Brakes Pull After Replacment - Diesel Forum

pilotmark · 09-17-2003, 04:59 PM

Howdy all!

I recently finished a brake job on my '02 X. Front and rear, new semi-metalic pads, all rotors turned, slide-pin anti-seeze lube, ... 200 miles later it started pulling to the right when braking. The right-front brake was generating a lot more dust than the others. This problem got bad enough that I could make right-hand turns by just braking!

Thinking (hoping) it might have been a pad problem, I replaced the front pads, broke the rotor glaze, and rechecked everything. When I finished, it braked straight again....until a couple of hundred miles on the new pads. It is now starting to pull right again!

I don't know what to check at this point. I was thinking of having the rotors turned again and make sure they both end up with the same thickness since it does also seemed to be heat-related. Nevers pulls much when cold, only after the rotors have got some heat. The X does not pull when driving straight without braking, so I don't think I have a dragging pad. I replaced all clips and springs each time also.

Anyone have any ideas????????? This is my wife's "kid bus". She is getting tired of driving in right-hand circles and she is losing faith in me! Doesn't want me even touching the VCR anymore!

Thanks,
Mark

989171 · 09-17-2003, 05:49 PM

Happened to me once (not an X). It ended up being a problem with the brakes on the side that wasn't pulling. What ended up fixing it was flushing the brake lines. I think what happened was when I pushed the piston back to make room for the new pads it must have dislodged some crap, which I believe created a restriction. So that side wasn't braking to its full potential. But all my efforts were concentrated on the side that pulled. After about 6 months of this someone suggested flushing the system an voilà! No more pulling. Worth a shot anyway.

pilotmark · 09-17-2003, 06:01 PM

Thanks... That was on my list of next-to-do after the re-turning of the rotors. I asked the dealership about any possible damage to the ABS unit (or something else) when pushing back the pistons. They said that there was nothing special needed to be done with that system. So the next thing I could think of was some sort of contamination in the brake fluid (air or crud) on the opposite side. Maybe I will try the flush next.

Thanks again,
Mark

pilotmark · 09-17-2003, 06:05 PM

One other point to this whole thing that adds suspicion:

When I had the calipers off and sitting on a jack stand, one of my kids knocked off the left-side caliper and it fell until it was hanging on the brake hose. I thought about internal damage but the dealership said that there was no way it could damage the hose since it is reinforced internally. Also, since this does problem not start immediately, it seems that it is not related to a hose problem.

Oh well!

MotionMan · 09-18-2003, 01:00 AM

I would start on the side that does not pull.I bet it is weak and the pull is due to one side doing all the work. Like you said there may be something in the line or the caliper is sticking from being moved so far back (farther than it had moved before) when installing the new pads.

roofeditor · 09-18-2003, 06:44 AM

[ QUOTE ]
One other point to this whole thing that adds suspicion:

When I had the calipers off and sitting on a jack stand, one of my kids knocked off the left-side caliper and it fell until it was hanging on the brake hose. I thought about internal damage but the dealership said that there was no way it could damage the hose since it is reinforced internally. Also, since this does problem not start immediately, it seems that it is not related to a hose problem.

Oh well!

[/ QUOTE ]

I had the same damn thing on my former dodge. Brake hose problem was causing a caliper to drag. Replace hose(s) they are cheap.

shamuex2000 · 09-19-2003, 08:57 AM

When I did mine, they pulled to the left. I found nothing wrong with the lines, although the gravity bleed rate from the side that was pulling was much faster than the opposite side which made me check the lines. I replaced the calipers, and the problem continued. By the time it was warm enough outside to deal with the problem again, it went away so I'm not touching it! Next time, I'm going to open the bleeder when I retract the pads. This way the old stuff from the caliper blows out the bleeder rather than up through the lines, and then bleed the rest of the old fluid out later after I have the calipers re-mounted. I've done this before, but now it seems that either preventing the reverse fluid flow or the old stuff going up the lines makes a difference. Dale

pilotmark · 09-19-2003, 10:16 AM

Well, it looks like this weekend I'm going to flush/bleed the brakes. With what Dale said about his similar problem and gravity bleed rates, I originally had a similar problem. The first time I finished the brakes, the right side was dragging. The dragging stopped after the second fix, even though they still started to pull again. I attributed the stop in dragging to using a different type of lube on the slide pins. Maybe there is "bad stuff" in the lines from pushing back the pistons in the calipers. I'll let everyone know the results!

Thanks....

pilotmark · 09-22-2003, 05:22 PM

Just to close up this whole thing...:

On Friday, my wife told me that the pulling had stopped all together. When I drove the X, it certainly had stopped but both sides in the front were now dragging. Since both sides were heating up equally, they both stopped the same. All of this added up with the initial problem after the first pad change, the right side was dragging initially. With the semi-metallic pads, the hotter side was braking more than the cool side.

On Sunday, I did a brake fluid flush to try to stop the dragging hoping it was some blockage. The dragging has now stopped on both sides. So the braking is now even and no more over-heating.

I just love these short "teach the kids" projects!

Thanks to everyone for their help.