Left front brake lockup

[BlueSuzy]

Hello all, This is on my 91" Suzy sierra

Story:
I was on my way home from a mates place on saturday when i stopped at a set of lights and i saw like steam or puffs of smoke coming from the left with a massive brake smell. Drove a maximum 10kms to home.

Weird ingredients of disaster:
Pulling to the left pretty firmly, When i braked, she'd pull to the right same feeling. Smoke and massive train brake smell..

Answer i think:
Somehow the piston has locked up it the cailper. Probably melted the pad and loaded the disk up...Pulled left driving cos of pad friction. Pulled right under braking because the left is over heated and right is braking normal. May need new disks, Pads, Rebuild caliper

Who has had this problem? I dont think its common..

It will be pulled apart this week to find out what went wrong!

[christover1]

Rust, mud and crud in the slidy bits (sorry dunno technical name) and probably damaged seals on said bits.
A caliper kit should be a good idea I'd say.

[MART]

Had this happen a couple of times , replaced with a calliper from wrecker , didn't want it to happen again , disc was okay both times , fluid gets that hot it boils and puts back pressure on the other side , sounds like the same thing , Cheers Paul.

[lay80n]

You should be checking the condition and lubrication of the slide pins that the caliper mounts on periodically, especially if you drive mud lots. As the pins get corroded and crap gets in, they can cause the caliper to lock up, as well as causing uneven pad wear. If you notice that one pad is wearing much worse than the other and that the braking force on that side sucks, cahnces are that a slipe pin has seized. The other thing to look at in your case would be a seized piston. You can strip the caliper down and check the internals out, then if its okay fit a caliper seal kit. Not a hard job, but also not something to to taken on unless your 100% confident you know what your doing.

Layto....

[Taff]

rebuilting the caliper is a fairly easy job if you know how to bleed brakes. I had to do it on the side of the road a few weeks back, the piston had seized due to rust / mud ect. exact same syptoms as you describe. i reused the old seal and dust cover with no issues for a few days until i bought new ones.

[weaves]

Just a note for those who don't know.

If you are resealing and putting new o rings through the calliper or any connection where brake fluid is used you must not use any material besides EPDM o rings and seals.
so if you go out to your plumbing kit and find the right size orings they wont work for long.

we have many people come into work asking for standard nitrile (duro 70) o rings for brake setups.

[BlueSuzy]

Yeah im pretty confident of what im doing, Im a maintence fitter, Pretty much fix everything..

I don't actually do mud runs that often...I did a baby one last monday, she was fine then.

I will check the slides on both sides, May as well..

Thanks guys

[BlueSuzy]

Pads fine just dusted them and rubbed them on the concrete to roughen them up abit, disc fine,Everything fine! just bit dusty

Lubed up the bolts that the bushes slide on and rubbers etc..made sure tyhe piston came out and in properly and wella! All is good now

Simple! Thanks dude friends.

[BlueSuzy]

Found out it isnt as simple, Week later..

When cold she drives and brakes fine until 5minutes later she starts to pull again, overheating the pads and disc smoke etc etc...

Should i just buy a new caliper? (2nd handy) Caliper kits can be expensive..

Should i get new pads? The old ones were probably overheated..Does it affect them?

The disc should be fine....
Still brakes smooth when cold, no warping