Disk brakes dragging

Had a couple days for open window driving and noticed a rhythmic squeak from front driver side wheel. Can only hear it when drifting along a sound reflecting source, like the trees in my driveway. Sounded like brake pad, maybe touching a high point on disk. No noticeable pull, no noticeable slowing of the drift. But clearly there.

Jacked it up using a tried and true scissor jack out of a long departed 1971 Datsun 240Z that was much handier than the jack under my pup's platform in the Access area of my 2010 SR5




Found the tire turned with noticeable drag on the brakes, pretty much all the way around, though there was an obvious tighter spot, I assume where there is a high spot. Wouldn't squeak, probably because I wasn't spinning it fast enough.

Pads look fine, disk looks fine, no undue wear on either.



I know there is no actual mechanical force to retract the pistons/pads, but general turning, disk flex on steering (front tires/wheels at least), possible high-spots should back the pads off to allow easy turning. But, how easy?


I don't do this kind of thing, so I am not sure if I am being overly sensitive, or if there is a possible problem with the pistons being corroded and not easily returning after braking. I also carry all my limited brake job experience from pre-ABS, so again, not sure.



Anyone recently done their pads, or pulled the caliper off, or removed, polished, lubed, and returned the pistons. Anyone see anything that I don't?

Thanks for any assist

 

chance it could be a stuck caliper, but if you pull that apart might as well put new pads and rotors on for the price. It’s way cheaper than a chain place.

 

yours look pretty rusted as do mine. Try changing the sliding pins to fresh ones. They are the cotter pinned things in the last picture and not too expensive.

part numbers here maybe? https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/front-brake-caliper-pins.27183/

Also you can rebuild the whole caliper but sometimes not necessary.

 

you have rusty slide pins, take them off and polish them up with sand paper

a pad that binds, wont retract

 

New or Cleaned up pins will help your situation. rust is your problem right now.

 

New hardware kit and piston boots and your good. It's pretty rare for a taco caliper to lock up outside of rust.

 

Well, thanks for the guidance. I pulled the pins, it was not hard, I pulled them with my fingers. Since I had them out, I put them in my drill, and spun them in steel wool to polish them and remove the rust.



Then I greased them with brake component grease to stave off the next 100k miles worth of rust, slipped them back on and verified they were free.

Unfortunately, that did nothing to resolve my brakes dragging. So, It occurred to me that the last thing I did before jacking the truck up to inspect these brakes was to apply the brakes. Maybe I should coast into my garage and use the emergency brake (on the rear drums) so that the front disk brakes are in their normal driving state. I suspect it might be better/free-er spinning. As it is, with the wheel jacked up I can spin the tire/wheel about one rotation before it slows to a stop. I'll try my next idea and let you know what I find.

Thanks again

 

I just did my brakes (again) this weekend. New rotors/pads. My pads look about as close to the rotors as yours do but i don't get any noticeable rubbing noise.

 

Did you have to force the pads into the caliper? If they don't move .They will hang up. I have had to grind off some flashing on pads before because it was too tight a fit.

 

Use a big pair of channel locks (squeezing on the back of the pad) to push the pistons back in. They should retract easily. If not, it may be time for new calipers.

 

Also try flushing the fluid thoroughly. I've seen some nasty fluid not allow calipers to move.

 

I wouldn't grease those pins. I just changed pads and rotors this weekend, but also added some new pins and whatever those "W" spring clips are called.
Anyway, that pin is exposed to the elements and if you put any type of grease on them dirt & debris will accumulate on them. IMO, those pins do not need lubrication to function properly.

 

All good ideas. Today I confirmed that it didn't really matter if I drifted into the garage with no brakes, or drove in and braked to a stop. The wheel still made noise as the brakes dragged on the disk. Here is a real quick video of my spinning the front tire while jacked up. I can get about two rotations from a good arm spin, but you can hear the brakes dragging.
(well, you might have to turn up the volume)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JpQ0qkZolI

 

Perhaps it's the wheel bearing that's shot and adding drag?

 

Well, I doubt that. It is clear in person, though perhaps not on my video that it is brake drag, and is the same on both front wheels.

 

Have you seen any smoke after driving? Do they smell burnt like a bad clutch?

 

Once you have the wheel up in the air spin it. Now, pump the brakes up and try spinning it again. Did it remain harder to turn as if the brake is stuck still? All of these preceding comments are good. It could be that the slider pins are sticking, the rotor could be warped some, the bearing could be going bad, the caliper may be sticking. It could even be a brake line internally collapsed and holding pressure above the caliper. brakes can truly be a booger!

 

Looking at your pictures from about 2700 miles away, while being a little buzzed and lit..... I would suggest new pads, rotors, calipers and bleeding the system...and you might as well look at the rear brakes.

That caliper looks like its off of a 30+ year old vehicle thats been sitting in a field for 10yrs....

 

No smoke, no smell. The temps after a drive are not out of line, like 130°F on the caliper, and 150° on the disk itself.

 

Replacing the pads and rotors really isn't that hard, even with ABS. As you already have the truck up in the air with the wheels off, you are already 50% of the way done.

I don't know if this will fix your issue, but the materials are cheap enough that I might just do it for peace of mind.

Flushing the brake fluid is probably a good suggestion as well. I used to do it regularly on my motorcycles, but I have to admit I'm not as militant with it on my truck. Brake fluid starts to turn from a light tan, almost tea color, to an almost coffee color as it ages.

I've seen pumps which attach to via a hose to the brake bleeder. They are designed to pull the old brake fluid out. You need a second person to hang by the hood and keep the brake fluid reservoir full with fresh fluid as you pull the old out at the brake. Their job is to keep air from entering the system. You'll know when you have the old fluid out as the color difference is obvious between new and old.

You hook the pump up to the brake furthest from the brake reservoir so you'll get all the old fluid from the longest brake line run.