hey all,

yesterday i was driving my cherokee through town when i started to smell a burning scent. i thought it was this beater car in front of me. i got to where i was going and noticed as soon as i parked my right (passenger) side front tire was smoking. I got out and found it was coming from the breaks. From just looking at it i couldnt figure out what was wrong, and didnt have far to go to get back, so i drove it again and noticed a definite pull to that side like a break was locked up.

anyone else experience this? my cousin on the phone thought maybe it was a piston coming through in worn breaks, or a leak of some fluid getting on them, but i felt like the caliper was stuck slightly closed and rubbing on the disk.

he recommended i drive it in reverse a bit to free it up. i did that and it seemed like it may have helped.

just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. it happened friday evening and i cant get it into a shop until next friday because i work during business hours until then. am kind of worried about driving it to and from work the next 4 days.

 

remove caliper, pull the sliders and clean them up with a wire brush on a drill/grinder.
then grease them up real good, slide them back into the caliper, push them in and out until they're easy to move with your finger/thumbs.

reinstall calipers and you should be fine.
don't get any grease on the brake pads. if you do, wipe it off and spray with some brake cleaner.

 

yep, you just gotta take the caliper off and look at it.. Hard to say but it probably is a busted caliper which may have toasted your rotor

 

I would also replace the hoses. Brake hoses are the most overlooked item in the braking system.

 

true that brother! Also the most important haha

 

don't fix it if it's not broken. 99% of the time with a sticky caliper, it's just the sliders. grease those up and you should be fine.

check your flex hose, but don't replace if it's not damaged. you can squeeze all along the line to feel for any real soft spots that may bulge when you hit the brakes, but i would doubt yours is bad. they take a bit of work to change them, you need a helper to bleed your brakes if you don't have all the fancy tools, and you risk twisting off the hard line if the nut is seized any. worry about that shiit when you need to.

 

That exact thing happened to my Jeep a few weeks ago. Hasn't happened since, and I've been checking on it.