Last year I drove to Alpharetta, GA (from mid-Florida) in my '97 F-150 and just as I got into town (after all that driving on I-75) I smelled a rubber burning smell. Pulled off the road and the passenger/front wheel was too hot to touch and it smelled like rubber burning - drove it the last two miles to my son's house. Next morning AAA used a flat-bed to take it to the Ford dealership. Ford found nothing wrong! They even drove it on Hwy400 for over 3 miles and pulled the wheels AGAIN. No problems found. Been driving it since and never happened again.

'98 Expy had the SAME problem yesterday only passenger/rear wheel. This time I even had white smoke when I pulled over and, again, the wheel too hot to even touch and smelled the burning rubber again (brake pads?).

Drove it to the Crystal River dealer this morning (24 miles) and stopped to check it twice - wheel cool to the touch (tire only warm from driving). Dealer pulled the wheel - nothing to be found. No blueish color to the rotor (like heated metal turns blueish), no warped rotor, pads looked fine, rubber brake hose is ok. Drove to Ocala and all around Dunnellon today - no problems!

Neither dealer has ever had any problems like this (they say).

My guess is a hung caliper - but why only once and then no more problems? And, if it is the calipers, why hanging up only once after years of use?

Anyone else ever have this happen?

Thanks
Robert

 

The emergency brake probably hung, then released. Some on here have experienced it.

 

Would the emergency brake hang on just the passenger side (both F-150 and the Expy) and not both sides? And the F150 was the front wheel - Expy the rear wheel.

Robert

 

Do a search and see what you can find on the subject, but as I recall, one side was doing it due to rust. It always occured after having recently used the emergency brake.

 

Most likely a caliper sticking. If you replace the caliper(s), I would also suggest changing the front flex lines.