Brake locked up on me............

[Dr. Righteous]

What a time to have issues with my RAM. ( I'm use to it being pretty dang reliable. )

Of all things my wife and son were out of town visiting friends at a summertime get together. I stayed home because I had a lot of work to do.
I get a text that the wife's car ('14 Jeep Compass) is acting up, not driveable. So I call her and see what the problem is.
Traction control light on, ABS light on, 4wd on sometimes ;going into limp mode. I'm shaking my head in disbelief. This car is well maintained and low miles.
They are 80 some miles away in the city, it is literally 100* down there today. Going to have to trailer it home. So I pulled the RAM out , hook the car hauler to it. While driving down into the city I kept smelling brakes. At first I was thinking it was a car in front of me but the smell never went away. Also seemed the braking was a bit wonky; not usual. I pulled into get some gas and walk around the passenger side to find smoke pouring out of the right front wheel. Brake was very hot, but only the right front. The rotor was gouged pretty bad. The front brakes are NEW. New rotors, new pads. Replaced them in January. Had about 25 more miles to drive so there was nothing I could do but keep trucking. The truck would pull to the left when braking so that told me the right front was fried.
When I got to my destination I called a friend that was close and asked him to bring a floor jack. I jacked up the right front and check the wheel. Spun without resistance, no wobble. No noise. The burning had stopped by then, but the brake still smelled. I would be OK if I would take it easy on the trip back.
So we loaded up the Compass in the 100* heat and headed back.
I'm -HOPING- the caliper is good. I know the rotor is trashed and the pads have to be also. I ordered those this morning. As to what happened, don't know until I pull it all apart.


All that said has anyone see this kind of issue on their RAM?

 

[KeepRight]

What a time to have issues with my RAM. ( I'm use to it being pretty dang reliable. )

Of all things my wife and son were out of town visiting friends at a summertime get together. I stayed home because I had a lot of work to do.
I get a text that the wife's car ('14 Jeep Compass) is acting up, not driveable. So I call her and see what the problem is.
Traction control light on, ABS light on, 4wd on sometimes ;going into limp mode. I'm shaking my head in disbelief. This car is well maintained and low miles.
They are 80 some miles away in the city, it is literally 100* down there today. Going to have to trailer it home. So I pulled the RAM out , hook the car hauler to it. While driving down into the city I kept smelling brakes. At first I was thinking it was a call in front of me but the smell never went away. Also seemed the braking was a bit wonky; not usual. I pulled into get some gas and walk around the passenger side to find smoke pouring out of the right front wheel. Brake was very hot, but only the right front. The rotor was gouged pretty bad. The front brakes are NEW. New rotors, new pads. Replaced them in January. Had about 25 more miles to drive so there was nothing I could do but keep trucking. The truck would pull to the left when braking so that told me the right front was fried.
When I got to my destination I called a friend that was close and asked him to bring a floor jack. I jacked up the right front and check the wheel. Spun without resistance, no wobble. No noise. The burning had stopped by then, but the brake still smelled. I would be OK if I would take it easy on the trip back.
So we loaded up the Compass in the 100* heat and headed back.
I'm -HOPING- the caliper is good. I know the rotor is trashed and the pads have to be also. I ordered those this morning. As to what happened, don't know until I pull it all apart.


All that said has anyone see this kind of issue on their RAM?

Prob just a bad brake caliper. It happens to many vehicles... It is what it is. Not any type of issue because of the make or model.

Once you replace the caliper, check the rotors, ensuring they aren't warped. If the pads for too hot, you might as well replace them.

 

[TBONE 2018]

I think the caliper bolts came loose .That could cause the caliper to rotate and lock up the tire .

 

[crazykid1994]

Did you flush the brake lines with new brake fluid? It’s possible pressing the piston back when replacing the pads broke up some gunk and when you used the brakes the gunk wedged itself in. Anytime I do new pads I run new fluid through the lines till it comes out clean again. Never had any brakes fail on me.

 

[chri5k]

Sounds like one of the pistons in the caliper got stuck. I would pull the pistons out of that caliper to check the piston and bore for corrosion. If found, replace the caliper / piston assembly. Otherwise, clean it out well and put on new seals.

 

[RoadRamblerNJ]

Did you flush the brake lines with new brake fluid? It’s possible pressing the piston back when replacing the pads broke up some gunk and when you used the brakes the gunk wedged itself in. Anytime I do new pads I run new fluid through the lines till it comes out clean again. Never had any brakes fail on me.

+1
I always flush the system, one wheel at a time, until I see ****** fluid coming out. It does take longer but well worth it for peade of mind.
I wouldn't put new rotor and pads back on w/o a new/rebuilt caliper. That is the obvious choice of which part failed.

 

[jws123]

Happened to me a few times on my 2011 took it apart few times tried to free it up got fed up and replaced caliper only cost me about $80 never had a problem again.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

I didn't order a caliper because it was a 100 bux plus I had to send the core back.
Right now money is tight because the economy is in the sh*t can. But a quality rotor and a quality set of pads, that was $35 bux. Figured I would pull it apart and inspect everything. The rotor is trashed, very gouged up. I can test the caliper with compress air to see if they move smoothly in the bores. If a piston is seized, well that is all she wrote and I'll have to order a caliper.

This happened when there is a list of broken things I have to fix. The 2 year old mower died. Had to order a carb for it; $100 bux. Of course the ABS issue with my wife's Compass. Likely a wheel speed sensor, but I have no way of telling which one. I ordered all 4 to the tune of $100 bux.
The 2 year old diswasher quit working and the wife is on me to get that fixed. The hits keep coming...................

 

[Loudram]

I know things are tough, hang in there. If you can find someone with a code reader that does abs you can narrow it down and return the rest of the sensors. Maybe an auto parts store near you rents them.

 

[LeeD]

One other thing to check is your brake line to that caliper. If it collapsed internally it wouldn't let the caliper release and the brakes would drag. It's unlikely that it's your problem but I almost lost my old Vette when I had that happen. The brake got so hot it caught on fire.

 

[jws123]

I didn't order a caliper because it was a 100 bux plus I had to send the core back.
Right now money is tight because the economy is in the sh*t can. But a quality rotor and a quality set of pads, that was $35 bux. Figured I would pull it apart and inspect everything. The rotor is trashed, very gouged up. I can test the caliper with compress air to see if they move smoothly in the bores. If a piston is seized, well that is all she wrote and I'll have to order a caliper.

This happened when there is a list of broken things I have to fix. The 2 year old mower died. Had to order a carb for it; $100 bux. Of course the ABS issue with my wife's Compass. Likely a wheel speed sensor, but I have no way of telling which one. I ordered all 4 to the tune of $100 bux.
The 2 year old diswasher quit working and the wife is on me to get that fixed. The hits keep coming...................

Yea things suck right now Also Better get rid of that jeep compass before it hits 100k Lol or you will be dumping more $ the compass and patriot are known as throw away jeeps thats why you see so many for sale on CL and fb Broken.

 

[16Ram4x4]

I had the calipers on my 2001 Dodge Dakota decide to freeze up on me over a year apart from each other.
Had to change the driver side caliper and pads that evening in the parking lot of an O'Reilly's auto parts store 40 miles from home. It was smoking and the rotor was blue from being so hot.
My girlfriend at the time didn't want to help me bleed the brakes, so I told her she can start walking home or learn to help. She decided very quickly in the hot summertime heat that she better learn to help bleed brakes and actually did listen and had them bleed out fairly quickly

 

[Firetruck41]

I had the slide for the caliper sieze up with rust, it ate the brake pad and then the metal pad backing destroyed the rotor surface. I didn't catch it until I was replacing the front brakes. I would have just replaced the caliper bracket (it houses the slide pin), but it wasn't available locally, so I got a reman caliper that included the bracket.

 

[RoadRamblerNJ]

I didn't order a caliper because it was a 100 bux plus I had to send the core back.
Right now money is tight because the economy is in the sh*t can. But a quality rotor and a quality set of pads, that was $35 bux. Figured I would pull it apart and inspect everything. The rotor is trashed, very gouged up. I can test the caliper with compress air to see if they move smoothly in the bores. If a piston is seized, well that is all she wrote and I'll have to order a caliper.

This happened when there is a list of broken things I have to fix. The 2 year old mower died. Had to order a carb for it; $100 bux. Of course the ABS issue with my wife's Compass. Likely a wheel speed sensor, but I have no way of telling which one. I ordered all 4 to the tune of $100 bux.
The 2 year old diswasher quit working and the wife is on me to get that fixed. The hits keep coming...................

Buddy, there's Child Labor laws for a reason. You can't have 2 year olds washin' dishes and mowin' for ya. Your gonna get caught.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

Buddy, there's Child Labor laws for a reason. You can't have 2 year olds washin' dishes and mowin' for ya. Your gonna get caught.

Well, my 2 year old mower got resurrected with a $100 carburetor. Fixed the wife's Jeep Compass. Replaced the 2 front wheel sensors and crossed my fingers. Been working for a week now.
Tore into the brakes on the RAM; found the caliper pistons was completely seized. It had gotten so hot the pistons started coming apart. Ordered a replacement caliper and replaced it over the weekend. So far so good. Brakes are back to 100%

 

[Dr. Righteous]

Yea things suck right now Also Better get rid of that jeep compass before it hits 100k Lol or you will be dumping more $ the compass and patriot are known as throw away jeeps thats why you see so many for sale on CL and fb Broken.

Yeah, at 100K, it is time for a timing belt. Been telling the wife we should trade it in on something she likes better. Right now everything is paid for an just don't want to pick up another payment on something. Especially since the economy is down; the company we work for is running reduced hours so our income is cut by a third.

 

[RoadRamblerNJ]

Yeah, at 100K, it is time for a timing belt. Been telling the wife we should trade it in on something she likes better. Right now everything is paid for an just don't want to pick up another payment on something. Especially since the economy is down; the company we work for is running reduced hours so our income is cut by a third.

I'm with ya brother. I haven't worked since April, 2018, but that's just my medical history.
You being cut by 1/3 pay is a real good reason to NOT hold onto a disposable Jeep. Those issues usually hit at the worst time. At least trading is on your time table & is not an emergency, good money after bad deal.
Best of luck.

 

[indept]

I had the calipers on my 2001 Dodge Dakota decide to freeze up on me over a year apart from each other.
Had to change the driver side caliper and pads that evening in the parking lot of an O'Reilly's auto parts store 40 miles from home. It was smoking and the rotor was blue from being so hot.
My girlfriend at the time didn't want to help me bleed the brakes, so I told her she can start walking home or learn to help. She decided very quickly in the hot summertime heat that she better learn to help bleed brakes and actually did listen and had them bleed out fairly quickly

Did you have to give them the old caliper as a core? If so I would have kept the old caliper and rebuilt it as a spare and given the your girlfriend as a core.

 

[16Ram4x4]

I did have to give them the old one because of the core charge. If I had to do it over again I would have left the girlfriend there as the core and never looked back