing the pads.

Not saying you didn't, sometimes we can do everything right and **** happens.
82-T/A [At Work] OCT 21, 03:42 PM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:

I have seen that. I took over the brake maintenance for my girlfriends car when I pulled the slide bolts out and they had rust. Confronted the mechanic and he had nothing to say.

You will also notice more wear on the inside pad if there is tension on the slides.
Bottom line always check and lube the bolts when replacing the pads.

Not saying you didn't, sometimes we can do everything right and **** happens.




Yeah, honestly... I cannot remember whether I did or not (faithfully) the last time I did it (before today). But the other 3 were totally OK... just that the grease was a little dirty. I've half convinced myself that maybe I ran out of grease and used some other grease... but I could just be making that up.

I have a Brush-Top-Bottle of Permatex Synthetic brake grease, so I used that liberally. This time I changed the rubber boots too. I reused them the last time simply because I didn't have new ones. But they work perfectly now.
TheDigitalAlchemist OCT 21, 10:44 PM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:
Not saying you didn't, sometimes we can do everything right and **** happens.



Picard agrees.
82-T/A [At Work] OCT 22, 07:10 PM
LOL, so... I did the back brakes today. Keep in mind, this isn't my first brake job, I've done at least a dozen over the past 20 years. Rear-right caliper, the pads are almost down to the pad plate... I mean, wiped. The one on the driver's side, like totally brand new. I also noticed that the bolts on the right side caliper are different than the bolts on the left-side caliper. I've had this car since 47k miles, and I never changed out the caliper. Anyway... I took the car for a short drive, and when I parked it I got out to check the calipers to see if they're hot. The drivers side rear was cool to the touch, while the rear-passenger side was almost too hot to touch.

The assumption here of course is that the rear right caliper is seizing... sigh... looks like I'll be ordering a new caliper.

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 10-22-2023).]

Max The Chainsaw OCT 23, 01:11 AM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:


The assumption here of course is that the rear right caliper is seizing... sigh... looks like I'll be ordering a new caliper.




Another possibility is a brake line deteriorating on the inside and blocking the return flow of the fluid. I've seen that before.

Edit: I can;t speil 3 letter words..... (Speil was intentional....)

[This message has been edited by Max The Chainsaw (edited 10-23-2023).]

82-T/A [At Work] OCT 23, 07:18 AM

quote
Originally posted by Max The Chainsaw:

Another possibility is a brake line deteriorating on the inside and blocking the return flow of the fluid. I've seen that before.

Edit: I can;t speil 3 letter words..... (Speil was intentional....)





I thought about that, but the car has maybe 80k miles on it... but I did notice one thing. Both calipers that I had an issue with, are the ones on the passenger side, which is right on the side where the sprinklers occasionally hit. Hmm...

I ordered a new rebuilt caliper for the rear passenger side last night. I'll swap it out, and if it's still doing it, I'll order a hose kit.


Thanks!