Dakota brakes sticking

[Pete M]

Some backstory: the Dakota had been sitting for a year or so before yesterday's 13 hour excursion back to Michigan. Worked up to it though, short runs around the neighborhood, then longer runs out to stores or the gas station. had no issues through most of the day until I hit traffic around Cincinnati. Once I was clear of that I noticed that the truck was draggin' a bit. My first thought was a flat tire, but as soon as I touched the brake pedal I eliminated that. The pedal was instantly firm. No play at all. and that meant one thing to me so I pulled off at the next stop. sure enough, the front brakes were wicked hot. Not glowing, but still very very warm. Water was instantly boiling off the calipers. So, not having the tools to easily deal with this in the middle of nowhere (I know, shocking right? except that I left the hydraulic jack and wrench with my dad in case he had need of them in GA or with the trailer). I went with plan B. a bottle of water, some WD-40 and crossing my fingers. I cooled the calipers down as best I could, then soaked all moving parts with WD-40 and took the opportunity to stop for dinner. seemed to do the trick and, while I was easy on the brakes after that, I didn't have any more issues.

 

So my question is, what do you think the original problem was? The brakes were sticking evenly on the fronts. I would think that if one caliper was sticking, only that wide would be affected and the truck would want to wander in that direction on the road. it ran straight the entire time. Later today I intend to pull off the brakes and lube everything up properly, but if this was a master cylinder issue it may be for nothing (although I guess it's still a good maintenance thing regardless).

[Red 1989 MJ]

Rust in the caliper !! :idea:

[87Warrior]

Yank the calipers and rotors and get new. That much heat is not good for em. My next order of business would be to flush the fluid/lines and see what happens.

[Pete M]

dang. don't really have time for all that today. :( I'll carry on with the plan if lubing them up and we'll see what they look like inside once I get that far.

 

rust in the caliper sound plausible. after all, it's insanely humid in GA for most of the year. :mad:

[87Warrior]

Just don't let em get too hot. The wheel bearings might fight you. :doh:

[kro10000]

No ABS light, right?

[Pete M]

no lights.

[Pete M]

No ABS either if it matters. well, at least not up front. might have rear abs. :dunno:

[Geonovast]

I would pop the calipers off, work them back and forth a few times, and take it for a drive.

 

Maybe bleed it a bit to make sure you don't have any cooked fluid in the caliper.

[freakjeep93]

i would possibly check the caliper slide and see if thats sticking.i know that that will cause you breajk pads to wear badly but it could cause the breaks to get hot too.

[Geonovast]

If it makes you feel better, this is what I was greeted with when I went hunting down my brake noise.

 

 

I just put those brakes in too. I have no idea what happened. Either some part failed on me, something somehow got in there, wreaked havoc, and got out before I pulled the drum, or I did something wrong when I put it together.

[jimoshel]

Pete: If you look at the spokes on your rims you will notice they have a aerodynamic shape. As you go down the highway they catch the wind and direct it onto the calipers, thereby pushing them into the rotor. The faster you go the harder the wind pressure pushes the pads into the rotor increasing the braking. A sort of a built in governer. I believe they were originally designed that way to cool the brakes but as we all know, things don't always go as planned. :D

[Geonovast]

Pete: If you look at the spokes on your rims you will notice they have a aerodynamic shape. As you go down the highway they catch the wind and direct it onto the calipers, thereby pushing them into the rotor. The faster you go the harder the wind pressure pushes the pads into the rotor increasing the braking. A sort of a built in governer. I believe they were originally designed that way to cool the brakes but as we all know, things don't always go as planned. :D

 

Then they'd be pulling air away from the brakes on the other side.... :nuts:

[jimoshel]

NO!NO!NO! The only way they would pull the air is if you reversed them. Or drove in reverse.

[Pete M]

Um, I'm guessing my rims would work the same forwards or backwards. :hmm: but that's neither here nor there since the truck used to be my DD in heavy traffic. The only change I can think of is the sitting in georgia. :dunno:

 

 

 

I finally got one side apart. was held up by a missing 7mm allen wrench. :fs1: The piston pushed in without any remarkable resistance. I'm going to reassemble and check the other side.

[Pete M]

found a tear in the boot of the pass side caliper. :fs1: whatever. Aside from that it reacted the same as the drivers side. guess I'll be replacing parts in the near future. assuming there's any money to do so. likely she'll just be parked again when (if) I get back from Illinois.

[Geonovast]

Just tie it up out of the way, and put a C-clamp on the caliper to keep it compressed.

 

 

 

 

:idea:

[kro10000]

Wheels do not cool the breaks, its pretty simple to test, pour some vegy oil on the front of a wheel, and take it for a spin, it will move out towards the rim, but not back or forth

[kro10000]

However I have heard the lamborgini reventon's (pronounced rebenton) wheels are designed to funnel air to the breaks... but this is the only instance Ive heard of

[jimoshel]

Got one. :D

[87Warrior]

Replacing the calipers should not set you back much if you bring in the old ones as core replacements.

 

Maybe you are imagining the 'drag' in the Dakota because you are used to the high power MJs. The hot brake parts are just the result of the over worked engine and residual heat. :brows:

[whowey]

Replacing the calipers should not set you back much if you bring in the old ones as core replacements.

 

Maybe you are imagining the 'drag' in the Dakota because you are used to the high power MJs. The hot brake parts are just the result of the over worked engine and residual heat. :brows:

 

 

:yes: :yes: :banana: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

 

Thanks I needed that laugh today....

[Pete M]

I babied them as best i could and never had another problem. of course, i also didn't do another 40 miles of stop-n-go traffic in 80* weather either. whatever. they got me home and that's all I asked of them :D

[AmJay]

My '89 Dakota sat for a year and the pads were rust welded to the rotors so hard that I had to put it in 4wd to move it. Never had the calipers seize. Seems kind of odd after you drove it as far as you did without a problem.

[Pete M]

Seems kind of odd after you drove it as far as you did without a problem.

 

 

My thoughts exactly. it was the first real heavy use of the brakes though. The first time any significant heat would have built up due to the stop and go traffic. :dunno: