front brake help..

Today after driving for a while i noticed that the front brakes were dragging. It would pull to the right going down the road, and when you hit the brakes, it would pull hard to the left... If you locked up the brakes(on wet pavement) it would only lock up the front left. The fluid looks really milky. It first started to pull to the left about 3 weeks ago after changing out the front axle u-joints. I know there's moisture in the fluid, should I flush the fluid first or should I change the rubber hoses to the fronts, or lastly change the calipers?? What do you guys think?

TIA,

Sean

rebleed the front. check is the calipers are "floating" correctly and and applying the pads on both sides. check the pad wear while youre down there.

a fellow naxja member had a great idea of clamping one of the front hoses and seeing if the brake pedal was "higher" and firmer. it was a response to a guy not being able to get a firm pedal, im not sure if that can be applied to you.

it wouldnt hurt to see if the rear drums are not seized and stuck. in my experience i have had to deal with the rear right ebrake cable seizing the drum in the applied position a total of 3 times.

just a coupel thoughts to chew on.

cheers :chef:

"Floating"?

The calipers are "Floating Calipers". 2 ways to do it, mount the calipers fixed on the steering knuckle and have multiple pistons pushing even from both sides, a "FIXED Caliper" or Have one big piston in a caliper shaped like a vice and to squeeze the brake pads like a vice, but to do this the caliper has to slide back and forth to squeeze pads with only one big piston, thus they are called "Floating Calipers". The bushing and pins, that the Floating Caliper slides on, can get messed up and the caliper doesn't slide properly, thats what he's talking about with checking the float.

Keep in mind, any kind of petroleum oil in the brake fluid will cause the seals to swell massively. If the seals swell on a caliper, the caliper will stick and make the pads drag on that side. So your milky fluid may be contamination with something that makes the seals swell.

The milkyness of the fluid is unlikely water, brake fluid is hygroscopic, which means it absorbs water, so any water in the system usually just makes the brake fluid get darker. Too much water in the system can cause rust of the parts, which can cause calipers to stick as well.

Rebuilding calipers is really easy. The kits are only a few dollars, but at the same time, you can get rebuilt calipers at NAPA for $18 after the core charge.

rag said:

rebleed the front. check is the calipers are "floating" correctly and and applying the pads on both sides. check the pad wear while youre down there.

a fellow naxja member had a great idea of clamping one of the front hoses and seeing if the brake pedal was "higher" and firmer. it was a response to a guy not being able to get a firm pedal, im not sure if that can be applied to you.

it wouldnt hurt to see if the rear drums are not seized and stuck. in my experience i have had to deal with the rear right ebrake cable seizing the drum in the applied position a total of 3 times.

just a coupel thoughts to chew on.

cheers :chef:

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start with a very good bleed and make sure you are getting a good flow of fluid out of both calipers

*update* Just went out to go to the grocery store after letting the jeep sit for about 5 hours. It drove straight, no pulling, no pulling to the left when braking. I'm pretty sure it would've acted up if driven long enough though. Whaddya guys think? Start w/a fluid change?

I just had a similar problem a week ago. Car pulled hard left when I stepped on the brakes and when I was driving pulled hard right. Smelled like burning brakes too. Front passenger caliper was seizing up. I put two new calipers up front and new soft lines and bled it and brakes are back to normal again.

mrtosh said:

...The fluid looks really milky.... ....I know there's moisture in the fluid, should I flush the fluid first or should I change the rubber hoses to the fronts, or lastly change the calipers??....

Click to expand...

mrtosh said:

....I'm pretty sure it would've acted up if driven long enough though. Whaddya guys think? Start w/a fluid change?

Click to expand...

What do you think? Bad Fluid, like you described, is OK to stay in the brakes? Just because the symptoms went away for a little while, you rethinking flushing the obviously BAD and CONTAMINATED Brake Fluid?

Its still better to do a flush now, NOT only because you shouldn't drive a single mile with known bad brake fluid, if you do have to replace brake parts, because the old ones were ruined by contamination in the fluid, then you'll just recontaminate the new parts. Flush the bad fluid out, even if it does NOT solve the problem, it will at least prevent contaminating new parts as you install them.

^^^^ K, I was never arguing the fact that I had to change the fluid out. I was just asking if that might be the cause...

Sorry, didn't mean to sound harsh. I was just trying to point out the logic, if you've got bad brake fluid, flush it out is the first thing to do, no question. After re-reading, I could have phrased it differently and not have been so harsh.

I know I dug this out of the depths.
Tonight I had:flame: on the right front tire. Did not burn long enough to cause damage to the rim or tire but the rotor was cherry red and it took out the brake hose. Looks like new front calipers, hoses, pads, and rotors. Same right front as the original poster has stated. Thank God for the deep snow banks, and no I did not feel it in the wheel due to the rough roads. Was towed home the right tire would only skid after it was parked.

Resurrected again.

Did the OP ever find out what was the cause for this problem?

I just had this exact same thing when out wheeling this weekend: I was on the brakes all the way down a hill and at the bottom the right front brake was LOCKED and pushing in the sand (almost undriveable it was so bad) so I banged on it with a hammer and started home.

Once on the road the truck pulled HARD to the right with the right front brake engaged.....until I hit the brakes which caused it to jerk to the left. Really weird behaviour.

Stopped for about 2 hours at the in-laws house and let it cool off, the problem went away and hasn't returned in normal street driving. This only seems to happen after heavy braking off-road.

All fluids are new, all hoses are new (braided stainless), system is fully bled.

I'm thinking either the proportioning valve is screwed up or something is really wrong with the caliper/piston.

Just curious if the OP (or anyone with the same problem) have fixed this and what the root cause was.

Proportioning valve is to balance the front discs and the rear drums.

I would pull the right side down and start examining the pieces.

After a few years you get corrosion in the calipers, short of running fully syn brake fluid it's going to happen, usually the piston gets stuck, sometimes it works its way clear, sometimes not. I'd just replace the calipers and be done with it.