Brake Caliper Questions

[4by4bygod]

Hey all, got an issue with my stock 1992 Fullsize Blazer.

Backstory:

Had an issue with the drivers front wheel..first noticed it this week in low speed tight turning situations, like parking...I would hear this intermittent noise, a sound like a tire rubbing on a wheelwell lip.. it progressed into now I hear it once in a while driving down the street..brakes functioned ok...I get the thing home, and today was the day for me to pull the wheel off and take a look - see...

I'm trying to pull out and back into a different slot in the driveway..we live on a corner, with room for five cars, one car deep..anyway, I pull out into the street, stop, and now I crank the wheel to back in where I want..the truck doesn't move..I give it some gas, and I hear this "bang" come from the wheel, then the truck moves normally.

I park it, and jack up the front, and take the tire off..I can turn the passenger wheel by hand normally, no noise, no binding, no nothing..on the drivers side, I can spin the wheel by hand for maybe ten or twenty revolutions, then the wheel doesn't spin, unless i REALLY muscle it, then it spins ok for awhile, then it binds again..

I take the caliper off, and then it spins like it should..I spun it for about ten minutes to make sure, and sure enough it turned fine...I did take a c - clamp and pull the plunger- side pad back, like a normal install, I cleaned everything, and when I had the pad off, I took a brush and knocked some of the scale off of the exposed steel cup's edge. not sure if that was impeding retraction.. anyway, the wheel then spun fine, and I reapplied the brakes when I still had it jacked up, and then the wheel still spun great..

I took it for a test drive, and it did make that same noise as it did at first, (like a tire rubbing) but only once or twice after hard braking..after some more driving it quit, and now is ok,,I know better than to ignore it because who knows when the wheel will quit turning for good?

here are my questions:

1) can a sticky caliper be intermittent? I never dealt with one before, I assumed once stuck, always stuck.

2) If I change this myself, do I just disconnect at the banjo fitting on the caliper?

3) does a rebuild kit make sense? are they pretty straightforward? do I need to disconnect the caliper to do a rebuild, or no?

4) reaching here and thinking out loud..This thing lives on a gravel driveway..could corrosion be telling the ABS to do something that would cause the brakes to engage on one wheel?

any input is appreciated.

 

[Fordum]

This sounds borderline strange.

At first, I was convinced it was a wheel bearing. When you had it jacked up and turning it by hand, there should not have been any way for the brake caliper to move.
In other words, if it was free to start with, it should have stayed free until you hit the pedal.

Starting off free and then binding, is a classic wheel bearing prob. But, if it is to that point, you should hear some noise like a grinding or rumble.

I don't know if you have the one piece bearing or not. If not, it might be worth your while to at least pull the hub off and look at it.

Hang on a minute. 92? Bet you've got the disconnect on the passenger side axle. Which means the driver's side is engaged all the time.

You need to either inspect the axle U-Joint, or turn the wheels hard over and then jack up that side and see if it will turn.

Bet the joint is freezing up.

BTW, intermittent caliper freezing is possible, but unusual. Most of the time, its caused by the flex hose going to it delaminating inside.
They have a smooth lining, which can break down and let a strip hang down inside and act like a check valve.

But I'm betting on something else.

 

[4by4bygod]

Hang on a minute. 92? Bet you've got the disconnect on the passenger side axle. Which means the driver's side is engaged all the time.

You need to either inspect the axle U-Joint, or turn the wheels hard over and then jack up that side and see if it will turn.

Bet the joint is freezing up.

yep! I just ran out and tried this..jacked up the trucks nose, turned it to one side, spun the tire, then turned it to the other side and spun the tire, and it eventually bound both times.. I heard a more faint version of that ugly noise again too...when I had the wheel off earlier, I had the thought of cranking over the wheel and then spinning the tire, but didn't for some reason. duh.

anyway, thanks for the info, I will get it fixed this week. since Im not in four wheel very often, can I get away with just changing the one that's freezing? kinda on a budget.

see, this is why I love CK5.

 

[Fordum]

You can try just the one that is freezing. But take a good look at the other side. Since they both turn with the wheels, they should have almost the same amount of wear.
The passenger side sees slightly less load since it does not turn the front end except when in 4wd, but that is not going to make much difference.

I'm fairly sure you could pull the passenger's side out and leave it out for a while, since it does not go into the front end. I would check with someone like 4X4HIGH before I did just to be sure.
But, the driver's side is in the diff so you would lose grease.

Again, check with someone else, but I suppose you could pull it out and make a plug for the tube.

All this is supposing that you have the axle disconnect and the one piece wheel bearings.
If you have the old stye bearings, taking the axle out would let dirt get into the bearings.

What you have now, can not only cause the wheel to lock at a really bad time, it can even freeze your steering in an extreme case, so you need to do something.

 

[YZEATER]

92? typo? this has cv axles and independent front if it's a 92.

 

[Fordum]

Could very well be. I didn't think that they were independent that early. I was thinking solid axles with passenger side disconnect.

If so, can he just take it loose from the diff and drive without it?
I don't work on those things all that much, but I know some front axles do not go into the diff, just connect to a flange with either a CV or U-Joint.

 

[YZEATER]

if it is a 92, he should be able to unbolt the cv from the flange at the diff. the problem would be i think it still needs the outer 'stub' portion to go thru the bearing assembly to hold pressure on the unit bearing.