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I have brake questions on a customer truck and hope it's OK to post it here. I need more exposure.
I'm working on a '96 Ford F-350 and am having trouble with the front calipers sticking and causing brake drag. I did a complete brake job on this truck last Aug. and at the time I put rebuilt calipers on it. At first they worked great with no drag at all even after heating them up on a few test drives. I measured rotor temps after driving and they were equal. Well I now have it back in the shop again with front brake drag. The rotors are in perfect condition and not warped or cracked as far as I can tell. I decided to try another set of rebuilt calipers yesterday. The driver side worked fine out of the box but the passenger side hung up right away. Next I decided to try a brand new caliper from Ford and guess what, it hung up too but maybe a tad bit less. Well I decided to take it for a test drive and see what the temp gun said. After stopping back into the shop the passenger side was 20º hotter. I jacked it up and spun the wheels and now the driver side is hanging up just as bad even though it started out free before the drive.
The slide pins are fully free with new rubber boots and all other slides are smooth and lubed up. There is no fluid pressure in the caliper when the brakes are at rest as verified by cracking the bleed screw and of course the pistons are still not retracting fully. I took one of the calipers apart and lubed the pistons and seals with Syl-glide, which did nothing for the problem. A Ford tech told me they were having some trouble with the higher grade brake pads causing some drag and said they had better luck with lower grade ones. I have tried both and I see no difference.
I have been through the same thing on another '91 F-350 and also an '81 E-350 van. I have not been able to solve any of them all of which got rebuilt calipers and the works. I am starting to get really sick of these Ford brakes. The pistons look glassy smooth so I don't see any need to polish them further. They are Bakelite material it looks like. Does anyone know if there are different materials used for the sealing ring where one might slide better then another?
Well I think I covered everything I have tried and thought of. Is there anyone out there that has been through a similar experience and know what is going on??
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Brake problems, driving me CRAZY
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