No that's not too hot at all. Wheel bearing operating temps are as high as 180* so your fine. My guess is someone did a lousy job on that caliper. Odds are the other is ok if you have no leaks and no excess heat. The thing that kills almost every single caliper is old brake fluid that has absorbed moisture and rusted out the bore and pistons.

Yea you know where this is leading. Get yourself 3 quarts of Dot4 brake fluid and do a complete flush and get that garbage out of your truck. You will be repayed with the firmest best pedal you ever felt. It makes a HUGE difference in how the brakes work as well as last. Your master cylinder all the way down to the calipers will thank you.
BTW it should be done every 3 years 4 tops.
Ive seen Riff Raff selling a ABS adapter that you put onto the fitting that allows you to grease the bearings in these trucks. Whether it works or not I don't know.

Good Luck with it

 

If you're gonna flush the brakes, it'd be a good time to do the power steering and hydra-boost too.

 

another cause for a caliper to lock is a bad/internally collapsed rubber brake line
they can act as a check valve and maintain PSI on the caliper

you actually can grease a sealed unit bearing and expel the old grease

 

So the old grease will be forced out? Did not know that.

 

pump the grease thru the ABS port it will expel the old grease
this will let you inspect the condition

you will also wonder why there is not a lot of grease inside

 

Ive only been driving the truck for about 5 months and about 400 miles. I overhauled most of the truck and installed a 12 valve cummins. All the fluids were put in new then. However i might drain and refill the PS fluid
because it was a bit dirty when i drained it the first time. i also installed a small magnetic filter in the line then.

The Lt hub got hot enough to generate quite a bit of smoke. Im not so worried about the bearings as I am the grease. SO- DO YOU JUST UNSCREW THE ABS SENSOR AND RIG A WAY TO PUMP GREASE INTO THAT
PASSAGE ????? WHERE DOES THE GREASE EXIT OUT OF ? WOULD I JUST MAKE A CONVERTER FITTING THAT SCREWS INTO THE ABS HOLE AND A ZERKE SCREWS INTO THE TOP OF THE CONVERTER FITTING....... ???????

I remember hearing that the flex hoses could delaminate inside and stop up---- both these hoses are new- BUT
I think they were NOT FORD replacement parts. wonder if I could take them off- hold them straight- and see
if a TIG welding rod will slide down it without obstruction ??????

The 125/135 degree temps were on the way home after I changes the caliper.

can you tell us more details about the greasing thing ???????

Tim

 

Yea I'm all ears as well, running big tires has always concerned me on sealed bearings. I just do a extra prayer before bed now.

 

I think this is one.

Front ABS Grease-able Block Off Fitting for Ford 7.3L 99-04

 

On a phone but you dont need to rig a fitting or buy a fancy on

And i am sure you can find the info on google.

You use the rubber tipped grease gun fitting

And push it in to where you pull out the ABS fitting

I have added grease with the bearing in the truck. And i have changed the grease using this method with the bearing out.

If you do it in the truck you just dont want to fill the whole area with grease it will kill the vacuum signal.

This is a non Ford procedure. But i have done it
With no side effects. 37" and 125,000

Use the proper grease. That has no graphite
Or other ingrediant that may screw with the hall effect ABS
I used a red hi temp wheel bearing grease

 

If your hoses are new i wouldn't be worried

if you old caliper had phenolic pistons
Split Piston

Or any corrosion It will be your issue

Also any water in the brake fluid can heat and push a piston back out.

But the test you did in the parking lot
Points to a caliper or caliper hose IMO

 

I can make a pressure fitting - BUT- is there a "normal" seal hidden outboard the bearings that I wouldnt
want to "blow-out" with pressurized grease ? The dangling rubber tube would prevent any pressure from
being built up......

Someone suggested draining the DOT3 fluid and re-filling with new DOT4 fluid.......
Can yall clue me in about why DOT4 is better ? Is it synthitic and thereby non-hydroscopic ?
Im ALL for making my brakes more reliable !

Tim

 

I see we are greasing bearings which is all good and well, but a locked up caliper on a 6.0 is nothing new.

if it locks again just toss it out and get a new one.

 

i was driving about 20 miles on the freeway---- got to within about 1 mile of where I was

going and noticed a funky hot smell. Had the windows down and I could see smoke coming from under the left front wheel well. Then the truck was pulling sideways when brakes applied. I limped to where I was going (had a place to work on it there)



I jacked up the left front wheel a little off the ground and I couldnt turn the tire

by hand. I let it cool about an hour. later after it cooled I could turn it by hand

with a little drag. I got in and pushed the brake - let off and again the wheel was

locked tight. waited another hour---- could turn it but with noticeable drag.



The truck has about 200 miles on new front rotors, new bearing cartridges, and

new (but re-man) brake calipers and pads. I had my cousin drive me to get a

replacement caliper (this time all new--- NOT reman...)

replaced caliper--- bled brake. Drove hole. SEEMED OK. When i got home-

I took my IR thermometer and measured the temp of the wheel and calipers.



The Lt. side I replaces was running about 115 on the outside of the hub and about 135

on the inside of the rotor. Rt. side was running about 110 and 120 respectively.



Tomorrow I will do a post-mortem on the old caliper to see if I can see anything in the bores that would have caused it not to fully release.

I am concerned that the quality of these re-man calipers might be the problem. Should I replace the other side too before It does the same thing ?



Another potential problem---- How do I know if the cartridge got hot enough to

break down the grease in the bearings ? There is no way to grease those that I know of.......



Also ---- is there any way that the ABS could malfunction and cause a partial brake

application on 1 wheel ?



Since I got this truck back on the road---- I have been noticing a very slight smell

which smelled like a coolant leak---- kind of a hot-sweet smell--- but I NEVER found any coolant anywhere...... i am wondering if this was what was making the smell all along and I just couldnt localize it ??????



On this last trip I drove a little longer and faster than I have before. (about 60 for about 15-20 miles)



The temps I measured at the rotors when I got back home were from going at 45 mph and breaking as gentely as possible. (2004 4x4 f-350 SRW )

Is this too hot ?



any constructive thoughts ?



Thanks--

Tim

My ram 1500 had similar issues. It was only a dragging pad but it was due to improperly seating the new pads in the calipers. If the caliper isn't frozen it's just not retracting the pad fully


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These calipers are notorious for seizing on occasion for no good reason. I have had to change out 2, one front and one back for similar issues. It is as if the rods bind due to slight off centre pressure during braking. The more often it happens, then one day it really stays stuck!

 

front brake problem---

About 2 months ago I drove about 25 miles on expressway. When I got off at other end my
Lt. front brake was blazing hot and the anitsqueal **** was pretty much on fire. I was afraid the tire might catch. (!) Got hot enough to loose braking on that side. let it cool down. Jacked it up
and the brake disks had the wheel stopped. Let it sit for about 2 hours to completely cool- could turn the wheel but some noticeable drag. Installed new caliper.

today i drove again about 10 miles- a bit slower--- and back home. When home -- both brake disks about 150 degrees. jacked up each side at a time-- a little bit of drag on each side.
enough drag that I cant make the tire go even 1/2 revolution coasting.

At first I thought i might have had a bad flex hose. But both sides doing it. So now- Im thinking
it might be either a master cylinder not retracting (dont know if it works that way) or some problem in the hydroboost mechanism where the boost piston doesnt retract after pedal is released.

I am thinking as a de-bug strategy----- to tell which system it is----
Jack up front wheels. Push brakes with engine off. If master is the fault- wheels should drag.
If they dont drag at all---- run engine and repeat while hydroboost is alive...... if they drag
THEN-- that would seem to indicate its the hydroboost causing the drag.
Does that sound right???? or is there something else more basic to do ????

I am also wondering--- if the power steering fluid is dirty---- could that make the actuator
piston in the powerboost want to stick ???? Should I do a full fluid flush ?

I have smelled a hot smell since I first started running this truck-- smells like a coolant leak--
but now I think it was these brakes all along just running warm all the time from the drag....
(no coolant ever has gone missing)

Any experience out there with dragging front brakes ?
(2004 F-350 4x4 extra cab 6 speed manual )

Any voices of experience out there ?

Tim
PS- have 1/2 gallon of new DOT 4 to flush out all old brake fluid in care there is water
contamination---- just havnt done it yet----

 

So- is there any fix for that off center thing ? Better pin lube ? brass pins ? hard chrome plated steel pins ?
Tim

 

i think the pistons in the bores fail more than the slide pin issue

but keep the hardware in like new condition including the pin/boots/grease and I think you will be fine as far as sliding goes

 

IMO, this:

i think the pistons in the bores fail more than the slide pin issue

 

Bad ford brake rotor ?

Just got back to working on brake problem. about 1 week ago I did a gravity bleed and relaced all the dot 3 with dot 4 - just in case there was a problem with the fluid somehow. Went on an errand- 2.5 miles--- rested for 1 hour stationary-
then 2.5 miles back. Rotors hot enough i could NOT keep my finger on them more than 1/2 sec.
THIS is ridiculous....
Jacked up wheel while hot--- when spun it wen maybe 3/4 turn.
Let cool 2 hrs. Spun again- went 1.5 turns. NOW however --- I could FEEL that the rotor was dragging a little for about
180 degrees out of the 360. Well now-- there is my problem. Constant slight drag- heat build up over time... pretty simple.

I remember reading about high incidence of ford rotors going stupid. ( I have about 300 miles on this truck---
new cartridges, new calipers, new pads, new flex hoses, new seals, and last but not least new ford rotors. )

So then the question is how to proceed.......
Do I just get them turned till true and see what happens ? ( I havnt dial indicated them yet to see how bad the problem is---
will do that over the week end)
Do I get them cryo treated and then turned and see what happens. ? ( we have 2 cryo places here in town-- havnt priced it yet tho )
Do I throw them away and get an aftermarket brand ?

( I am very easy on brakes FYI--- just changed my tahoe brakes with 80K miles- oregional brakes - the pads still had
1/4 inch more to go)

BOTH front rotors are doing this---- rear seems OK and cool. (new as well)

Obviously NOT a slider pin problem..... doesnt appear to be a problem with how the pads are "seated" in the calipers....
It COULD be crap iron that ford used when casting the rotors ???? chinese crap ?????
I have been told that some cast steels now - when they make the steel from scrap- they have things like hard chunks
mixed in with soft chunks--- and its not heated and agitated long enough so that when they pour a casting-- the steel
has hard and soft areas inside. THAT would be very bad for making a brake rotor....... if thats the problem.

So what is the fix which seems to work for this problem--- since it appears its a common ailment ??????

Tim

 

Turning rotors never ends well, its just leaves less material and then warping/cracking starts.

I see ford rotors, but whos calipers?

Im not ruling out the failing master, but its known that the over the counter calipers are constantly failing.

 

I used Ford brand rotors and used NAPA calipers. The day I overheated on the drivers side... I replaced the all most new NAPA rotor with an different brand.Autozone brand I think. I looked back at the tickets after the fact. The NAPA ones
were Re-man ---- the 2-nd one I replaced it with was new (non-reman)

So --- what other kind of brake caliper is there other than ones from ford or from auto parts stores ?
What ones do you get that are good enough to work ?

What is the linkage between the rotor being out of true and what brand of caliper is being run ?
I guess I can see some line of thought of having rotors turned but not knowing why they became out of true......
not fixing the problem---- maybe ...... but on the other hand...... it sure aint gonna run with them out of true......
I have NEVER had a set of new brakes immediately potato chip the rotors. Many respondents have said temps of
up to 400 degrees are "normal" for F-350 brakes. (im not towing--- im empty-- slow city driving--- relatively
short trips---) This would seem to indicate the rotors should not mind being hot ....... so im not seeing what the
caliper could do to the rotor to send it out of true.
Not past changing the master cyl--- but not yet showing evidence that it is the bad guy.

 

Interesting thread, as I had my right front caliper lock while towing my camper.I had to slow down suddenly ,then got up the road a little and hit the brakes.The truck would go left,when I finally stopped,I could see smoke coming from the rotor. I made it to my camping spot waited until the next day and it was fine. My calipers were remands too and have been on for 3 years.

I am going to change them,going to get new ones.

 

Is there a suitable replacement caliper that has steel pistons ? I am apart trying to figure which calipers to buy.I found new Raybestos but am really trying to get away from phenolic if I can.

 

Maybe Tony at 1A Auto will chime in. @ 1Aauto

 

The beginnings of bearing failure can cause brake drag also. The wheel will begin to lean toward the truck at he top and cause misalignment at the caliper- causing brake drag, high temps, caliper failure and of course eventually bearing failure.

 

Replacement steel pistons are available.

Phenolic pistons have been in usage for a very long time. The culprit is that they deform. ever so slightly that one does not see it with the eye. However, using a measuring caliper, it's evident. so if the piston is slightly out of round, it does not slide back and forth the way it should.
I replaced mine when I upgraded my brakes with Powerstop Z36 padckage with slotted rotors.

If you have never rebuild calipers, please don't attempt. Especially dual pistons. Remember that's the only thing that take your truck from 60 down to zero.

I still have two rebuild kits as a backup. IIRC I bought them on Amazon by Centric.

 

Do you know where the steel pistons can be bought or full calipers? I am striking out.

 

I think this one was actually failing a while ago and I was unaware .I recalled whenever I towed I would smell the burning smell and just thought it was disc brake material because of the extra heat from towing.I now know it was the caliper. I just need to find calipers with steel pistons for a dually.