jrsully

Hello, new member here and I'm desperate for answer. Have a 04 Tahoe 5.3 4wd that seems like it has the rear brakes, especially pass side rear, dragging to the point that you can feel the truck working harder to overcome the drag. A few items to note;


1. New calipers-rear (changed twice just to waste money and make sure it was not the calipers)
2. Pads
3. R+L brake hoses
4. Shocks
5. Springs
6. Dorman 2 piece dust plates (old ones rusted to nothing)
7. rotors.


Brake fluid completely flushed and power bled.


What is happening: when the truck has sat and the driven, it will feel fine (no drag), then a few minutes into the drive, you can feel the rear brakes (especially pass side rear) starting to clamp down it seems. I have hit it with a laser temp gun and the pass rear disc/caliper is running 45-50 degrees hotter than the other side and you can smell it.


1. Everybody thought it was the ebrake shoe hanging/rubbing, fixed that 3 times and backed it off so it is no where near dragging now. At a loss here and wondering if it could be the ABS activating slightly.? (no light and no heavy peddle pulsation) Bled multiple times cannot see it being air in lines. ABS Sensors.? ABS Module.? Master Cylinder.? At a total loss here and nobody can seem to figure this out and ANY help is greatly appreciated

73shark

Welcome to the forum.

I suspect the brake hose has collapsed internally and is acting like a check valve. Had that happen one time on a IROC-Z.

wogamax

I hadn't heard of line collapse before, but will remember that myself. I had the same excess heat problem, but it was new rotors and pads that were too thick when added together. Sometimes brands run a bit wide/thick, and I've known pads that need to be belt sanded to prevent this. What I did was go for short drives, with aggressive brake bedding before cool down. Friction went down, after half a dozen romps, of about ~3miles each.

cleveland63b

if you've had to sand pads down you should be boxing them up and sending them back, theres a spec. they should be built to and especially brake parts I wouldn't accept that. I'm not afraid to write NFG all over the box and return it

wogamax

I've had it happen with racing pads. Pagid, specifically. Never seen it elsewhere, but I imagine a lot of people/makers cross-fit products that aren't perfectly to spec. There, your options are bedding, sanding, or the most work which is removing, boxing up and returning. You could always then find out it was your rotors.

cleveland63b

unless you're not pressing the pistons back in the caliper all the way there is NO reason pads should fit tight, there should be very loose initially. Any make, model brand or style of pads/rotors. Aftermarket specs are pretty loose compared to OEM and it if it doesn't fit it shouldn't match the application chart, the "i guess it will work" attitude isn't acceptable to me but I also do it for a living not just to get by.