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Can a caliper fail in such a way

bigalpha

bigalpha

Moderator
Location
Tucson, AZ
That it engages too much or way before the caliper on the other side?

For example, you hit the brakes and the truck pulls to the left because the left caliper is faulty and is grabbing too early/too much?

88 MJ, 2WD.
 
A more likely failure is the caliper on the far side not grabbing hard enough(jammed or stuck piston, slot worn in the brake pad seat, restriction in the line, etc.) and the one that's grabbing hard is actually only working properly.
 
Well, I replaced the caliper on the opposite side (passenger) already with no change.

It feels like the side with the original caliper (driver) slips somewhat after hard braking. I thought I'd ask before I replaced it. I'll probably replace it anyways since the passenger one is new.
 
Notches in the rail where the pads ride??? The notches my pads had worn over the years where pretty darned deep. I can picture the pads hanging in the notches. I welded the notches with a MIG and dressed the rail with a file, been fine for the last five years or so.

I also had trouble on one side with the rubber brake line, the layers had separated inside the brake line, under the outer layer, the soft inner liner plugged the brake fluid flow off. I think it was my own fault for letting the calipers hang on the brake lines a couple of times, now I tie the caliper up with a piece of wire.

Sanding the pads sometimes helps, doesn't hurt a thing and lets them re seat.
 
could be a bad rotor on on one side or possibly worn out pads on one side. or maybe one caliper is froze up and is not engaging. hit up the junk yard and get a new set
 
My 98 did that right after I bought it. Driver's wouldn't release after letting off the brakes. It got progressively worse until the brakes started smoking cause it wouldn't let go at all.
 
New hoses wouldn't be a bad idea while you've got it apart replacing that other caliper. I've had issues with them coming apart internally. Take a look at the mounts/slides, too.
 
Calipers will stick sometimes. One possibility is that the bolts that the caliper slides on can get jammed or gummed up. I keep a jar of the Permatex green brake lubricant and hit those bolts everytime I service the brakes (I also use it on the moving parts in the drums). It's also possible that the piston on the caliper is bad, in which case you'd need to replace the whole caliper. Sometimes too much resin on the rotor and pad will cause it to hang up too. In that case you would be able to fix it by following the break-in procedure for new brakes.

I would probably clean the bolts, bleed the lines, and then try to bed the pads. If that doesn't fix it, replace both sets of calipers.
 
ehall said:
One possibility is that the bolts that the caliper slides on can get jammed or gummed up.
Click to expand...

The caliper doesn't slide on the bolts. It slides on the steel tubes that the bolts go through. Lubing the bolts will do nothing.
 
I think I'm going to replace the whole caliper since I already replaced the passenger caliper.

Thanks for the advice.
 
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