caliper froze up...

[TwistedCU]

I was coming home from work tonight, hit the brakes, and the Jeep pulled a little bit to one side. After that, I noticed it was pulling to the right just driving. Then came the smell. I pulled over and there was smoke coming off my passenger side front brake pad. Not good. The caliper was locked up. The worst part is I must have took my 3/4" socket in with my tools last night after building a liftgate for my new hardtop (I'll put a pic later), so I couldn't even take the wheel off to check it out (no lug wrench - I just keep a socket and breaker bar in the console). I called AAA and brought her home on a hook. I guess I'm looking at 2 front calipers, and probably have to do the rotors & pads (pads were new 2 months ago, rotors were fine then). I hope the bearings are okay, but that remains to be seen. She was smokin' pretty good.

By the time the tow rig showed up, it came clear, the wheel spun freely, and brakes worked ok. I had it towed anyhow because I was a good 30 miles from home and figured it would just happen again.

Any advice on what to look for and what to check? I've never done brakes, calipers or even packed bearings, so I'm going into this with tools and a Chiltons. I figure if I did the lift, the brakes should be do-able!

 

[laneiac]

Brake Drum Advice

Brakes are so easy man, the worst part is dealing with brake fluid when u disconnect the brake lines from the calipers. Two bolts secure the calipers to the mounting brackets from the backside, and one bolt secures the line to the caliper. Do one side at a time, and do your best to plug up the disconnected brake line and add fluid to the reservoir so the fluid level doesnt get to low. It really is simple, if you can do your lift, you can do brakes. Alot of people get themselves psyched up about brakes when there is no reason to get excited at all. Make sure u bleed the brakes afterwards. A simple piece of tube slipped over the bleeding bolt ran into a jar with a bit of brake fluid in it will do the trick. Have someone depress the brake pedal until solid fluid runs into the jar, u will see air coming out at first. Then close the bleeder valve. Do the wheel farthest from the master cylinder, and work your way up. (Rear passenger, then rear driver, then passenger then driver). Good luck.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

You may not need a new caliper. Just remove the pads and run the piston back into the caliper with a c-clamp. I'd spray some WD40 around the piston to help get any moisture out.

You caliper may be just fine after this, never locking up again. Then again, it could do like mine does and lock up every other time I get in the mud. It hasn't done it last few times in the muck.

 

[jay79cj7]

I agree with laneiac; brakes are pretty easy. I haven't gone as far as needing to bleed the system, but I have replaced rotors and pads and done the bearings, and I don't have a heck of alot of experience. As with anything else you try for the first time, allow twice as much time as you think it will take and you will be fine . Brakes are an important part of your Jeep, but they aren't extrodinarily complicated.

 

[TwistedCU]

Thanks for the replies

You may not need a new caliper. Just remove the pads and run the piston back into the caliper with a c-clamp. I'd spray some WD40 around the piston to help get any moisture out.

You caliper may be just fine after this, never locking up again. Then again, it could do like mine does and lock up every other time I get in the mud. It hasn't done it last few times in the muck.

Hey bounty - Did yours get really hot (smoke)? I guess i'm just worried that I burned something up...
Like I said, the caliper came free after sittin a while. I guess it could still be hung up, just not tight enough to notice?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Yes, they smoked some and I know the smell you speak of. I'd still pull the caliper off and run the piston back in to make sure it's free. Should be fine then.

 

[TwistedCU]

Yes, they smoked some and I know the smell you speak of. I'd still pull the caliper off and run the piston back in to make sure it's free. Should be fine then.

I'm going to try that, thanks! Might save me alot of dough$$$!

Use WD40? I have both wd40 and PB Blaster here at the house. I guess WD would be better because it's more lubricant than solvent and Blaster the opposite (question)?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

The WD in WD40 stands for 'Water Displacement'. That's why you want to use it around the piston, gets the water out to prevent rust.

 

[TwistedCU]

I think I read that once on "How stuff works.com"

Thanks for the help, Man!

 

[BostonJeep]

THIS EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME LAST WEEK, EXACTLY. FRONT PASSENGER SIDE TOO. i just let it sit for a night, next day it was fine...

took it to a brake shop a week later said no problems at all, had calipers pads rotors and fluids checked. i dont know how, but sometimes jeeps just fix themselves :twisted:

 

[TwistedCU]

I finally got around to fixing my brakes today. I tell you I feel like a real sucker for paying for brake jobs all these years, it is really pretty simple stuff .
My pass. side caliper was still sticking a little and I was going to try to press it in and lubricate it as suggested by Bounty Hunter, but the caliper had a couple of chunks missing out of it and the piston was really rusty. I went to the local Pep Boys and found out the calipers were only $19.00 not including the core charge. I figured that for $40 it was pretty cheap and probably just as quick to chang them as to try to rehab them. So I bought and put them on and bled the system and ol' Whitey is good to go ! The pads & rotors were in pretty good shape so I left them as is.
Thanks for the replies.

-TC

 

[Joopin]

This happend to me this past summer. I didn't have triple A and I was 30 min. from home... so I drove there smokin all the way. There were no places open to fix it either on a sunday night.

Anyway, One thing I HOPE you did was replace the brake hose on that side. One of the main reasons they freeze up like that is because the hose collapses and doesn't open back up, and the caliper doesn't either. I had to replace the rotor and the pads... and the hose. It may happen again with the hose weaker in that spot... I hope not for your sake. Who knows maybe you replaced it already and I just typed this for nothing!

 

[joejeepny]

Just happened to me last night. And I notice that the new calipers i got from jeep has rubber covers or the springs on the calipers to keep mud out and my old ones didnt.

 

[Jeepster05]

that happened to mine over and over, ended up all i needed to do is change the fluid. Calipers will only cost you something like 20 bucks a pop with your old core.