Grinding and Locking After Replacing EVERYTHING with no Answer in Sight!!

[Jameski]

Hello!

I’m new to the forum and just bought my first Ram last month (2018 Big Horn 1500, 5.7 Hemi 4x4). I am completely stumped and going out of my mind about an issue I’m having with my brakes and couldn’t find any other thread covering this so I hope I didn’t miss one.

A few weeks ago, we had a deer run out in front of us and I had to hit the brakes very hard. It felt like they actually locked up and I even mentioned to my wife that I was surprised with that. A couple days after that happened, I started noticing a squeaking sound in the front when I would brake but was puzzled because I still had a lot of pad left on each side. I’m not sure if any of this has anything to do with what happened next but I just wanted to give all the information.

Last Saturday, I started what I thought would be a “simple” front brake and rotor change and have since been unable to drive my truck since then… I found a seized caliper bracket pin on each side and had to change out two lug studs on the passenger hub that someone who owned the truck before me had pretty much stripped out. But, after putting the new brackets, pins, and studs on and taking it for a test drive, an insane shuttering and grinding sound came from the front passenger tire every time I braked. I then went through basically replacing everything to stop the grinding/shuttering but it still happens. Here is what I’ve done:

- New calipers, brackets, and pins (both wheels)
- New pads and rotors (both wheels and I tried multiple new pads and rotors in case it was just bad equipment)
- New hub and ABS wheel speed sensor on the passenger side (in case I caused damage while installing the new lug studs)
- Bled and flushed the whole system
- Confirmed the dust shield is not touching the rotor
- Confirmed there are no trouble codes or blown ABS fuses

I have attached a link to a video of what it sounds like and even the shutter it makes the wheel do when I brake. Has anyone had something like this happen before or have any advice or suggestions? I’m just going crazy and don’t know what to do next. Thank you so much!!

2018 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi 4x4 Brake Grind and Shuttering

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[Bigskyroadglide]

Op,

Obviously your best bet is to go back over all your work. It sounds like more than just brakes, have you checked ball joints. Control arms and swaybar end links. Axles? In addition are the brake pads in correctly?

I'm certain it's probably not your first rodeo but it wasn't doing it, you did a brake job now it's doing it. Start simple to hard.

Maybe have a friend look it over as well.

I wouldn't drive it in that condition. If all else fails, seek professional help via an outside mechanic

 

[Yardbird]

This is a thorough brake job that will cover almost everything that may be your problem.


https://youtu.be/M2u-_OfZ-Tw?si=3j26QLUnTon8dhUh

 

[Jameski]

Op,

Obviously your best bet is to go back over all your work. It sounds like more than just brakes, have you checked ball joints. Control arms and swaybar end links. Axles? In addition are the brake pads in correctly?

I'm certain it's probably not your first rodeo but it wasn't doing it, you did a brake job now it's doing it. Start simple to hard.

Maybe have a friend look it over as well.

I wouldn't drive it in that condition. If all else fails, seek professional help via an outside mechanic

Thank you very much for your advice! Something was wrong as the brakes were squeaking worse and worse while the pads were still almost full but, yeah, the grinding/shuttering was new. I honestly didn’t think that anything with the suspension would make the brakes lock up like that but I will definitely check that out. I am going to use the Tinker app tomorrow morning and have a mechanic check it out before paying to have it towed somewhere. I’ll keep you all posted!

 

[Jameski]

This is a thorough brake job that will cover almost everything that may be your problem.


https://youtu.be/M2u-_OfZ-Tw?si=3j26QLUnTon8dhUh

Thank you! I watched the video but didn’t see anything different in there that could be leading to the problem. The one thing the mechanic mentioned about making sure the hub was clean is something I always do when I do a brake job but this grinding/shuttering is still happening even with a brand new hub on there so I’m stumped! Thank you for replying and posting that though!

 

[04fxdwgi]

if you have a dial indicator, put it against the rotors and see if any have run out on both sides of the rotor. Have seen some bad rotors come from overseas that weren't straight / even right out of the box.

A wonky rotor will cause all kinds of havic.

Also check the mounting surface of where the rotor sits to see if there is and obstruction keeping the rotor for sitting flat on the flange.

If something is scraping, it should be fairly obvious.

What makes were the rotor and the hub? Some ChiCom stuff may not be quite to spec's and dimensions.

 

[jawzs2]

Did you seat\bed the pads after install?

 

[Jameski]

if you have a dial indicator, put it against the rotors and see if any have run out on both sides of the rotor. Have seen some bad rotors come from overseas that weren't straight / even right out of the box.

A wonky rotor will cause all kinds of havic.

Also check the mounting surface of where the rotor sits to see if there is and obstruction keeping the rotor for sitting flat on the flange.

If something is scraping, it should be fairly obvious.

What makes were the rotor and the hub? Some ChiCom stuff may not be quite to spec's and dimensions.

Thank you so much for your advice! I bought all of the components from AutoZone so they’re Duralast… which may be the problem! The only thing is that I have tried multiple new rotors now (their “gold” ones and regular ones), multiple pads (“gold” and their “elite” ceramic ones), and a new hub. I even changed out the ABS wheel speed sensor first and when that didn’t help, I changed out the whole hub which had another new speed sensor, too. I am about to go out and disable the ABS just to see if there could possibly be an issue in the module or to rule that out.

I have done complete brake jobs dozens of times on several of our vehicles over the years and have never seen something like this! I have gone back over everything several times now, tried multiple parts in case there are defects, and rebuilt the whole thing multiple times in case I just missed or messed something up to no avail. I’m going to connect with a mechanic on the Tinker app later this morning and see what they think, too.

I don’t really have a garage to use right now (we have a small bakery business that I’m building a commercial kitchen in our basement for so our garage is full of kitchen equipment right now!) so it just makes it more time intensive to do each thing to troubleshoot. I’m able to get the front of my truck in the garage but our driveway is on an incline so I’m not able to jack it all up and leave it there to come back and forth. I’m not complaining or anything, I’m just hitting a wall. Thank you for reading the post and for your help!

 

[markabby]

damn...that sounds bad!

Did you try spinning the wheel while jacked up?

 

[Jameski]

Did you seat\bed the pads after install?

When this first started, I was doing that. I kept going for a little bit but it was so violent and was clearly only coming from the front passenger side that I just drove it back home. It was so loud that it actually woke my son up and he thought I had crashed into something outside!

 

[markabby]

When this first started, I was doing that. I kept going for a little bit but it was so violent and was clearly only coming from the front passenger side that I just drove it back home. It was so loud that it actually woke my son up and he thought I had crashed into something outside!

if/when you fix the problem, be sure to post back and let us know.

 

[Jameski]

damn...that sounds bad!

Did you try spinning the wheel while jacked up?

Yeah, the rotor on its own and the wheel spin just fine while jacked up! The only time it was hard to spin the rotor was actually just after I shot that video and it seemed like the pads were still partially engaged. I had spun the rotor alone and the whole wheel dozens of times before after each time I changed out a component for a new one while working on it over the past week and a half. So, I don’t get it! Thank you so much for helping!

 

[jawzs2]

When this first started, I was doing that. I kept going for a little bit but it was so violent and was clearly only coming from the front passenger side that I just drove it back home. It was so loud that it actually woke my son up and he thought I had crashed into something outside!

Hard to be 100% from the video, but sure sounds like pads to me. How is the fitment in the caliper? Maybe try swapping the pads from side to side and see if the noise moves?

 

[Jameski]

if/when you fix the problem, be sure to post back and let us know.

Yes, absolutely! I will post it right after I figure it out (I’m still optimistic!!)! I don’t want anyone else to have to deal with something like this!!

 

[Jameski]

Hard to be 100% from the video, but sure sounds like pads to me. How is the fitment in the caliper? Maybe try swapping the pads from side to side and see if the noise moves?

Oh, that’s a good idea! I can try that. I have used multiple new pads with the same result so I was starting to rule that out but that’s a good troubleshooting idea. Thank you!

 

[04fxdwgi]

On my old 04 F150, the duralast rotors never lasted past 18 months. If brakes were hot and water splashed on them, the rotors would warp. Finally got got the wagners at NAPA and that insanity stopped...

On my ram, I installed Power Stop drilled / vented all the way around 3 years ago and they work like the day I installed them.

One must strictly follow the break in procedure for them to last.

 

[04fxdwgi]

ABS has been known to mess things up occasionally, as will a bad brake caliper flex hose. The bad flex hose will make the caliper act as seized, open or closed, cause it will act like a check valve on the fluid.

 

[djarrett]

Sounds like the rubber flex line needs replaced. Sometimes when they fail it will act like a check valve letting pressure to the caliper but won't let it back off. It is possible the sudden slamming of brake pressure caused the failure.

 

[jws123]

I wouldcheck the brake hose like mentioned above to rule it out however being a 2018 it shouldnt be bad already.. I would put money on it being something wrong with the caliper. Also after you installed the new pads and rotors did you break them in? requires driving it and hitting the brakes hard on and off a few times.

 

[Yardbird]

Try this, it can't hurt. Something almost exactly like this happened to my wife's Ford Edge a very short while ago after a hard brake event.

Everything looked fine, but weird brake pedal and strange noises. After much research I found it was the ABS module valves stuck. Many people had replaced the module, bled and re-bled, ect, all to no or very limited success.

Then, I found a YouTube of a guy with the very same problem.

He took his Edge to a dirt road, got up to around 30 MPH, then slammed on the brakes hard enough to slip the tires, but not enough to completely lock them all up.

Within three of these maneuvers, the problem was gone and full functioning brakes were restored.

I drove the wife's car to a dirt road, did as stated above three times, and the pedal returned to full, brakes working perfectly, and no more screeching and pulsing of pedal.

It cost nothing to try, and it may fix your problem.

The unused valves in the ABS module were stuck after years of not being activated.