I have a odd problem w/ the front brakes and was wondering if anyone else has ran into this. I replaced front rotors and pad about Feb of this yr. About two months ago, I went into town after work, and on the way home I starting smelling a hot brake. I pulled over and thr front right brake was smoking. I let it cool down and went the last two miles home. I jacked it up and looked at caliper slides, and they seemed to be working when applied. No problem until tonight, same problem again and now I'm leaning towards the rubber line...any ideas. Thanks ahead of time...Gene

 

Similar thing happened to me and my '06. Thought I had a passenger front tire going low, truck was pulling badly to the right. Pulled over to investigate and like you, smelt cooking brakes. They were smoking a bit. Checked my tire pressure and it was up about 10 psi. Bled down so I wouldn't have a blow out and limped the last 4 miles home. When I pulled the wheel, as expected I found the brakes to be dragging. After pulling the caliper off and removing the pads I found that the actual pistons were wasted. The piston had just crumbled to powder. Went ahead and replaced both from calipers, pads, and rotors from Auto Zone and changed the fluid for less than $400.

So for me it was the actual pistons in my caliper that were bad. Is your fluid dirty looking. A plugged brake line might prevent the piston from retracting after you have let off the brakes, thus the dragging. If you have some spare fluid it couldn't hurt to remove the line from the dragging caliper and purge some of the old fluid out. If your fluid isn't dirty (mine wasn't) I'd pull the pads and look at the piston. Curious to see how this turns out. Good luck...

 

I fluid does look dirty, I had a friend look at it (a mechanic) and he said he didn't like to look of the rubber hose. He said his brothers' truck did the same thing. I'll let you guys know what happens... thanks

 

Same problem on my 1997. Was told it was probably the rubber hose deteriorating internally and that it was a common problem. Sounded ludicrous to me but I bought and installed a new set - $68. Problem solved.
Wanting to see this "deterioration" for myself I cut an end off the old hose and stuck a wire down it to determine the location of the blockage. It was at the a-frame bracket. I cut the hose at both sides of the bracket and found NO deterioration whatsoever. What I did find was that the bracket had accumulated a substantial amount of rust between itself and the brake hose effectively pinching off the hose.
SOLUTION: Loosen the bracket's grip on the hose with a pair of channel-locks, clean out the rust, and re-crimp it.

 

I have replace every possible part on my 1998 f150 4x4 auto 5.4l front brakes at least twice. Including all rubber hoses, metal lines, calipers, pads, shims, slide pins, hightemp grease, master cyl. This has been done by myself, a private shop and the overpriced dealer.
They still overheat, drag, and threaten to catch the truck on fire if I don't notice it in time. If you think you fixed it, think again.....the problem will be back. This is a issue with Ford's design.

Ford quality..........

 

It's May, 2011 and I've had no more problems with front brakes dragging/locking-up.