Rear Brake Problems

[no1hedberg]

Hey guys, I started hearing a grinding noise coming from the back of my truck. I inspected the pads before summer, and they all looked good....Over half pad left. When I pulled the back wheels, and looked at the pads, the inside pad on the drivers side was into the metal, and ruined the rotor. The outside pad on the same wheel looks almost new, and both pads on the other side looked real good too. Except the rotor has a strange wear pattern. I had to really slam on the brakes once this summer towing my boat to the lake, (some jackass in a little car pulled out in front of me on the 4 lane so I may have warped that rotor a little. The slides move easily on both wheels. I'm wondering why the pads would wear like that. $200 worth of rotors, I don't want to do it again. Do you guys know anything I'm missing?

[SuperCrutyPS]

I would say sticking calipers, but with only one pad that worn kind like that makes me re-think that....OTOH, stranger things have happened with vehicles....

[NoRalPh]

I think it sounds exactly like a caliper. The inside, where the piston is, has "killed" the pad because either

a) piston can't retract and it keeps the pad in constant contact with the rotor

-or

b) it's not sliding on the pins so the outside pads never apply

Either way you need to pull the caliper and rebuild or replace it.

Also, your rotors AREN'T warped. It's the surface that's the problem and how the pads grab on it

[no1hedberg]

UPDATE: I replaced both rotors, the pads obviously, and the caliper on the driver side. Hopefully that fixes the problem.

[jamstoyz]

mine did the same exact thing. inner pad down to metal and outer pad almost new. i replaced pads but didnt do my rotors. now i smell burning brakes on that wheel. i believe its the pins that are sticking. my front did that before and it was the slide pins. i need to fix it soon or ill be replacing pads again. you should too.

[bigd176]

i'm having the same problem right now. heard a bit of a low roaring sound almost like a wheel bearing about a week ago but it would go away. then saturday I started hearing metal to metal grinding. within 20 miles trying to get home it had really screwed some stuff up. when I got home I tried to back up and it was like the brakes were locked. I pulled back forward and then backed up again and it started to drag then loud pop!!! I parked the truck and tore it apart. Inside pad was what popped. It spit the pad out completely. The outside pad is almost brand new but it was wearing at an angle front to back.

Re assembly today.

Got new pads, rotor, and caliper.

Figured the caliper was sticking but when I went to put the new caliper on the caliper bracket one of the pins was stuck. So got the vice grips on it and it wouldn't move. But the bolt back in it and hit it with the impact trying to get it to spin. NOTHING. Added pb blaster and let soak for an hour. hit it again with impact. not moving a bit.

Time for the big guns.

Got the torches out and heated the bracket cherry red and then hit the pin with the impact again and it never moved. sheared the pin off. tried vice grips on the pin after that. Even tried beating the pin in with a hammer to try to break it free. WILL NOT MOVE!!!

So tomorrow i'm off to the junk yard to find a bracket.

I'm not sure if I need to replace the caliper though. I'm guessing its ok and it was just the pin that locked up but I don't know if the heat from the metal to metal on the pad caused any problems with the caliper.

Hope I can find the bracket tomorrow..

[big25country]

I also had the same problem.

Passengers side rear inside pad. I replaced everything on the right and new pads on the left. Read somewhere that the rear rubber brake lines that go from the caliper to the steel lines will breakdown from the inside out. So, I ordered new ones from PureDieselPower for $67.00ish. Because the dealer wanted $57.00 each and no other parts store carried them. The ones from PureDieselPower are from EGRbrakes. They are kevlar lined, steel braide and silcon coated! Woohow, whatever! Anyway, hopefully this fixes it. Took it for a test drive this evening and did a touch test to the rims. Drivers side rear was cool, passengers side was warm..... Gonna take it to work tomorrow and see what happens. Hopefully it's just the new stuff wearing in on the right!

Hopefully a Tech will see this thread and post up what is exactally happening to our trucks. This seems to be a common problem at around 200k miles. My truck has 195K.

[jamstoyz]

Originally Posted by bigd176

i'm having the same problem right now. heard a bit of a low roaring sound almost like a wheel bearing about a week ago but it would go away. then saturday I started hearing metal to metal grinding. within 20 miles trying to get home it had really screwed some stuff up. when I got home I tried to back up and it was like the brakes were locked. I pulled back forward and then backed up again and it started to drag then loud pop!!! I parked the truck and tore it apart. Inside pad was what popped. It spit the pad out completely. The outside pad is almost brand new but it was wearing at an angle front to back.

Re assembly today.

Got new pads, rotor, and caliper.

Figured the caliper was sticking but when I went to put the new caliper on the caliper bracket one of the pins was stuck. So got the vice grips on it and it wouldn't move. But the bolt back in it and hit it with the impact trying to get it to spin. NOTHING. Added pb blaster and let soak for an hour. hit it again with impact. not moving a bit.

Time for the big guns.

Got the torches out and heated the bracket cherry red and then hit the pin with the impact again and it never moved. sheared the pin off. tried vice grips on the pin after that. Even tried beating the pin in with a hammer to try to break it free. WILL NOT MOVE!!!

So tomorrow i'm off to the junk yard to find a bracket.

I'm not sure if I need to replace the caliper though. I'm guessing its ok and it was just the pin that locked up but I don't know if the heat from the metal to metal on the pad caused any problems with the caliper.

Hope I can find the bracket tomorrow..

same thing with my front caliper lol. could not get the pin out for the life of me. heat, pb blaster, the works. ended up breaking off. had to buy a new one from ford.

[bigd176]

Originally Posted by jamstoyz

same thing with my front caliper lol. could not get the pin out for the life of me. heat, pb blaster, the works. ended up breaking off. had to buy a new one from ford.

Yeah local ford dealer had bracket in stock for $35. Went ahead and replaced the caliper because It had some grind marks on the pistons from where the pad came out and it was running on the rotor. I greased the **** out of the new pins so hopefully I wont have any problems.

Truck has 275,000 on it so I can't complain too much. I've put 50k on it without any real problems to speak of..

[big25country]

Originally Posted by big25country

I also had the same problem.

Passengers side rear inside pad. I replaced everything on the right and new pads on the left. Read somewhere that the rear rubber brake lines that go from the caliper to the steel lines will breakdown from the inside out. So, I ordered new ones from PureDieselPower for $67.00ish. Because the dealer wanted $57.00 each and no other parts store carried them. The ones from PureDieselPower are from EGRbrakes. They are kevlar lined, steel braide and silcon coated! Woohow, whatever! Anyway, hopefully this fixes it. Took it for a test drive this evening and did a touch test to the rims. Drivers side rear was cool, passengers side was warm..... Gonna take it to work tomorrow and see what happens. Hopefully it's just the new stuff wearing in on the right!

Hopefully a Tech will see this thread and post up what is exactally happening to our trucks. This seems to be a common problem at around 200k miles. My truck has 195K.

Well, wheel still getting hot. So I took everything apart, luckly the rotor came off easily. Two things I did extra this time was I backed off the E-brake all the way to make sure that wasn't what is dragging and making everything heat up. Also I pulled the steel line off from the T-block on the rear axel and cleaned it out. It wasn't dirty that I could tell but I put a steel wire through it and made sure it was clean, and flowed easily. The last thing to change, if that all didn't fix it, is the T-block rubber line from the frame to axel. We'll see!

Yeah, I have no complaints with my truck either, I bought it used and have had some issues but Love my truck!