Tural

drag link end and the tie rod ends are busted. i put grease in it just to find out that it's leaking out of the back. i wipe it off and some get on the rotors. i take off driving and the wheel starts heavily pulling to the left. but when i touch the brakes it darts to the right. so, i come to a traffic light and the driver side is smoking. i figure it's the grease from the tie rod end. i drive a bit more and the jeep is getting harder and harder to move forward. i pull off to a parking lot and by then i have it floored to go 10mph. i hit the brakes and it's barely doing anything as far as stopping. i get out and look at the rotor and it's on fire. i put it out and wait about 2-3 hours and take the wheel off and now the rotor spins completely freely. i drove it home after that and parked it.

so.... how did a little bit of grease leaking off the tie rod end onto the rotor cause the rotor to lock up? or am i so unlucky that my caliper failed right after i greased the front end? but if the caliper failed, why did it un-fail after it cooled down? why did the wheel start pulling to the left right after this grease service?
i have a real mystery... any ideas are appreciated.

theolebill

I'm guessing it's just a coincidence. I don't believe that a little bit of grease flicking onto a rotor would cause the caliper to lock on.

....thats my 2 cents (for what it's worth )

Tural

well, i didn't wanna dump cash into an unknown problem, but i went ahead today and bought new calipers and brake lines. i'm gonna keep my fingers crossed. at least i can't hurt it.

theolebill

I should have mentioned this in my last post.. I was gunna buy new calipers as well, but I was informed by members of this site that the calipers are servicable.

You can buy new Pistons and seals for a fraction of the price, and it is very easy to replace the parts without special tools.... I know, because I just did the job about two weeks ago after my right caliper locked up in the same manner as yours.

Can you take the calipers back and get the service kits??

Willys55

If the rotor got that hot you Should Change both the caliper and the brake hoses. I believe if you pull the caliper and pads off you will find that the brake pads(especially the inner) became trapped in groves caused by the brake pads in the first place. The pad became stuck and then caused the pulling and severe heat condition you experienced.

theolebill

I did change the pads as well.

I was concerned that the effected roter was warped, as a result of getting red hot as well, but after re-building the calipers and driving it over the last few weeks, all is well in the braking dept.

Tural

yeah. maybe i should have rebuilt mine. but i only paid $21 for rebuilt calipers, so that's not too bad. i put longer brake hoses while i was at it. still need to put the wheel back and test drive it. bleeding the back brakes was a b**ch. the bleeder valve is like 5/16 and there's barely enough space to turn a 5/16 wrench. i hope it works. i'll take some pics when i go back out.

Tural

well this has been a productive day. after fighting my tie rod and my draglink for about 2 hours, i managed to completely screw up my alignment. only after that i have come to the conclusion that the passenger side caliper that i put on is bad. it won't release after 2-3 pumps.