HELP!! Smoking front brakes!

I just finished a brake job on my truck last night and well today… My truck ain’t doing too well. At all.

I replaced the front calipers (yes calipers not the rotors, one of the pistons was frozen) and brake pads and did a full fluid flush and bled the lines.

Today on my way to work, my steering wheel started shaking really bad and it felt like my brakes were engaging. Rolled to a light and a concerning amount of smoke was coming out of my front passenger wheel well. Thankfully I was really close to where i park and i was able to limp the truck into my parking lot.

I’m genuinely concerned of trying to move my truck again so I’m going to have to tow it.

My questions is this - Does anyone know what could be causing this? Is this most likely an issue i can fix or should i just take it to a shop? I’m fairly mechanically inclined but I’ve read this could be due to the ABS possibly and it seems foreign to me.

I’ve kinda got a laundry list of things I need to fix on this truck and this kind of pushed me over the edge. I honestly think after whatever is causing this gets fixed, I’ll be selling the ol taco.

Any help is appreciated!

 

Get the front end up and see if you have any drag on the wheels,look for twisted brake lines to

 

Caliper is possibly frozen New can be bad right out of the box.

 

It is likely packing oil on the rotors burning off.

 

1 don’t attempt to limp it home. Get it towed if necessary.

If you can safely get it jacked & blocked, see if that passenger front wheel will spin, probably not. If you need to get it to release, loosen the bleeder until fluid stops squirting, then quickly tighten it. That might get it released. After that I’d only use the hand brake to get it on the tow truck. If you step on the pedal it might lock up again.

Once you get it home, you can dig in to figure out what’s wrong. New caliper stuck piston, sliding parts aren’t sliding…

New parts oem or aftermarket? Brake pedal travel feels normal?

 

Gather up some tools, take off the front wheel and double check all of the caliper bolts. I've heard of cases where the caliper bolt backs out and the caliper ends up shearing the wheel in half. This would cause the shaking/vibration/smell.

 

You could also have a collapsing front brake hose. I would start by suspecting the new parts because shit happens, and definitely give the rotors a quick clean in case anything got on them (I know they're the old ones but it could be an issue).

 

If you managed to replant the caliper, I think you can figure this problem out.
Jack up the front of the truck. Try to spin the front wheel. (It’s easier to spin with the wheel on.
If it’s stuck, or hard to turn. Off comes the wheel. (It’s going coming off anyways, just go ahead and pull it. Even if it spins freely)

Once the wheel is off. Inspect the pads, bolts and hardware.
If nothing is obvious, and the rotor still won’t turn, crack the bleeder.
Then try to turn the rotor. If it spins then. You have a pressure issue.
Either a caliper, or line. You can then close the bleeder and work your way up the brake system cracking lines until it frees up.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the caliper is bad. Parts now are JUNK….

 

OP said he replaced calipers and pads. Not rotors.

 

Really sounds like a caliper...

 

Could be some spilled oil on part of the rotor, make sure to spray a healthy amount of brake cleaner over the rotors at the end of the job if you have any doubts about cleanliness.

 

the brake line is the usual suspect. it expands on the inside and essentially becomes a one-way valve.

 

All, I appreciate the tips and advice. I’ll be getting it towed home hopefully this evening or sometime tomorrow and I’ll start cracking into it. As it stands these are a couple things that I think could be possible culprits -

The brake line going into the hardened/metal brake line wasn’t kinked but had a bend in it enough to make me take a second glance at and shrug off. I’ll do my best to straighten that

The inner brake pad was VERY VERY tight going into place while the outer brake pad was fine. I’ll pull them out, readjust the caliper and try again.

The other thing to note is that it felt like the longer i drove, the harder the brakes were grabbing but not releasing.

Currently the brake pedal has the tiniest bit of squishiness and then hard as a rock.

 

I've never been successful straightening a kink in a hardline.

you'll get it OP. you got this.

 

Some aftermarket parts are not good at all.

They should have all slid in and freely move. Look closely at the pad backing plate. It might have some casting flaws. Look at the hardware thing it slides on, make sure nothing is bent out of place.

A symptom of hydraulic fluid going in but not back out.

Depending how bad this bend is. Possibly restricting flow. Step on the pedal, high pressure goes in. Let off the pedal, lower pressure won’t come out.

I don’t think you mentioned if it’s a 6 or 5 lug.

 

6 lug PreRunner

Just got it towed back home. About to tear back into it!

 

Straightened out the brake line. It wasn’t really even a kink more of a tight bend but that’s straightened out now.

Tried loosening the bolts holding the caliper to the hub and even with a little bit of play, it was super hard to get the brake pads in - no go there.

Cracked the bleed valve and tried to press the pistons in as much as i could, tried to put the pads back in, still incredibly tight. Whereas on the driver side, it was normal normal.

Completely took the caliper off the truck, cracked the bleed valve and couldn’t get the pistons in any further.

And so - Just dropped the caliper off at Autozone and I’m getting another replacement tomorrow. If that doesn’t work than i’ll be back to the drawing board.

Also for the front driver side, I can grab a lug on the tire and spin it with one hand. I’m inclined to say it doesn’t spin as freely as I think it should/remember in past experiences but I could just be over analyzing at this point. It spins freely though. But when I first jacked the passenger side up a little earlier, it was practically cemented in place. Without the pads in and caliper on, the rotor spins fine, once the pads are installed - no go.

 

It's rare but I've had pads that were too thick for some reason, like they didn't shave enough off when they made them. Sometimes removing a shim can help with clearance - if the pads have shims..

Don't overlook a caliper piston that's not going in all the way, they should be flush or pretty close to flush against the body of the caliper. Compare to the other side if unsure..

 

Sounds like you found the demon. Caliper stuck.

 

There your problem. Rebuilt caliper? Most are garbage now. Either find a set of new ones (aftermarket is fine) or rebuild your old ones. Probably built with the wrong pistons (too tall) in one half, or the wrong caliper all together, or the bores were damaged during blasting and the pistons won't go all the way in. The pads need to fit loosely with the pistons retracted. If things are tight, they'll just get tighter as things heat up.