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Brake Caliper/Rubbing issue

28K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  JoshIsaacks 
#1 ·
Thought I had my truck all fixed but started hearing a rubbing/humming noise this morning on the freeway that was very faint and intermitant at about 60-65mph, and metal on metal noise while making a slow hard right turn while listening for issues doing donuts in the parking lot. 99 Durango, 4wd, 5.2l, with 120k.

This weekend I replaced both front hub assemblys and solved my 35mph humming noise, installed 4 new shocks, new brake pads, new rubber boots for the caliper bolts in the caliper, and 2 new stock caliper bolts on the upper holes and 2 "oversized self tapping" caliper bolts on the lower wholes on both calipers as they were stripped.

-Something is rubbing on the inside passenger rim, as there is a small clean new groove going around the whole inside of the rim. I pulled the tire off but could not find any indication of markings on the caliper or anything that may be rubbing with the inside of the rim. It appears that the groove on the rim would match up perfectly with the highest point of the brake caliper but like I said I do not see any markings on the caliper or anything on the knuckle.

-Other issue is when I checked my caliper bolts to be sure they were still tight since I used the self tapping ones, it appears there is movement in the caliper from inside to outside and the bolts are not holding it in place even though the bolts are still tight. It is as if the caliper is sliding back and forth on the caliper bolts if that makes sense. With the rotor fully on and the installed in place it appears it is seated correctly.

Please throw any ideas out, spent the last 2 days working on this so its driving me a bit crazy now. I hate to have to pull the calipers off as I just used the self tapping bolts and really dont want to mess with them again until i have to, hence why I installed new pads at the same time. Im unsure if they are re-usable or not.

--also the old pads on the passenger side where I have had the stripped caliper bolt for quite some time were very grooved on the top 1 inch or of the pad if that could help in any way with a diagnosis. could it be a rotor issue?
 
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#3 ·
I put on brand new rubber boots that the bolts go through yesterday along with the new pads and new 4 new caliper bolts. The only things I havent swapped yet were the calipers and rotors. I agree with you on this design, I guess I just dont understand how the bolts plus boots securly hold the caliper to the knuckle...

I did my tie rods/ball joints a while back so the only other thing that could be replaced up there is upper/lower control arm bushings. Would those going bad (or any other suspension parts) in any way allow for movement like this and rubbing?
 
#4 ·
If you had a stripped bolt for a while. There is the chance it wore the bushings for the caliper bolts also. I have a groove on the inside of one of my rims from the same issue. Stripped caliper bolt actually came out on mine.
 
#5 ·
Rebel, sorry but what bushings are you talking about? I didnt see any other bushings on the caliper unless I am missing parts on mine. Is it something enclosed on the caliper? I am wondering if I should just put new calipers on today.

I assume you are not also refferring to the rubber boots that the bolts slide through that I already replaced. I pulled the old ones and replaced all 4 of those, they were somewhat of a bitch to slide into the caliper bolt holes and I assumed using any grease or lube would be a bad idea so I didnt.
 
#6 ·
The caliper is supposed to slide in and out on the pins, and you should have greased the pins(they are caliper pins, not bolts). they are floating calipers. If they were bolted solid to the spindle then the inside pad would be doing all the braking and pushing the rotor away from the spindle causing it to warp/crack.

The groove could have been a rock or something that got between the caliper and the rime. Not sure how much clearance you have there. Sounds like you did everything properly.

Since it's a 4wd, the only other thing I would suggest is putting the whole truck up on jack stands, lock it in 4wd, put it in gear and have someone under the truck to watch the caliper while you apply the brakes, or vice verso to see if the caliper is moving enough to contact the rim while braking.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the explanation on that, I didnt know how they worked. Is greasing the pins important enough to take them off and grease now? What type of grease do you use?

I was going to stop on my way home and get new calipers and rotors but I hate to keep throwing more money at it. I'll pull it apart again when I get home and have another look.
 
#8 ·
Just some silicone grease. I'm surprised the parts store didn't try to get you to buy some when you got the brake parts before. Most usually do. They will have little packets at the counter usually. What greasing the pins does is allows the caliper to slide on the pins easier to promote even pad wear.
 
#9 ·
So I went ahead and picked up new calipers and rotors on the way home. It appeared that the passenger caliper was what was rubbing on the inner side of the rim as it was a bit shiny on the bottom of the caliper at the highest point, but still hard to tell. I looked at the old pads a second time and didnt realize how bad the drivers side was also. Installed the new calipers and rotors, with the new pads I put on yesterday that were already showing some uneven where after just 30 miles of driving......they werent to bad though.

Also re-checked the torque on the spindle nut to be sure. I thought I heard some rubbing sounds again when I took it for a test drive but my neighbor couldnt hear anything running next to the truck so maybe I am just going crazy idk. After a bit more driving everything sounded good and felt good. New shocks, hubs, calipers, hardware, rotors, and pads so if something is still wrong tomorrow f#@k this im taking it to les schawb and having them diagnosis it 3 days in a row pulling this apart is to much.

Appreciate the help from everybody, saved me tons of $$ so far. Wonder what a shop would want to replace all of that?
 
#11 ·
Well this is driving me crazy now. I am still get a rubbing noise on sharp turns. I have no idea what the problem could be. I was down there looking at it again and noticed the half shaft/spindle (i think thats what its called) is not sitting flush against the knuckle. I am wondering if I did something wrong replaceing the front hub assemblys? Would someone mind taking a look at theirs to see if it sits flush against the knuckle or if you have a bit of space like i do. I could only snug the axle nut up on the spindle after changing the hubs since the wheel would spin, then lowered the vehicle and torqued to 180ft. lbs. Does the axle nut need to be torqued prior to lowering the vehicle? I have $530 in parts now and would really hate to screw something up.

Drivers side


Passenger side where the rims was grooved, appears to be further away from knuckle than drivers side to me
 
#12 ·
So finally took the truck into les schwab today as I was stumped and still have noise/rubbing issues. I feel pretty stupid, but at the same time I just didnt know. I installed these new brake pads and previous pads when I first got the truck the same way I found em........I had the anti-rattle clip (i think thats what it is) sitting on top of the caliper bracket as they just fit right on that way. I didnt know that the clip had to be bent/pried to the inside of the caliper bracket. The allignment guy came out with a smile on his face so I new I done did something wrong, really wish I would have taken some more pics now cause im sure one of you would have pointed that out to me.

They spent an hour on the durango between that and shakedown for another issue that we couldnt figure out, my "popping" sound on a hard slow left turn. Otherwise all my other suspension work I have done to it and all of this was tip top no issues:) and all my new parts are ok. Really thankful to those guys there, only place I feel you can take a rig and not get ripped off but thats just my opinion. No charge at all for anything, such a relief. I figured it was either something major or something i missed thank goodness is was the latter cause after 4 different days of pulling this thing apart I had had it....
 
#13 ·
I know this is an old post, and you have probably gotten rid of this vehicle by now or fixed the problem, but I noticed with my 98 dakota that the front brake pads have a long metal "spring" on one pad... If this spring gets bent any, it will cause the caliper to sit further away from the rotor than it should. This causes the outside of the caliper to rub on the inside of the wheel. If you bend that metal "spring" back it fixes this issue. This could be the result of buying aftermarket pads with that piece of metal having different tension, or being unaligned with an OEM type pad. Other sounds I have had from my dakota that caused me grief were squeezing the dust shield too tightly on the back side of the wheel causing it to slightly rub the rotor. I would do this on accident while removing the tire and brake parts.. I spent alot of time on these forums looking for answers to my problems.. and had to find them out the hard way.

**Note** when I say "spring" it is actually just a long piece of metal that presses against the steering knuckle when the caliper is in place... it's not like a coiled spring, but rather, a flat piece of stiff/springy metal..

hope this helps anyone in the future with the same issue
 
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