Ok so I recently bought my truck about 3 weeks ago, and It had a brake problem when I bought it. The truck would shake very badly when I would hit the brakes at highway speeds, and would pulse at lower speeds all the way to a stop, and It still does.

I replaced the rear Drums and shoes, and got a new brake kit for it and the whole nine yards for the rear brakes, and Adjusted them since.

I just got my truck back from the Alignment shop and they installed new front rotors and new brake pads on the front, Along with new shocks, and I had them install new ball joints, and tie rods and bushing in the front, and as you can Imagine it cost me a Pretty Penny to get all that work done.

I got my Truck back and I noticed that the Brake Rattle is still there, I thought it would be a whole world better but nope it's still there. So I took the front Tires off and completed the Brake Pad Mod by taping the Brake pad with a hammer and I fitted them tight to the calipers. And it doesn't rattle as bad now, but still bad enough to cause possible damage to the front end.

I talked to the guys at the alignment shop and they couldn't figure it out either why it would still be shaking and rattling like it is...

Im worried that all that expensive work I had Done to my Truck will go to waste if I don't get this problem under control.

Please Help. Thanks. Oh And its a 93 d250 Auto.

 

did the anti-rattle clips get installed on the caliper hold down backets?

 

Well if they are a reputable shop they should figure it out and fix it, and stand behind their work and their parts.

With everything you have done and replaced I too would be thinking that there should be no problems. The trucks not doing the shimmy/shake any more is it?

 

Hi Jimbo and ThrashingCows thanks for your concern.

Yeah the anti-rattle clips were there when I looked at them this morning when I completed the brake pad Mod. Your talking about the little clips that are kind of like a retainer to keep the caliper brakets in place, correct. yeah they were there, Im begining to wonder just how long this truck has had this problem and also about installing the rear disk brake conversion in the Rear because of it and to see if it will help.

Yeah it's still shaking on me, steering wheel included.

 

And while im at it I might as well ask what you fine gentlemen think I should do about the Rust I discovered in my Spicer 70 rear Axle, apparently the rear wheel spacer allowed some water to leak in to the axle and caused some major rust. i mean it looked bad, I don't know if I should try to clean it out or not or what... and suggestions?

 

I would try to clean it out real good and then run it and change the fluid a couple of times, these things are incredibly tough...Mark

 

Thanks Mark, that's good to hear I was worried I would have to swap it out, and also wasn't really wanting to complete a rear disc conversion on a bad axle.

So I guess I'll just have to clean it out and go from there...

I did some searching on this forum and I found a post where a guy said to another member of DTR with a similar brake problem like mine, that it could be that the Calipers on the front are seized. I just wasn't sure what to think because I mean I did just take it to the shop, and they should have tested for bad calipers, or should have just been able to tell from working on so many of them...

Please Excuse me for Complaining/Ranting in the following text, but I had to let it out.

I think they are just more worried about getting my vehical out of there shop as quick as they can, make that money and move to the next, I think that is the major Malfunction, No real search for problems, they just assumed everything was fine with a simple Rotor and Pad exchange, and that is starting to **** me off. And I may have already warped the new rotor they put on because of a faulty Caliper, They better eat it is all im gonna say about it.

That and they also messed up my all original beauty rings when they pryed against the to get the hub cap off, Im not all that concerned about that though they said they would find me some replacements, but I can only shake my head at why someone who does this type of work for a living would take a pry bar and pry against a smooth chrome surface and think nothing of it, I mean W T F.

But I contacted them twice today and they want to work it out with me and figure out what else it needs done, so I guess I'll just be playing the waiting game until I can take it in on Thursday, and with my luck will probably have to wait til monday to get it back.

 

That sucks, but maybe they'll make it right. One thing about the rear end is that what I said applies to non limited slip types. the clutch discs in those change all the rules. I doubt that the new rotors are warped. The calipers are pretty easy to diagnose. they either leak or are seized in the case. If they are seized that is easy to tell by jacking up the front, if they are seized applied you cannot turn the wheel, if they are seized not applied, then they will not stop when the brakes are applied. Also, make sure the front brake lines are replaced, because these can delaminate inside and prevent the return of the plunger to the rest position inside the caliper...Mark

 

How are your tires? Ball joints? Tie rod ends? A lot of stuff can shudder under braking. My truck had a terrible wobble to it, only when braking, right before I bought some new tires.

Just a thought.

 

I thought it might be the calipers because when I took them off the rotor the piston didn't have any pressure on it , on other vehicals I've worked on once I took the caliper off, I would have to compress the piston back down before I could slide the caliper assembly back on when replacing the brake pads.

I called them and asked why wait til thursday, I said Im an un-satisfied customer and I should not be put behind any new customers until my truck is running and stoping like it should. And they said one of there mechanics is sick, so I understood.

They told me that since I was in there messing with the calipers that they were going to have to go in and make sure I didn't mess anything up, basically all I did was remove the two front tires to investigate on their work to try and diagnose what else could be causing the rattling problem. I hope they don't try to hold it against me and say I did something.

Im good ******* Dude with an old truck, If they don't want to take the time to diagnose problems and deal with the headache of an old truck, then they should have turned down the work, not give me a bunch of **** for bringing it in and giving me the run around on **** I probably could have done myself.(except computerized alignment of course).

 

It's all good though I guess for now, I think I have their attention at that shop over there. I heard some really good reviews about this shop I took my truck in to so hopefully I can stay on their good side and they can get off my bad side and we can figure this out together and they can cut me a break on some of the work and stuff that they are possibly going to try to charge me extra for, And if your wondering why Im upset its because I just spent $1700 at there shop and I aint a satisfied customer yet.

Hope I can get if figured out soon because I have my 366 spring, and fuel pump gasket set ready to install, and I just ordered a dennyT stage II fuel pin last night.

I've had the truck for 3 weeks now and I've spent over 2.5k on her and still haven't had the chance to have my way with her yet, if you know what I mean, so it's easy to see where my troubles are spawning from.

 

I just pulled the brakes drums off my Dana 60 and the axles were covered in rust and grit. I just changed the fluid in the rear, no miles yet other then up and down the street. So now I have to try and clean those axle tubes, which look like someone threw a hand full of sand and debris down them, and then flush the case. Fun, fun, fun....

We had to do the tranny in the wife's 02 Chrysler last year, that's not a cheap job...$3000!!

Anyway picked the car up and didn't even get home, about 5 miles, and I knew something was seriously wrong. Went back, turned out the "new" converter grenaded and wiped out the new tranny. Back in for a second tranny, had a few issues with the new one, solenoid pack etc....but at the end of the day the shop didn't charge me a single dime more then the initial cost.

Hope your shop stands behind there work.

 

It's a place here in Oklahoma City called Merles Frame & Alignment, they are touted as the best alignment shop in OKC, I read a lot of good reviews on the forums saying that many of thier customers are people that own Classic/HotRod types of vehicals and will only allow this shop to work on their shocks/wheels/alignments. But it's not just a custom shop they do brakes, tires,wheels, ect.

So I heard Great Reviews and I actually don't know what to say about them yet, because they haven't done me wrong just yet I don't think, although some of their hourly work charges that they charged me for seems like it could have been fixed at the same time as the other stuff that they repaired was done.

I just don't know though.

I wanted to take my truck to a shop that knows what they are doing and I figured I would pay a little extra for quality work , but it still seemed high to me.

 

this is all part of the reason why i like to work on my own stuff if i do my homework on how to and i feel confident in my abilities to do so. it really is hard to find a good shop/mechanic that you can trust to do outstanding work AND stand behind it if something were to go wrong. also, i save tons of money on labor. after rebuilding my front suspension, steering linkages and all, i had a grand total of about $1700 in parts alone. at least doing it on my own, i was able to take my time and address any other problems that arose. most shops would see something that had nothing to do with parts they were replacing and wouldn't bring it to your attention. if i had to guess, i probably saved at least $600 in labor and i was probably more thorough than most shops are/would be.

 

If they don't work things out with me and things turn for the worst, what's the best way for me to get around to teaching them a lesson? Small Claims court or something?