Just wondering how much brake drag you have on the front wheels. I was repacking the bearings the other day and noticed that with the front end off the ground it takes a good amount of force to spin the wheels. When the caliper is removed the rotor spins nice and easy. I'm thinkin' maybe theirs to much drag and its efecting my mileage. Any thoughts? Thanks Ed
Brake ? for all 2wd people
- Thread starter tuke
- Start date
sle2115
NRA LIFE MEMBER
Not a 2 wheel person, but there are several things that can cause this. One is corroded/dirty caliper slides. They rust, get full of dirt etc. Another thing that happens very frequently is the inner liner of the brake hose gets soft and becomes a one way check valve. The master cylinder can overcome the restriction to apply the brakes, but the caliper does not return fluid with as much pressure, so there is some hydraulic pressure on the caliper at all times, causing brake drag. You can test this by trying to push the piston back in the caliper, if it won't move or is very tough, crack the bleeder screw, if it moves or moves much easier, you most likely have a brake hose going south. Caliper pistons sometimes get sticky as well, but in my experience, that happens much less than brake hose failure.
I would clean up the slides, and try the test above. Usually you have a very slight or non-existent drag from disc brakes. You can usually just lightly feel them.
jauguston
Retired
One other thing that can cause drag is rust-corrosion behind the piston seal in the caliper. It will grow in the bottom of the groove and put pressure on the outside of the seal ring (square o-ring) for the piston and it gets real tight. Been there-done that.
Jim
Jim
oldmisterbill
Grumpy Old Man
I good indicator is -do you have excessive heat build up? You can tell by putting your hand in the area of the disks after a drive on the highway and stopping with as little brake usage as possible-then check the temp.
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