Had brakes replaced in the rear of our grand cherokee. Drove to parents and back, about 20 miles one way. When we got home, the rear driver's side brake smelled like it was burning and was smoking. So hot it already wore a pattern in the new rotor.

This ? should be in the GC forum. BUT anyways are the rears disc brakes.

Ouch, caliper could be locked up.

#1 that or HOPEFULLY the hardware that's supposed to be lubed wasn't.

94 and later are.

Take it back to where the job was done and make them do it right! Either the caliper piston is stuck or the slider pins weren't lubed properly. If the new rotor is scored or burnt, it should be replaced AGAIN! It's also possible they screwed up and collapsed the brake hose internally causing a blockage to release the fluid pressure. Any time a brake job is done, it should be checked for release by turning the wheels by hand after it's been set. If they don't make it right, talk to the DMV about getting their license canceled. If there was a problem with any part of the braking system, they should have told you something else needed to be replaced, not sent you down the road with unsafe brakes. This is a life or death situation!

You paid good money to have the job done right and it wasn't! End of rant.

Resurrecting the thread...because the title fits.

Yesterday, when I got out of the Jeep, my driver side rear almost nuked. It was smokin' hot after a 2-hour run of ~45 miles in rush hour traffic. Let's just call it a typical Boston area commute. The ride included highway speeds and occasional hard braking - with brake shudder - no shudder but a slight pull to left when lightly braking. There was a light "chirp-chirp" sound coming from the rear when rolling away from a stop and I thought it was nothing, that the pads were returning to "float" but, with speed came wind noise that drowned it out so maybe it had me fooled for a minute.

I still don't think the caliper was binding as I removed a little fluid from the reservoir then gave the caliper a gentle squeeze. It yielded smoothly so I inspected for ridges in the slides and I found scored/ridged surfaces - just enough to cause the outboard pad to get hung-up. The grease from previous service wore-off/dried-up and was all gone away. The ridges were removed with a couple of easy passes with my Dremel. I then sanded the areas smooth to the touch, cleaned and lubed the slides. After restoring everything, the test drive went well and there were no obvious issues like before. I guess I'll follow-up and clean & goop all the slides...here's to hoping that'll get me through until the system rebuild.

This was discouraging because the rear was freshened-up when I replaced the axle bearings/seals, e-brake shoes, pads and top-hat rotors last October (only ~8k miles ago). I always handle the calipers with care, this time was no exception, because at that point in time I had to avoid ANY hydraulic system disruptions if I could, for my new-old GC of 17 years. I learned from the PO that there has never been a hydraulics failure in all her time with it. There's a October "hydraulic rebuild" plan in place for the plumbing, master cylinder and calipers. I still need to decide whether to keep the brake setup stock or modified.

Yup, as others are saying, most likely a stuck caliper... did you notice any shaking or pulling to the right? I had a similar problem in my '02 WJ, but with the front right caliper. Whatever you do, do NOT pour water onto the brake to cool it down, just let it cool down on its own, or you MAY warp the rotor.