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Left front brake randomly locking up

26K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  jamiesaun 
#1 ·
On my way to work tonight, my truck started pulling really hard to the left and shaking violently at any speed above 35mph. I slowed down to around 30 and kept going until I found a suitable place to stop. Then right as I came into a town, the shake went away and the truck started tracking perfectly straight again. I made it the rest of the way to work without issue, even on the interstate up to 60 mph.

It's done this to me one other time about 4 or 5 months ago, I was on the interstate and it suddenly started pulling really hard to the left and shaking. I thought I had a flat tire, so I pulled over and got out to check it and found everything looked normal aside from a slight burnt smell from the brakes. I got back in the truck and haven't had a problem with it until tonight.

What would cause something like this to happen? When I leave the house, everything is fine. Then after a few miles, the left front brake seems to start grabbing. After a few miles, the brake mysteriously lets go and no longer gives me problems.

This has me pretty confused. Anyone else have this problem?
 
#3 ·
:whs:

Or a warped a rotor...unlikely

Or a wheel joint either driver or passenger side or both seized up on up side...Knowing that you live in "Nawlins" you could have some rusted wheel joints, their 45 bucks a piece, I just went through this.
 
#4 ·
Wheel joints... I'll have to look into that too.

I know my rotors are warped- very slightly though, I can feel a little pulsating when I'm on the brakes.

I'm thinking the caliper slide pins could be my issue though. Maybe the grease siezes up, then after the brake has been dragging a while and gets hot, the grease becomes thinner and releases. Wasn't there some kind of recall or TSB for the stock slide pins on these trucks. For some reason I seem to remember an "upgrade kit" of sorts from ford.
 
#6 ·
I'm pretty sure I know what's going on Matt. I thought mine was the slide pins too. But I'd be willing to bet it's not...

It's probably corrosion causing the piston to stick in the caliper. It's from water getting into the system and staying down in the caliper...

This is what I had to do.

Take the caliper off, and try to make sure the pistons are moving freely inside of the caliper, if not, it's probably seized. If so, have a friend pump your brakes until the pistons come all of the way out of the caliper. You'll have to try to get the rubber boot off without tearing it. It wasn't too hard for me. After the piston(s) are out, you'll see the damage. I sanded mine lightly to remove what imperfections I could, and also cleaned up inside the caliper. Try not to scar the piston too bad in the process, it needs to seal to keep pressure in the system... Then reassemble it all and fill your reservoir. Bleed the brakes and try it out.

Worst case scenario, you have to buy a new caliper, which is what you would have had to do in the first place. If it works, you can send me half of the money you would've paid for the caliper.

Do you still have my number?
 
#7 ·
My front left was doing the same thing. Thought it was crap on the slides so cleaned and greased them but it still happened. Had a bad caliper as Sleeper already mentioned. Some water got by the outer seal and built up a little rust. That's all it took to fawk things up. I ended up getting a brand new caliper to replace it and will rebuild the old one for a spare.
 
#11 ·
Id change your brake fluid as well. If the thing locks up out of the blue without using the brakes, something besides/in addition to rusty cylinders is going on. If you have rust in the piston bore, more than likely there is quite a bit of moisture in the brake fluid.

My guess is that after driving a bit, the pads dragging on the rotor heats up the fluid in the calipers. Once suffecient heat builds up, the water boils in the caliper causing the piston move out and drag the brakes. After it sits for awhile, the water cools down, goes from vapor to liquid and the piston is able to retract.
 
#12 ·
It kinda happens the opposite of that. When it's cold, it'll drag. After it drags for a while and heats up, it lets go. That's why I was leaning toward slide pins. I'll find out this weekend when I pull it apart.
 
#14 ·
Replace the rubber hose to the caliper.
 
#15 ·
Agreed. And if thats it then replace all of the rubber lines after. Also check the rubber diaphragm in the reservoir. If it's swollen then this is going to get spendy.

Is it doing it after you apply the breaks or is it just doing it out of nowhere?
 
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