Brake pulsation

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Runaround

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I have a 2014 Tradesman 1500. When I step on the pedal to stop a get a pulsation in the truck. I put new front rotors on about a month ago and that didn’t change things. I pulled the rear tires off today and held a screwdriver against the caliper and then touched it to the rotor while running in gear and the rotors seamed to be true. I thought maybe they were warped but I am lost now. What could it be? The truck has 180k miles on it. I don’t feel this pulsation until I step on the brakes.
 

Dean2

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What Chopper said plus, bad caliper(s), bad pads, water in brake fluid, low brake fluid, ABS not working right.
 

18CrewDually

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The pulsation people feel in the pedal most of the time is not warping, it is differential in the friction surface of the pad and SPOTS in the rotor from heat and cooling and contamination. Hot spots if you will.
Calipers on these trucks float to absorb the minute difference, you would not feel a warped rotor. You cut rotors to get a new pure v'i'r'g'i'n friction surface IF the rotor has enough material and isn't full of hot spots. Nowadays it's cheaper in the long run to just replace the rotors.

*I had to edit, the forum robots blocked the word above. :/.
 
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Runaround

Runaround

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I don’t see y that looks like hot spots on the rotors. All of the rotor surfaces look the same.
 

GTyankee

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The ABS causes pulsation when you brake harder than you need to.
The wheel speed sensors, sort of send a message to the ABS when ever one of the wheels is about to lock up. Then the ABS backs off on the pressure to that wheel, if another wheel is about to slide, the ABS backs off a bit on that one.

When the ABS continually backs off & reapplies pressure, that causes a pulsation to the brake pedal.

Possibly your ABS or Speed Sensors are set too sensitive ??
 

Rlaf75

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If youre only getting the pulsation when youre braking then the problem is the rotors. When you step on the brake do you feel the steering wheel shake? Your screwdriver test isn't going to do anything. Like someone mentioned previously, a dial indicator will tell you if the rears are warped. If it was the ABS you would hear and feel the pedal vibrate. If it was a hub or bent axle you'd feel it all the time. My money is on the rear rotors being bad
 

Daw14

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You said you checked the rear rotors ,the front does the majority of the stopping . It did not say if you did all four corners or not .
 

18CrewDually

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You said you checked the rear rotors ,the front does the majority of the stopping . It did not say if you did all four corners or not .
3rd sentence.
And he continued that he "checked" rear rotors. Also states truck has 180k miles, potentially that many miles on rear rotors.
 

Daw14

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Did you clean the front mating surface before installing the new rotors maybe there was some rust that is not letting them sit flush.
 
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