BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: John Harris on August 10, 2017, 11:18:27 PM
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Our 1999 Monterey is having a problem with our front brakes. Both sides, the brakes are dragging which causes them to get very hot to where the front wheels won't turn.
Any ideas will help!!!
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If I'm not mistaken your brakes are hydraulic so the issue can be simple or difficult. Simple could be an overfilled reservoir not allowing the fluid a place to go back to (had this happen on a pickup truck). Restricted brake hose that fluid pushes through but not easily returns. To a bad master cylinder. If your brakes are air then the slack adjustors need backed off. Maybe even replaced or just lubed after backing them off a flat or two so they can correctly adjust back up.
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John,
The first thing to check on your brakes is the caliper slides for binding. Next check for residual hydraulic pressure in the brake in the brake system that is caused by a brake hose or master cylinder. Next check for internal binding in the caliper.
Gerald
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If the brakes were operating correctly before and this problem just occurred without anyone messing with the front brakes, it's possible (as Gerald pointed out), that the calipers are not retracting due to mechanical binding. There is a rubber "O" ring around the caliper piston that if destroyed will add friction to the caliper piston. This occurs quite often if you had previously gotten the front brakes very hot during a long highway descent.
The amount of fluid would not be the problem unless someone added some recently. You could bleed the front brakes and see if the calipers return to the retracted position.
If the coach has been driven through water, it's possible that all the lubrication on the pins that the caliper slides on may have rusted and there is too much friction to return.
Unfortunately, taking off the wheels and inspecting the brake system is the only true way to diagnose this kind of problem.
Good Luck
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Be 101% positive that the DOT-3 is not hydrated. The water will boil from the heat and wreak havoc. (This assumes hydraulic over hydraulic brakes). Replace the fluid - all of it.. front and back resivor.
Remove calipers, clean slides with wire brush and sandpaper, apply caliper grease to slides, re-assemble, bleed brakes.
This is super common because coach sits for long periods... slides rust and become frozen in place.
Voice of expierence....