I have had some odd things on my brakes and need some advice on what to do. I replaced the front pads/rotors on my 99 f150 4x4 5.4L a year or so ago. This truck gets driven very little, actually it is a fishing truck that I use to tow my bass boat and a ski boat occasionally. I have towed with this truck for many years but recently I have noticed in general brake performance is not very good. The real concerning thing is that the front brakes, both sides have hung on me pretty bad while towing. I have towed many times in between instances without issue but when it happens the front brakes will hang up and get so hot that they smoke. The fix both times was to stop, let them cool, put it in reverse a time or two and they would release. I disasembled the front pads both times and never found anything visibly wrong. What is my issue here, is it the master cylinder or am I looking at a booster issue. I thought calipers at first but then found it odd that both calipers going bad at the same time would be pretty unlikely. Under normal driving conditions the brakes dont perform well and it feels as if the pedal goes a long way towards the floor before it does much. Any ideas? Thanks in advance

 

sounds to me like you might be trapping pressure in the master cylinder. It could be a cylinder failure, or it could be a booster issue... if the output rod is too long it can cause you to trap pressure.

Has the cylinder or booster ever been replaced? Or has anyone tried to "adjust" it?

I would take it to a dealer to have them check the output rod length on the booster. If it is incorrect then maybe they can just adjust it. If it is correct, then you might need a new cylinder.

 

BTW - are you towing in the mountains? Or at least in hilly areas?

When it locks up, is it after using the brakes rather heavily?

One way to avoid this would be to make sure you completely release the brake pedal for a few seconds every minute. If you have to ride the brakes you overheat them and this causes the brake fluid to expand to the point that it traps pressure. By regularly releasing the brake pedal you may be able to release the expansion before it gets so large that it causes your cylinder to trap pressure.

 

i have 03 super crew and I"m having a brake problem when i use the brakes it acts like the abs is kicking in theres no abs light on my dash lit does not do it all the time you can use the brakes 4or 5 times then it will act up had new brakes put on it still does the same thing dont know what to do :help dont want to hit anyboby i even bleed the brakes

 

step 1 - use punctuation in your post.

step 2 - don't hijack another posting with your totally unrelated issue.

step 3 - take your truck to a mechanic.

 

I have a 2004 Ford F150 4x4 5.4l replaced brake pads and rotors 8 months ago. 2 weeks ago the drivers side front brakes hung up and were smoking and I shut the truck off let it sit for a while and it was fine, I took it all apart and could not see anything wrong. Drove it for about 600 miles then the passenger side did the same thing, I let it sit and now its fine. Does anyone have any ideas ? I would have thought replacing calipers but found it odd it was one side and then the other. Thanks for any help