jrios

Hello, our family owns a 2015 Chevy Express 3500 that we love for taking vacations and daily driving. Maybe not so much with gas prices right now, but nonetheless we love our Van. In the last couple years our van started constantly downshifting very hard and feeling very uncomfortable when slowing down to stop at stop signs and stop lights. I thought our transmission was getting bad so I did a flush and fill at 100,000miles. To no avail, it continued constantly. We are now at 140,000 miles after a few more vacations and long getaways. While driving to C-bus I noticed my rear brakes were starting to make the “ I need replaced noise”, I instantly went to my local Autozone and bought rear brakes to replace the bad ones. As always I replaced both sides at the same time but came to find out I also needed to replace both Caliper Brackets and sliders as well, due to the lower slide being seized, I tried everything to get them to come loose but there was no budging these sliders. Instantly I had an ah-ha moment, I bet this was the issue with the downshifting because we were not getting rear braking. Both sides brake pads were worn only on one side and the others were at about 60 to 70 percent. We bought our van in 2018 from a rental service with 50,000 miles on it and have never replaced the rear brakes, usually they make a brushing sound when needing replaced so it didn’t dawn on me to check them. Needless to say since the caliper bracket replacement the transmission has not downshifted once and she is back to her old self again. Now if I could just get the rear fan blower replaced as it has stopped working🙄😊

RoadTrip

Thank you for sharing this info. The brake issue wouldn’t be readily apparent. It’s a good reminder to all of us to trust, but verify.

Enjoy your upcoming trips!

William Kisselstein

In a pinch on a vehicle when finding this I have cut off the end of the slider with a cutoff wheel in a grinder and slapped the caliper back on. It can also float on the bolt. This will let it at least slide and keep you say getting back and forth to work while you get the parts to fix it right.

hanky

Thank you for sharing that infp with us.

Just a little side note, the grease that should be used to lube calipers should be synthetic because other grease will not hold up to the heat.

Suggest being careful when purchasing brake hardware and pads, best to stick with well known brands , less problems.