andyr354

Dad just picked up a 12V 98 3500 and it has absolutely no front brakes. The rears work good and lock up on pavement and try to slow you down.

The ABS and BRAKE lights are illuminated on the dash.

My first guess is a bad caliper that let air in the system up front or something similar. It looks like this thing only has one resivour for all brakes.

Just wondering if there was some other common problem in this year I should look into as well. I am used to working on 1st gens.

Thanks in advance.

clutch1

Have you tried bleeding the brakes? The rear brakes should not lockup since it has ABS. Does it have a fuse for the abs? Just guessing, good luck.

infidel

It only has one reservoir but it's divided in to a front and rear section.
I would suck out the old brake fluid, fill with new then bleed well.

GearHd6

Are you positive its got no front brakes or are the rears just locking up? My 96 did that, all the lights on the dash were on also. I unplugged the battery for a few minutes so the computer reset and then hooked it back up and all was well. Just something to try first.

andyr354

It doesn't stop to quick lol. Drive on gravel with it most of the time, hit the brakes hard and it will just drag the rears. Stops better if there is a 2K lbs bale on the hydrabed.

I haven't messed with it yet, was going ot mess with it tomorrow afternoon. Bleeding he fronts was first on my list, just wanted to know if there might be something with ABS that might cause this. Have never worked much on ABS, actually would like to disable it for the use this truck is gong to get. Winter farm use feeding cattle in lots of mud and snow always seems to mess these sensors up.

andyr354

Dig this back up.

I bled the fronts last night, no air and no change in function. I can feel the calipers putting some pressure on the pads when the pedal is pushed. It is not nearly enough though. The resivour was not low on either side, on these is the front or the rear part of the res the front brakes?

Following the routing of the brake lines it appears this truck has rear ABS only, the front lines only route through the prop valve.

So what should I gamble on being the problem next.. MC or prop valve?

SR_Crewchief

I've got continuing issues with the front brakes in my 99 2500. There is a monster TSB out for these brakes. What I keep running into is what appears to be contamination of the brake fluid fowling the calipers. There have been some issues with the flex lines deteriating, but that isn't the only cause.

hope you have better luck than I've had at a perminant solution.