Front disks drag

[joslinm]

Front disks on 98 s10 drag intermittently. Took both sides apart and found new pads were half worn out after 3k miles.
Freed up everything as best I could and lubed slides ect.
More dragging again (right side) today in the middle of an errand. By the time I got home seemed to be ok.
Lost on this one

[maxwedge]

Hey neighbor, maker sure you do not have contaminated brake fluid in the m/c, when the wheel/brake is dragging, open the bleeder, if it frees up, that hose is bad.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by joslinm

Front disks on 98 s10 drag intermittently. Took both sides apart and found new pads were half worn out after 3k miles.
Freed up everything as best I could and lubed slides ect.
More dragging again (right side) today in the middle of an errand. By the time I got home seemed to be ok.
Lost on this one

this can be a few things. when you replace the rotor brake pads you open the bleed screw then push back the piston. this dumps out the damaged fluid. the piston is where the bad fluid is. when installing the pads they should not fit too tightly which means you can install and remove with no tools. if they fit too tightly you need to file off the steel plate so they fit with ease.

when the pads are off try to move the caliper on the slides it should move securely full in/out with not alot of force.

when bleeding you need 2 people.. with the pedal high and hard down after not pumping the brake pedal to the floor, open bleed screw slowly and let out a small amount of fluid . repeat until the fluid is clean and with not bubbles.never have bleed screw open with no pressure on the port.

the other item is the hoses. these can internally collapse. then the brakes will gradually apply. the caliper pistons can also stick especially with bad fluid or a bad piston seal. make sure the seal is seated properly and is with no defects.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by j cAT

this can be a few things. when you replace the rotor brake pads you open the bleed screw then push back the piston. this dumps out the damaged fluid. the piston is where the bad fluid is. when installing the pads they should not fit too tightly which means you can install and remove with no tools. if they fit too tightly you need to file off the steel plate so they fit with ease.

when the pads are off try to move the caliper on the slides it should move securely full in/out with not alot of force.

when bleeding you need 2 people.. with the pedal high and hard down after not pumping the brake pedal to the floor, open bleed screw slowly and let out a small amount of fluid . repeat until the fluid is clean and with not bubbles.never have bleed screw open with no pressure on the port.

the other item is the hoses. these can internally collapse. then the brakes will gradually apply. the caliper pistons can also stick especially with bad fluid or a bad piston seal. make sure the seal is seated properly and is with no defects.

Good post.
If both discs drag at the same time, you may have a bad master cylinder.
If its one.. what Cat says.

If you rule out a bad master cyl and the flex lines are good, just replace both calipers. Rebuilt ones should be cheap. It's not worth trying to free -up the old ones, they may well be rusty internally and no good.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by joslinm

Front disks on 98 s10 drag intermittently. Took both sides apart and found new pads were half worn out after 3k miles.
Freed up everything as best I could and lubed slides ect.
More dragging again (right side) today in the middle of an errand. By the time I got home seemed to be ok.
Lost on this one

If someone used old/contaminated/wrong brake fluid the master sticking could also be the problem. though when this sticks it is usually most all the time..

when bleeding the brakes this can be checked along with the hoses ..

once those rubber parts swell up in the master its quite noticeable...

sticking would also cause pedal to floor and no brake effort.

[rhandwor]

I've had a lot of problems with the rubber in the calipers getting bad and causing drag when they are over 100,000 miles. The rubber square o-ring stretches when braking and pulls the pads back when you take your foot the petal. This is more of a problem when you live in a hot climate. I took a brake pad manufacturers class and they had pictures showing this happening.
When I had a shop about one customer a week stopped in with a super hot rotor in the summer. A loaded caliper and a possible a new rotor fixed the problem.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by rhandwor

I've had a lot of problems with the rubber in the calipers getting bad and causing drag when they are over 100,000 miles. The rubber square o-ring stretches when braking and pulls the pads back when you take your foot the petal. This is more of a problem when you live in a hot climate. I took a brake pad manufacturers class and they had pictures showing this happening.
When I had a shop about one customer a week stopped in with a super hot rotor in the summer. A loaded caliper and a possible a new rotor fixed the problem.

up here in the rust belt the pins get rusted then they bind on the rubber. also the pads if they fit too tight rust up into the caliper then they stick applied over heating the rotor ..then the rotor distorts in the cold temps ..

what I recommend is at every tire rotation to check out all the calipers and if necessary clean and lube pins and rubber..also if pads are stuck remove clean backing plate and re-install..

[rhandwor]

Originally Posted by j cAT

up here in the rust belt the pins get rusted then they bind on the rubber. also the pads if they fit too tight rust up into the caliper then they stick applied over heating the rotor ..then the rotor distorts in the cold temps ..

what I recommend is at every tire rotation to check out all the calipers and if necessary clean and lube pins and rubber..also if pads are stuck remove clean backing plate and re-install..

This is an article on disk brake function with picture.
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/brakes/bt104.htm