I'm at 48K on the ticker...

Have many folks had problems with calipers? I ask because I had one stick on me yesterday. Luckily (or unluckily), I was near a shop that I knew and trusted so I just pulled in...

I went in with the mechanic that I know and, generally, trust (harddeee har har)... He pulled it apart and, sure enough, after scalding both of our hands on various other components that were fire-hot, the caliper was stuck.

After pulling the line off so that we could see if it would release, sure enough, it wouldn't...

One caliper later -- and new front brakes (I was due anyway), I'm out about $450...

Just seems a bit premature for this to be happening and thought I'd fish for information from others here...

-RP-

 

Wow, bad luck and good luck, all at the same time.

So far with 57,000 miles on the truck I haven't had any caliper problems. I did have some front brake TSB done a few years ago and I can't recall the number. I had a trusted Ford dealer tech friend of mine (harddee har har ) do the work.

Though you're out some coin, at least you didn't ger stranded. I once had a caliper freeze on me in another car once 50 miles from home.

 

i dont get it, what freezes on a caliper? the piston? or the slides... i guess if the slides froze, it probably got dirty and messed up so just bad luck, but if a piston froze, maybe the fluid had contamination, had too much water, cooked off the fluid, or was it hardware failure purely

 

never had it happen to me, but while you had them off, you shouldve painted the calipers

 

I concur with you mengla...

I am a bit confused on how it would happen too... It was the piston -- frozen solid as a rock. We had already decided to replace the caliper so, we took the old one and put it in a vice ... we finally got it to release. Looking at it closely, it almost looked like it got crooked, for a lack of better ways to put it.

 

Not my cup of tea nor real helpful... Thanks though.

 

dont you know it adds 10 more hp

 

I had a cracked rear caliper piston when I did my brakes a few weeks ago, other than that no problems.

 

I took my truck to the dealer because I had a brake pedal pulsation. It felt like the normal warped brake rotor ford thing. The dealer said a front caliper was sticking and they replaced both front calipers and turned all four rotors. Stops great now. I really don't think I had a caliper hanging up though, but they replaced them under warranty.

2006 with 15,000 easy miles.

 

I need to replace my calipers and rotors. I had my pads replaced and rotors drilled and slotted like in December and they're still givng me problems and the soft brake issue isn't any better

 

I did a brake change myself a couple months ago with no issues. I made sure to completely depress the pistons to verify they were not stuck.

But I believe the most common issue is there is some kind of dirt or something that gets down in the seal area and doesn't let it depress.

 

My driver side rear caliper ended up frezing up and needed replaced.

mikebaby

 

I just crossed 50k this weekend and havent had the issue yet, but it does concern me. I too don't see how the piston should freeze inside the caliper but odd things like this happen in the automotive world. Simple designs that have been used for many many years are some how screwed up. When I had my dodge Dakota people were having balljoints go out in 24-36k miles. Sometimes top balljoint would come apart and allow the tire to laydown causing some real damage. Dodge put it off of couse until the govt stepped in and they issued a recall. I just dont see how some of these items make it through the "brutal testing conditions" these trucks and parts go through before production

 

Most of the testing is done short term, not 25,000 + most drivers do in a heart beat. They test rough, but not long term miles

 

I replaced a stuck caliper on a friend's Nissan Sentra... it was on the rear though at 79k.

My '99s front caliper got stuck... for not sure how long, until I noticed metal shavings in the rim and how the brakes looked. But then I wasn't mechanically inclined as I am now... cost me a whopping $1200 for a new set of brakes.