Can't blame this one on the lemurs...

shawn

shawn

running dog lackey of the oppressor class
Administrator
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
I figured I should pull the rear calipers off the Dodge and check the brakes before we leave for Alabama. I just did the fronts a few weeks ago, the truck has 130k on it, I've put the last 50k on it, and never had the rear end apart. So it seemed prudent.

Here's what I found:

DSC_1514.JPG


The inner pad on both sides looked like that. And the backing plates were rusted to the point of being rotten:

DSC_1519.JPG


The driver's side caliper must have been boogered up, too. The inner pad was worn heavily on one corner (and yeah, the pad is delaminating from the backing plate):

DSC_1522.JPG


What's the chance these are the original pads? Except for the one that the caliper did in, they all had plenty of meat on them... but they just look *old*. I've never seen a pad come apart like these did. The front calipers were in terrible shape (cracked pistons), but the pads were normal... just used up.

Either way, $600 and a day's worth of farting around later:

DSC_1518.JPG
 
Its a good idea to replace the flex brake line going to the calipers after that many miles too. They come apart from the inside and there is a flapper that helps the caliper to hold pressure that goes bad.
My pads look like that sometimes too. I think it's from the heat more than anything.
 
Yeah, I would normally do the flex lines too, but forgot about them both times.
 
and now you know why your front brakes were getting so hot.....

how bad were the brakes on the trailer ? are those done yet ?
 
No, all four got hot, but I think it was mainly b/c of the front rotors trying to bed the pads to their fawked-up shape. I put new pads, calipers, and rotors in the front, and that took care of it.

I did the trailer brakes a couple of weeks ago. New hubs and loaded backing plates. I knew they weren't in awesome shape, but they had another 5k miles on them since I looked at them last. Mainly just worn out. I don't expect any miracles in the braking department (haven't really test-driven it yet), but at least now it's all known-good parts.
 
Were you experiencing any symptoms, or you just decided to take a look and found this? I ask because we have similar trucks.
 
Don't feel bad my jeep is in pieces in the garage after some failures from saturday testing, at least your done! I've seen way worse tan that at the car lot, for some reason my neighbors duramax goes through rear brake pads twice as fast as front. He pulls a landscape trailer everyday
 
VortecJeep said:
Were you experiencing any symptoms, or you just decided to take a look and found this? I ask because we have similar trucks.
Click to expand...

Nah, front pads wore out about a month ago. I figured it would be a quick in/out, new pads and done. Turns out both calipers were junked. The phenolic pistons were in pieces, the metal caps on the ends were rotten. So I got new calipers, new pads, old rotors. Loaded all my stuff up to go to Uwharrie and kept smoking the brakes. Pads were fleet duty stuff, so should have been fine. Pulled it back apart when I got home, and the rotors weren't nearly as straight as I thought they were. So new rotors, another set of pads, and I was back in business.

I pulled the rears apart just as PM. Figured I'd had the truck for four years, 50k miles, never actually had the rear calipers off. I'd peeked at the pad edges a few times when rotating the tires or something, and they always had plenty of meat. Except for the one that was wearing unevenly, they all still do.

Talked to a buddy of mine with an 02 with like 180k miles... says he's still running the OE pads in the rear. Changed the fronts a few times, but never the backs. Makes me even more suspicious that these are the originals. The only time the rears do any work is when I'm towing.
 
Thats impressive, and scary! One owner, '02, 5spd, CTD here. Changed front pads once about 5yrs ago. Still running the OE pads in the rear at 172k. Put an exhaust brake on 2 years ago and use the hell out of it now. Looking forward to watching the pads now, thinking its gonna take a while to wear them down.
 
I'm going to guess that those were the factory rear pads.

2001.5 Ram here with 228k on the clock. It has the rear disc brakes. I've replaced the fronts twice since I have owned the truck (bought in fall of 2006), and have never replaced the rears. I check them every now and then, but they are wearing down very slowly. The last time I did the fronts, the rotors were under spec for minimum thickness, so I did top of the line NAPA rotors and pads ($300). The calipers still looked good.
 
I just changed the front pads on my diesel passat at 170k miles. I've owned it from 70k to 170k, and the pads were used (likely OEM) when I bought it, and when I went to change them, they still had about 1/3 life left in them.
 
Back
Top