ive read thru about as much as i can possibly handle for a lifetime,and now im comming here for help. the truck in question belongs to my girlfriend. it is a 99 f150 6 cylinder, automatic with RABS. the truck is lowered CORRECTLY with upper and lower control arms from djm. there is a note in mitchel on demand dealing with altered rear suspension and bypassing the brake controller? i however have never encountered any trouble with altered suspension affecting brakes in all the fords i have either lowered or lifted over the years. this truck has a prior history of the same problem over a 4 years period.

first time: left front brake not fully releasing(dragging) but vehicle still tracking straight. was driven til rotor overheated the grease out of the wheel bearing and welded all parts togeather. taken to dealership for new spindle, bearings rotor and caliper. problem fixed.

second time: (one week later). right hand side began to drag. immediately pulled over. towed home. dissasembled and all parts inspected. spindle ok. replaced bearings, rotor, and caliper. problem fixed so they thought.

third time: (50 miles later) right hand side began to drag again. frustation begins. immideatly pulled over, towed home. put on jackstands new bearings rotor and caliper AGAIN .furious and decided it was better left on jackstands, purchased another car. 3 years pass........

now i get drug into this mess....

3 years after the fact, i come in. inspect right side everythign is rusty, but seems to be working. tear down left side also and clean everything up. shiney like a new penny. repack bearings with ford grease, reset spindle nut. recollapse the twin piston callipers with a snapon caliper tool and lubricate pistons. replace drives side caliper mount ( it looked funny compared to other side and new part) and all hardware. new brake liness with distribution block on drivers side. new mastercylinder( bench bled properly). did a full gravity bleed on the brake system. then a pressure bleed. there cant be any air left in this thing. take it on its maden voyage and 20 miles into it the drivers side goes to smoking and pull over, towed home, in the driveway, thinking of starting a bonfire and getting out the smores. the abs light is on but at this point i can fix that with a hammer. i have a new booster sitting in a box in the front seat althou i know the one on the truck is good, but hey why not everythign else has been replaced. going to order the lil brake control valve that goes on the rear outlet of the mastercylinder tomorrow also. any ideas would be great.

 

Maybe bypassing the brake controler does not allow full release of brake pedal???


https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=7516

 

I'd start with the simplest thing first. A big cause of calipers hanging up is the sliders. Make sure they're clean, lubricated (with the proper lubricant) and working properly. There are also a set of stainless steel pads that your calipers actually slide on. Remove these (and replace them), but look closely at the casting underneath them. Rust builds up under these bad boys and reduces the distance between them - effectively locking your caliper in place. A little emery paper and a scraper before you put the new slider pads in does wonders here. Trust me on this one because I just ran into it on my '05 with 53,000 miles on it.

 

Just wondering, did you get your problem resolved? I have a similar problem where my left front started dragging really badly out of the blue. Truck had been sitting for a week or two, I drive a six cylinder when I don't need the truck. I replaced the caliper with a rebuilt unit from my local auto parts store only to still have the problem. I have bled the front brake lines, but still have the problem. If you resolved your problem, I'd love to know what you did.

 

Ok, got it fixed. It was the lower rubber line which had collapsed inside. Now that its done, I can now tell you that it is something that occurred over time. About a year. First sign is a slight pulling when you first touch the brakes, to the right or left depending on which line is breaking down.