Hello All;

I haven't been here for a while. I used to use the name "GlennMc" but lost my password and changed e-mail accounts so I had to re-enlist. I used to stir up a fair amount of heat on the towing forum by challenging a lot of misconceptions about legal towing limits.

Todays question is about my brakes. When my truck (1998 2 wheel drive rear wheel ABS) is cold, the brakes work fine. They stop well, straight and with no vibration. When I drive around the city and warm the brakes up, it starts pulling to the right when I apply the brakes. The longer I drive the worse it gets. The right front wheel is covered with brake dust and the left is not. It also starts to squeal from the right front when it gets really hot. The rotors, calipers and pads are new. I am wondering if the pads (napa auto parts) are the problem? Anyone else ever experience something like this? Any suggestion is welcome.
Thanks, Glenn.

 

Sounds like you have a caliper that is sticking, and might need to be replaced. I would check into and fix it ASAP.

 

Yankee 7985;

Would the caliper get worse as the brakes heat up? It sounds logical if a piston is expanding as it gets hot and sticking in the bore. If it is, this will teach me again that aftermarket parts are not the best bargain in the long run and that I should have stuck with OEM parts. Thanks for the reply, Glenn.

 

Yes, if the caliper is sticking, the additional friction will cause the various metals of the caliper, rotor, and axle to overheat, and possibly get damaged to the point you might have to replace it all.

 

i had a rt front brake hose fail internally and it would cuase the right front to get hot and eventually lock up. from the sounds of things its 1 part you didnt change.

 

My vote is for brake hose failed.
Mike

 

I had 89 chevy and a front brake hose fail internally,locking the brake pad down. The chevy dealer said I needed new a caliper,but a guy I worked with told me how to fix it.

 

Mine does the same thing!

From the posts mentioned it's either 1. Caliper or 2. Brake hose.

Which is easier/cheaper to replace?

 

brake hose would be cheaper and easier.

i wonder if these hoses are getting pinched in the bumpstop on the right front. seems like it is almost always the right front that fails. i bent the bracket on mine so it has more clearance around the bumpstop.

 

I just had a hose fail on the left side, and the failure was right where the lower mounting bracket was fastened to the hose. This is the first time I've had the problem, so I'm not sure if this is true for most of the failures or not.

 

if its failing at the bracket i would suspect dangling calipers during a brake job.

how many miles are these failing at? mine was at 120k.

 

I had 206K before any brake line failure. The failure was a clog in the line, and I suspect that there was corossion (sp) built up inside the hose bracket and actually crushed the line at that point. The clogged line didn't seem to be causing any pulling problems though, I just couldnt push the caliper pistons back in during a brake change.

 

Can I get a picture of the brake line that's failing?

How much would it cost to replace?

 

i dont have a picture but if you turn the wheels all the way one way you will see the flexable brake hose one end connects to caliper and the other to a bracket and hard line. i beleive the hoses run between $15 and $30 depending on where you go.

 

I was looking at what you were talking about. The flexable part is about 5 inches long? Do I just replace the flexable part or the whole flexline and hardline?