Okay so im driving my "new to me" truck and i hear this rattling sound when going over rough pavement... so i jack the front end up off the ground and start banging and hitting stuff till i hear the rattle... guess what? its the actual pads inside the calipers!! they rattle. i figured this out by hitting the tire with a hammer and then holdn the pad still and thats the rattle.. is that normal? i aint never heard that on my old truck... thanks


jason

 

You can bend the tabs on the pads in some to take away the rattle.

 

hmmm never thought of that.. i still need to pull the front brakes to check them anyways, but i just cant seem to firure out why they had enough space between the caliper and rotor to rattle... its like the piston is sucking in more than it should or something...

jason

 

also, check the calipers where they ride in the calipers bracket on the top. Slot of times the wear and also the bracket wears allowing the calipers to bounce around a little. I've had to weld on the brackets then grind them down to make a nice fit again.

 

The little 'leaf-spring' thing that holds tension on the caliper was forever losing it's tension and letting the caliper float around more than it should on my '93. The caliper would make a rattling sound like you're describing until I took that leaf spring out and either replaced it or re-bent it. I attributed it to hitting the brakes hard while moving in reverse as it seemed that they would start to rattle after I had been plowing snow in parking lots.

chaikwa.

 

Sweet, thanks felllas.... glad it wasnt something expensive


jason