Metal popping sound when applying brakes (front brakes)
 

Hi all. Over the past 6-12 weeks, my truck has developed a very loud metal popping sound coming from the front of the vehicle when I apply the brakes. Hard application or soft, the popping is there. If I pull the E-brake, there is no such sound so I'm sure it's front end related.

I pulled the wheels and calipers today and everything looks ok. Plenty of pad life remaining. No glaring signs of problems. But I can tug on the calipers with the 2 mounting bolts TIGHT and there is noticeable movement with both calipers. So I'm assuming the bushings are shot, which the 2 mounting bolts go.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is the problem I described related to bushings being bad? Am I able to replace only the bushings, or am I looking at a whole new caliper?

It's Saturday night, and my part store is closed. A phone call Monday morning can problem help clear some of this up. But I thought I'd try here first since this is my go-to site for pretty much everything related to my Ram.

If that's the case, it's easy to pop in a new set of pins and bushings and see if they fix the problem. They should be easily available at any parts store.

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Hi all. Over the past 6-12 weeks, my truck has developed a very loud metal popping sound coming from the front of the vehicle when I apply the brakes. Hard application or soft, the popping is there. If I pull the E-brake, there is no such sound so I'm sure it's front end related.


I may of missed something, but if E brake applied, it seems the problem would be in the rear brakes where the popping is and goes away with E brake. It has been a long day though.

Jack up rearend put in gear see if popping is present

could be control arm bushings/lower shock mounts/track bar bushings or bolts....the brake caliper bushings when shot usually dont clunk, but when hitting potholes/railway tracks they will rattle, and applying the brakes slightly when riding over bumps will kill the noise, which will confirm the bushings have failed

x2......sounds like it is in the rear to me.

It's a floating caliper; it's supposed to move easily.

What I meant is that when I step on the brake pedal (all 4 brake pads engage), the popping sound is heard. But if I only step on the E-brake (rear pads only), there is no popping sound at all. This is how I know it's front end related. I can also hear the sound coming from the front end, too.

I'll call one of the other parts stores today about getting some new bushings. That will be a very easy and cheap place to start.

Isn't the E-brake a drum inside the rear rotors? Applying it and have no popping noise wouldn't neccessarily rule out pin/bushing wear on the rear calipers. I think i'd do all 4 corners instead of just the fronts.

Tapa daba do...

OK;;; jack up rear wheels, start engine put in gear, apply brakes , any popping or other noise, if not that should eliminate rear brakes.

Agreed. But I kinda thought the allowed movement would be primarily along the axis of the caliper attachment bolts, and not-so-much movement side-to-side. Or maybe I'm totally wrong here. But when I tug on the calipers, I can get movement in pretty much any directional axis.

Check the ball joints they will make a popping noise under braking conditions if worn out!

Thanks for the suggestion. But I just had the ball joints checked out about a month ago and they were all given a clean bill of health.

I pulled the front wheels and THOROUGHLY cleaned up all surfaces of the calipers and where they touch the brake pads. There was quite a bit of dirt and grease that was present which I didn't really notice until I started cleaning them. Upon reassembly, the noise is much reduced. I won't say it's gone completely but the improvement is obvious. I'll drive it for the next week or so and see what happens.

I searched for a very similar noise. Look close at the front sway bar end links.

Same problem
 

[QUOTE=Idaho Guy;3085053]Hi all. Over the past 6-12 weeks, my truck has developed a very loud metal popping sound coming from the front of the vehicle when I apply the brakes. Hard application or soft, the popping is there. If I pull the E-brake, there is no such sound so I'm sure it's front end related.

I pulled the wheels and calipers today and everything looks ok. Plenty of pad life remaining. No glaring signs of problems. But I can tug on the calipers with the 2 mounting bolts TIGHT and there is noticeable movement with both calipers. So I'm assuming the bushings are shot, which the 2 mounting bolts go.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is the problem I described related to bushings being bad? Am I able to replace only the bushings, or am I looking at a whole new caliper?

It's Saturday night, and my part store is closed. A phone call Monday morning can problem help clear some of this up. But I thought I'd try here first since this is my go-to site for pretty much everything related to my Ram.[/QUOTE

had the same issue only lots of raddling even while driving so I bought brake pad kit comes with the screamers and slider clips changed everything went away turned out it was just the slider that was warn out so the brake pads were raddling inside the caliper (loose)