Rear Brakes Dragging--Thoughts?

[FarmDiesel]

2004 F-250 4x4, Powerstroke, Crew Cab Lariat. About 70k miles. About 5K miles ago, the rear brakes on one side started dragging, severely, one day. Got out of truck and could smell it...felt the wheel and it burned my hand. Ended up turning the rear rotors, and installing new calipers on both sides, along with new brake pads. It appeared from our repair that the L rear caliper had seized up and was not releasing.

5K miles later, the same wheel is intermittently (apparently) hanging. Will occasionally get out of truck and smell burning brakes, and when you feel that wheel it is warm (not burning hot, but warm). Truck doesn't appear to pull when driving, brakes normally, no fluid use, no leaks, etc. Pulled the wheel and the pads don't appear to be wearing abnormally, and the rotor looks good. Lubed the caliper slides and reassembled, but it seems to still intermitently have that issue. Any thoughts? Can a caliper be bad again? Brake proportioning valve? Master cylinder? Something Else?

I've searched on here but no joy. Any thoughts are appreciated.

[dikkstarr]

Crack the bleeder and see if fluid squirts out and the caliper releases. Maybe a kinked line somewhere?

[bersa45]

I had the same problem. I changed calipers the first time and took care of problem for about 40K. Then started again. I took the calipers off and popped the pistons out and buffed the little rust edge off that built up after time not allowing the piston to go back in. It has been almost 20K and no other problems...

[PWR UP 08]

I had the same problem with my 05 f250 crew cab. Driving down the road it seemed to drag after the brakes got warm, 10 or so miles. I knew something wasnt right I put the truck in neutral on a slight grade and it didnt drift back at all!! Drove it home and got out and the rotar was red hot! on the way to my local garage the ABS light came on. Its is very noticeable the truck is draging its brakes, because my exhaust temperature gauge was out of sight!! The local garage said i needed an ABS sensor and new calaper. The piston was rusted and wasnt working properly. The problem was on the passenger rear! What side did you guys have your issue on?

[Strokin' 6.0]

Funny you should say that. I had mine in the shop yesterday, and the tech told me that my rear brakes needed to be replaced because they were worn. He said that the right rear pads were the worst.

[PWR UP 08]

thats funny Because mine was on the right side also. I did forget to put in my post that I did have new rear brakes put on on both sides! Wonder what is causing this to happen?

[pgryce]

I had to replace the caliper. This must be a known issue by now. I took it to the dealer and they told me a needed $550 in brake work. They never even took it for a ride. This should be a recall.

[PWR UP 08]

I would stay away from the dealers as much as possible. If you have a good local garage that you can trust take it there for that kinda work. If it aint under warranty they will rip u a new a** I agree it should be a recall. Took mine to my local garage and charged me $317.65. New ABS sensor New caliper + rear brakes both sides!

[ImSoAmish]

Sounds like a rusting caliper guide pin. I've had boots go bad on guide pins in the past and water got in and rusted up the guide pin. I've also had one instance where i had water in behind my caliper piston and that would get hot enough to expand and make the caliper engage seize up. One simple brake bleed at that wheel flushed the water out and took care of that.

[FMTRVT]

Originally Posted by ImSoAmish

..... I've also had one instance where i had water in behind my caliper piston and that would get hot enough to expand and make the caliper engage seize up. One simple brake bleed at that wheel flushed the water out and took care of that.

Good rationalization, but .... Water is very hygroscopic so any water in the system will be rapidly disbursed throughout he fluid. Even if water stayed a bubble (it can't) and it's coefficient of expansion was higher then brake fluid, the increase in volume would just push the brake fluid through the compensation port in the M/C and into the reservoir.

[FMTRVT]

The rear brakes on the 99-04 platform are problematic, and one of the reasons that Ford changed suppliers from Akebono to K-H for the 05+ years.

The issues on the rear brakes tend to come from rusting. The slides can be a problem, the pad steelbacks can rust where they fit into the brackets, and corrosion can form under the caliper piston boots, especially with remanufactured calipers.

It doesn't matter who the aftermarket calipers came from (NAPA, Autozone, Ford service, etc). All of the aftermarket calipers are run through an abrasive cleaning operation that removes the anti-corrosion coating on the caliper. So as far as the piston situation is concerned, rusting will happen faster then with new OE calipers.

And before anyone asks, there was only one supplier for this caliper, Akebono. No one else made new calipers. And all of the aftermarket stock is from cores that have been turned in or from salvage yards that sell to rebuilders.

The overall issue that is contributing is complex. One factor is that any rear disc brake on any vehicle gets a higher amount of road wetting then the front brakes. There is just a huge amount of water that is thrown off the front tires towards the back axle. So the rear brakes are bathed in water. One of the reason I added front mud flaps to my own truck, although still not enough.

Another issue is how hot the rear brakes get on this vehicle, and if your operating it in a non-commercial manner, they don't get very hot. Especially in rain conditions. So they don't dry very well and rust builds up.

And then there is the design factor. It is very easy for the bracket side of the sliding pin boot to not seal well or become dislodged. When this occurs, water gets in and the pin rusts. If you use petroleum based grease on these pins, the boots will swell even a little and the seal will be compromised, so silicone based grease is essential.

The other part of the design is the movement of the pads in the brackets. The new design in 05 has a much more forceful method of keeping the pads moving back with the piston and caliper retraction. For the Akebono design, this was accomplished with the use of double stick adhesive on the insulators for a time. But that does not work for the vehicles that came equipped with the SS heat shield between the inner pad and caliper pistons. And if anyone disturbs the caliper, that adhesion is compromised on the outer pad. But this not that much different then many other vehicles out there.

The bottom line IMO is these model years need routine inspection and maintenance on the brakes if you do not want to develop a situation where the rear brakes fail. And when they fail, they do so quickly without much warning. More so if your not operating under heavy weight, higher stop count per mile commercial conditions.

[ikaroback]

I've been having the same problem here! I have an 05 F350 and it's been doing this on and off on 3 of the 4 wheels. Mostly the rear though. I replaced the right rear caliper(maybe 2000 miles ago) and it stopped doing it for a while. Lately it's been starting up again but now both rear brakes are dragging at the same time! I don't think a new caliper could go bad that quick right? I guess I'll replace the abs sensor and go from there...any thoughts guys?

[eriol]

I had a problem with the rear brakes, too:
On the driver's side, the slides were seized up and I had an uneven wear on the pads: The inner one was gone, the outer one nearly new. On the passenger side, on pad was worn parallel, while the second one was wedged by 1/8 of an inch!.
Finally, the caliper on the driver's side failed.
I replaced everything: calipers, rotors, pads.
But: I have AFTER the replacement dragging brakes, I can notice it in the fuel consumption. When I replaced the rear brakes, I also flushed the brake system and filled is with new fluid. The front brakes got replaced about 6000 km ago.
Any ideas?

Thank you

[pjwoolw]

Yeah. You loose that feeling your trying to push a trailer. I got +2 mpg after I fixed mine.

[johnny87]

Ok I'll pile on here. I own an '07 F350 SC with 38,000 miles on it. I took the truck into the dealer when I first noted the problem at 34,600 mi.

The dealer replaced a few parts associated with the e-brake actuator. I drove it for a few more weeks thinking the problem was resolved but the brake eventually exhibited the same characteristics and even started to cause the axle to hop. I took it back again this time I had 37,500 miles and told the dealer that I feel it should still be covered since I noted the problem under warranty and they failed to correct it.

Good thing for me the service manager agreed. Anyways rust/corrosion was found on the caliper piston and the caliper was replaced. I though when I was under there I had seen TRW stamped onto the caliper.

It isn't like Ford picks lousy suppliers but talking to others it does seem to be a Ford problem. Not only do I not think it is limited to the 2000-2004 years but also carries over into the F-150 line. Design issue... most likely. Quality control? Probably not. Perhaps they are better shielded on other trucks or have more robust seals.

Incidentally the caliper that failed was the passenger rear.