smoking brakes

[Lanse]

Hey guys... well... when I first got my dakota, it had a hard petal... after a few days, they started squeeling, and so I replaced the pads, and the calipers, both with cracked pistons.

This was sevral hundred miles ago.

This morning, I loaded down my truck with steel, and headed off to the junkyard, about 30 miles away. As soon as I left, I noticed a faint smell of smoke. I figured that someone was burning something, and never really worried about it. A few more miles later, and I the smell was stronger, and I looked back, and saw that the whole side of the road behind me was covered in a thin layer of white smoke, and the other side was clear. Once I was two or three miles from the yard, I came up on a stop sign and saw white smoke pouring from the right front wheel. I pulled over, and took a look. All I saw was white smoke.

I pulled into the scrap yard and unloaded as fast as I could. The brakes were still smoking as I left, after unloading 1040pounds of steel, well under the 1450 pound limit on the truck.

Once I was out in the country, I opened it up and floored it, thinking I should get all the air I could going around that wheel. I took the long way home, to avoid town, and made it home the best I could, using the brakes as little as possible. I fishtailed into the driveway, and got behind the house as fast as I could, and grabbed the hose, and started spraying down the wheel. The water turned to steam as soon as it hit the wheel.

There was more smoke coming out from under the hood, so I opened that up. The smoke was coming from the bottom of the compppartment, about where the brakes were...

Here's some details:

When I took the old caliper off that side, the bolts that hold it on were really loose. So, when I put them back on, I used locktite, since I couldn't get the things to tighten up without it.

I diddnt usw grease, I used that blue brake squeel preventing stuff...

I reused the old rotor, it wasn't marked, scratched, etc...

The old owner told me the valve covers leak. That explains some of the smoke from under the hood possibly, but not the hot wheel.

Any advice here anyone?? What might have caused this, and how do I. Fix it??

 

[molinebob]

Sounds to me like your caliper went bad, mite b new but still go bad. Bob

 

[Ky Hauler]

Dodges used some brake hoses that collapse and prevent the caliper from releasing. Just ask my wife. I had to cut the hose to get the burned up caliper off.

 

[Eric in IL]

New caliper was probably defective. You will likely need a new rotor now as the cold water sure could have warped the hot one. It may have even cooked the grease out of the wheel bearings.

But WHY fix it ? Bolt an airplane engine (from the junkyard) in the bed, weld some wings to the doors. Then floor it until the brake is smoking hot, close the doors to deploy the wings, and liftoff to your new SKYWRITING career !

Sheesh, stop the next time you smell smoke, get out and see if you or your vehicle is on fire.

 

[GregC]

It's just a good idea to replace the brake hose if you replace a caliper, learned that one early. That kind of heat could also have damaged the wheel bearings, something else to think about.

 

[bc]

Not to worry Lanse. Nascar drivers do it all the time. I watched my favorite, Dale Earnhardt do for 499.75 miles at Daytona the same year I give up going to races.

What condition are the pads, rotor, hub, and bearing in now? Got a pic? Need to know what they look like now. Straight edge on the rotor? Like the others said, you also have to pull the hub and look at the bearings and spindle for damage. May need a puller for that. Break the axle nut before removing the wheel or use an impact wrench.

You probably let the caliper hang by its hose and in the meantime kinked it. When you replaced the caliper did you bleed the air off after putting the line back on.

 

[rockyhawaii]

I had this happen on a Ford wrecker, but it turned out to be the master that was bad.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Stuck caliper.

Exactly what did you put loctite on? I can't imagine it was required on the bolt threads. The caliper has to be able to slide freely on the bolts. I've never had a Dakota caliper apart, but usually the the caliper bolts are surrounded by metal sleeves that the caliper slides on. These need to be lubricated with a bit of high-temperature grease; any loctite would guarantee a stuck caliper.

 

[Lanse]

I put locktite on the things that the sliding bolts screw into...

On the cast hub, because the things the caliper slides on wouldn't Bolt into the hub.

I thought of that, and I was careful to get the locktite on the female part of the threads, and not anywhere that anything slides on.

Once I had the goop on there, I slid the caliper on, and poked the bolts through, and screwed them in. I don't see how the locktite could have gotten anywhere else...

 

[Anonymous-0]

I agree the rotors are probably junk now. I know a guy who bought a brand new Dakota about 10 years ago. His rotors got warped in less than 30,000 KM. No problems at all with the brakes but they wouldn't cover it on warranty. He won't buy any Chrysler products again. Dave

 

[Leroy]

I have had the bolts that hold the calipers on actually fall out while driving and many others come loose and lock tight on the threads is the only way to get then to stay tight but then the cars may of had 50 or more brake jobs done on them. But then a 140 mile a day stop and go type of driving that a 100 mile is equivilent to a thousand miles of highway driving.

 

[Fred Martin]

My son in law bought a used Dakota that had just had new brake pads installed. He drove it to a neighboring town and the brakes seized up and it wouldn't go, had to be towed home. The shop that fixed it told him that the thing had plastic pistons that were the cause of the problem...and they should be replaced at the same time the pads are. Sounds like Ford didn't have all the better ideas. ohfred

 

[Kentb of SWMO]

I have a 1989 Dakota, Old Body style. It has anti-lock brakes. When I did pads on the disc a few years ago I just pushed the pistons back in the calapers Like I had always did. After this I had intermittent draging front brakes. I guess in pushing the dirty back int the system it got into the antilock valving causing the front brakes to not release. I open the bleeder and flushed a bunch of fuild through the system. This fixed the problem. Later the problem reappeared on the right side. I tried flushing again, but I did not have any luck. I changed out the caliper. Looking at the old caliper after the change I could see the dust seal had came out of the housing. I guess there was dust jamming the piston.

Kent

 

[Bryan inIowa]

where did you put the blue brake squeal stuff ? on the bake of the pad where it belongs ?

 

[Anonymous-0]

Yep, see smoke, drive faster! Sounds like an intelligent response to the situation to me.

 

[MarkB_MI]

TZ, I'm surprised no one else commented. Yep, the last thing you want to do when you have a hot brake is heat it up even more. Reminds me of the C. W. McCall song, "Wolf Creek Pass".

 

[Lumpie]

He did exactly the right thing. Whenever you have brake problems you should always drive as fast as you can to get home before you have an accident.

 

[SCHMUCK 1]

I've seen your posts on here before, so I think what you REALLY need is some good advice, and not a bunch of eye-poking about what is already done. Now, you need to get that wheel off and look at the rotor to see if, in fact, that brake is the source of your problems. Look at the rotor itself, and you should be able to tell if it has been hot or not, because it will be discolored (blued). Next, try to turn the rotor by hand. If it can't be done, then you need to remove the caliper. If you have to pry the pads away from the rotor or use a C-clamp to loosen it from the rotor, you have probably located the source of the trouble. Remove the rotor also. The wheel bearings will probably be dis-colored, also. Look at the bearing races, too. If they or the bearing are dis-colored, you will need to replace them, also. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION TO RE-USE. After being hot, the bearings are junk and WILL fail if you re-use them. Now, when you start replacing everything, you need to find the source of the trouble. The caliper may be sticking now from the heat. Some possibilities are, the caliper, the rubber brake line between the caliper and the steel line, and the proportioning valve (though that would be unusual). Find a positive fix, or you will be doing this all over again. Re-post if you are having problems, and Good-luck.

 

[Anonymous-0]

new brake hoses.

 

[ASEguy]

Jack up the vehicle. Properly support it. Pump the pedal til it's hard. try to spin the wheel, if you can't, open that wheel's bleeder screw and see if it turns freely when the fluid comes out. If it does then NAPA guy is probably correct you need that brake hose since the other side is not smoking hot. This is assuming the brakes were installed correctly. And don't pig-tail the hose when you reinstall it.

 

[rodm1]

Dakota have sh!tty brakes what year is yours?

The brake bolts are known to strip out don't use loctite (you can get over sized bolts or thread inserts) or you will probable strip them out put Anti-Seize on the threads only and tighten snug. Its a good idea to polish the bolt and the sleeve that the bolt slides into with some emery cloth.

The rotors and bearings are to small for the truck and tend to go bad and warp. You can get Powerslot rotors with Hawk pads that help a lot but seams to be short lived on the braking performance.

Some of the Dakota's you can replace the bearings (97-04 and use a SET46 bearing I think) if you have the part number. But the part store will tell you to replace the assembly.