"White knuckle" moment - steep driveway, hard brakes, not stopping!

[Jebb]

Truck has been at the dealership for 2 days and they can't find anything wrong. They tried to blame it on the lift kit - which I informed them was installed BY THEM! There are no steep streets anywhere in the area so I don't know how they're going to find the problem. Slamming on the brakes on flat ground doesn't do it. A boat ramp probably would.

There is definitely a problem here and I don't want it brushed off. Any suggestions on how to instruct the dealer to test it?

 

[Jbp19classic]

Truck has been at the dealership for 2 days and they can't find anything wrong. They tried to blame it on the lift kit - which I informed them was installed BY THEM! There are no steep streets anywhere in the area so I don't know how they're going to find the problem. Slamming on the brakes on flat ground doesn't do it. A boat ramp probably would.

There is definitely a problem here and I don't want it brushed off. Any suggestions on how to instruct the dealer to test it?

Can you recreate it every time you are in the right place? Are there any hills within a reasonable distance to the dealer that you could convince them to take a ride to with you?

 

[Jebb]

Can you recreate it every time you are in the right place?

Yes

Are there any hills within a reasonable distance to the dealer that you could convince them to take a ride to with you?

No. So how to prove it/find it?

 

[desync0]

Parking garage?

 

[18ram18]

Yes


No. So how to prove it/find it?

Where do you live Kansas? no steep enough grades to recreate?
How did you find out the first time?

 

[Jebb]

Where do you live Kansas? no steep enough grades to recreate?
How did you find out the first time?

Have you read any of this thread?

 

[madtrucker2016]

Weird little "white knuckle" moment this weekend in my 2017 Ram QC 4x4. I was idling down a steep driveway and when I got to the bottom I was mashing a hard brake pedal and still rolling. If a car had been coming down the street I would have likely rolled right out in front of him!

Truck is a 2017 Hemi QC 4x4. Only has 4000 miles on it.

Driveway was very steep but was clean and dry and around 55F. I heard no tires sliding and no ABS light or chime. Truck was in 2H DRIVE at the time and idling - brakes should have held it.

Never felt this before and everything seemed normal afterwards (truck stops fine). I wasn't able to repeat it as my family was with me and I didn't want to alarm them.

Needless to say this was a little concerning! What could have caused this? I'm thinking something in the ABS system was kicking in but if that's the case it's NOT good!

Maybe the brake booster is no good I had that happen on a 2013 Big Horn in the PA. mountains with my older sister in the pass seat she said she was ready to jump out of the truck. No one got hurt but man what a feeling its like your on a sled and nothing you can do. The problem turned out to be the booster was failing it was changed new along with the master. But I will not drive down that hill ever again . Very happy for you no one got hurt or any truck damage. **** happens

 

[indept]

It's not good when **** Happens in your pants

 

[Jebb]

It's not good when **** Happens in your pants

You got THAT right!!

Truck has been at the dealership for 4 working days now (nearly a week calendar). They were supposed to take it for a test drive yesterday afternoon and I haven't heard anything as of COB today. I suspect they confirmed what I reported and don't know how to fix it.

Will report here what happens next.

 

[Jebb]

OK, guys, I got the truck back yesterday afternoon. Feels different but won't know if it's truly fixed until our next trip to the mountains in a few weeks.

Dealer found 3 problems:

1. Contaminated brake fluid (failed test)
2. Air in brake lines
3. Possibly something in ECM (not clear what, says "Update FCA approved modules")

Here's what they did to fix it:

1. Performed brake fluid exchange
2. ABS bleed using Witech
3. Performed second brake fluid exchange (that's weird, why a second time?)
   
4. Road tested on loading dock (slope)

Now here is my question - this truck is nearly new - has 6826 miles on it. It has never been off-road (yet), has never been used for towing, has never been in deep water, etc. - so why is the brake fluid already bad? I first noticed this braking problem nearly a year ago - so the brake fluid has been bad a long time - probably since the truck was new.

And air in the brake lines? Where did that come from?

I suspect the truck was bad when I bought it. That, IMO, is an FCA quality problem. Glad I didn't try to tow a trailer with this thing....

 

[staying_tuned]

I'm in the poconos and have experienced this post 34" wheel & tire setup with a heavy load of lumbar on the roof rack of our 4Runner. Similar situation, had the whole family in the truck heading back from lumbar 84 (chicken coop build) and I had a heck of a time stopping, especially on any sort of decline. It was just too much weight for the stock brake system to hold. Ended up (recently did the same with my Ram 1500) going with powerstop's Z36 truck and tow setup for a few hundred bucks and it made a huge difference although I attribute most of it to the pad compound, not the drilled & slotted rotors. What you're describing sounds like lube soaked into the front pads. I agree, it's weird that they'd flush twice but maybe the found contamination and suspected someone put coolant or wiper fluid in the reservoir. New techs do crazy $hit sometimes.

 

[Jebb]

What you're describing sounds like lube soaked into the front pads.

Yes - if what they've done didn't fix it that would be my next guess.

 

[madtrucker2016]

Could be a rotting brake line hose or even the brake fluid got over heated to ruin it. But to have air in the lines maybe that is the dealer being creative in his wording and writing up the report,its no miles on truck , my thought is you have a leak and are sucking air into system when pressing down on brake pedal could be so minute but after time will get air into system. Might have a loose brake fitting in the line some place.

 

[Jebb]

OK, guys, I got the truck back yesterday afternoon. Feels different but won't know if it's truly fixed until our next trip to the mountains in a few weeks.

Dealer found 3 problems:

1. Contaminated brake fluid (failed test)
2. Air in brake lines
3. Possibly something in ECM (not clear what, says "Update FCA approved modules")

Here's what they did to fix it:

1. Performed brake fluid exchange
2. ABS bleed using Witech
3. Performed second brake fluid exchange (that's weird, why a second time?)
   
4. Road tested on loading dock (slope)

Now here is my question - this truck is nearly new - has 6826 miles on it. It has never been off-road (yet), has never been used for towing, has never been in deep water, etc. - so why is the brake fluid already bad? I first noticed this braking problem nearly a year ago - so the brake fluid has been bad a long time - probably since the truck was new.

And air in the brake lines? Where did that come from?

I suspect the truck was bad when I bought it. That, IMO, is an FCA quality problem. Glad I didn't try to tow a trailer with this thing....

Well guys, I just came back from a trip to the mountains where I first discovered this problem - and it is NOT fixed. No difference whatsoever. Rolling down our driveway with the trans in "D" the truck slows down but does not stop - feels like I have a 10,000 pound trailer behind me. The only way I can stop is to put the truck in neutral.

I don't know what to do now. SOMETHING is wrong with this truck. Would it stop fast on the freeway if I had to - or if I was pulling a boat trailer?

This problem occurs with engine idling and the truck in 2-wheel High - if it was in 4-Low it would be unstoppable, period. That is NOT RIGHT!

The dealership where I bought the truck is in Huntington Beach, CA where there are no steep hills to test it. I don't know how to demonstrate the problem.

Anyone else here who drives mountain roads or steep hills ever had this happen in your 4th gen 1500 Ram?

 

[bm02tj]

i know mine ****** me off as it pushes down hill after starting cold
The sale manager of dealer moved into the neighbourhood and just to try he put his demo into second gear
and it went over 5000 rpm but he has 392 and I have 321's
when warm no problem on a 9% grade
it is all in ECM program
I wish they would fix @RamCares

 

[pacofortacos]

I wonder if the oversize tires are the big problem. Laws of leverage and all of that.
I would be curious to see if it will still do it with stock size tires.

 

[Wild one]

I wonder if the oversize tires are the big problem. Laws of leverage and all of that.
I would be curious to see if it will still do it with stock size tires.

I'd guess they are. I've occasionally raced mine through the mountains and have never had an issue with the brakes,but i also run a shorter/lighter tire then stock with 30" tall tires. I can damn near bounce the front bumper off the pavement on hard braking,lol. The braking systems are a bit light to haul a heavy assed 35"+ tire down from speed,especially if the truck is loaded and heavy. If you guys insist on running bigger then stock tires and then whining about the lack of brakes,might be time for you to bite the bullet and spend the money to adapt a hydro-boost set-up into your trucks,not gonna be cheap on the trucks with electric steering though,as you're going to have to adapt some sort of hydraulic pump onto the engine,the older trucks with an actual power steering pump are relatively easy to put a hydro-boost braking set-up on. You can stuff all the brake pad you want onto the stock brakes,still isn't going to increase the clamping power your calipers supply to the rotor,so you need to up the clamping force and that entails increasing the pressure supplied to the calipers.

 

[bm02tj]

I do not recall any mention of anything about larger tires

 

[BWL]

Transmission staying engaged? If popping it in neutral makes it stop maybe it's not the brakes that are the cause and the other problems they corrected were caused by heavy braking due to extra force required to stop the truck while it's trying to keep moving due to a faulty torque converter perhaps.

 

[Ribtipram]

Transmission staying engaged? If popping it in neutral makes it stop maybe it's not the brakes that are the cause and the other problems they corrected were caused by heavy braking due to extra force required to stop the truck while it's trying to keep moving due to a faulty torque converter perhaps.

I was thinking along the same lines. Maybe tc is at full lock when it should not be.