Bob Barry
06-10-2002, 03:45 AM
Airing down for a quick trail-run this Saturday (good way to get the girls out of mom's hair for a morning), I noticed that my right-front wheel was MUCH hotter than any of the others. I figured a sticking caliper or maybe a wheel-bearing going south (been in quite a bit of water without repacking- I know, shame on me... :( )
Once I got the truck up on jackstands and pulled the front wheel, it became somewhat obvious what the problem might be when I pulled a chunk of brake-pad material out through the top of the caliper. After I compressed the caliper and pulled it off, I saw that the whole lining had come right off the backing on the inner pad, after fracturing around the rivets. The reduced braking effectiveness on the right side must have been why the truck pulled slightly to the left under braking. The corners of the inner-pad on the other side were also cracked off.
I also "grooved" a rear drum, probably from debris in the rivet holes (lesson learned; wash out brakes after mudding).
Now I've got a set of performance high-composite graphite/kevlar/titanium/whatever pads (the $28.99/pair kind) to go on there. At least the rotors were in good shape. The axle U-joints were moving a little too freely, so I also got new joints to make my old spares my good installed set, and take these out as spares for the trail.
But my real question would be what was causing this inner pad to break up like this? These were the really cheap kind of pads; do they just not last long? Maybe the thermal shock from hitting water after being heated up on the trail all day? Oddly enough, there wasn't any mud or debris in and around the pads, even though I've got the stock backing-plates in place. Maybe I should install some caliper-brackets that have had the dust-shield broken off? What's people's experience with this?
I originally thought the caliper was frozen, but it compressed easily and didn't look particularly grimy around the seal; I suppose it could still be the problem, but the truck did seem to have brakes on that side still.
Once I got the truck up on jackstands and pulled the front wheel, it became somewhat obvious what the problem might be when I pulled a chunk of brake-pad material out through the top of the caliper. After I compressed the caliper and pulled it off, I saw that the whole lining had come right off the backing on the inner pad, after fracturing around the rivets. The reduced braking effectiveness on the right side must have been why the truck pulled slightly to the left under braking. The corners of the inner-pad on the other side were also cracked off.
I also "grooved" a rear drum, probably from debris in the rivet holes (lesson learned; wash out brakes after mudding).
Now I've got a set of performance high-composite graphite/kevlar/titanium/whatever pads (the $28.99/pair kind) to go on there. At least the rotors were in good shape. The axle U-joints were moving a little too freely, so I also got new joints to make my old spares my good installed set, and take these out as spares for the trail.
But my real question would be what was causing this inner pad to break up like this? These were the really cheap kind of pads; do they just not last long? Maybe the thermal shock from hitting water after being heated up on the trail all day? Oddly enough, there wasn't any mud or debris in and around the pads, even though I've got the stock backing-plates in place. Maybe I should install some caliper-brackets that have had the dust-shield broken off? What's people's experience with this?
I originally thought the caliper was frozen, but it compressed easily and didn't look particularly grimy around the seal; I suppose it could still be the problem, but the truck did seem to have brakes on that side still.