Brake clunk after brake job
 

OK. It seems that only I can make an easy job difficult. I did the brakes on my 05 Ram. New pads from the dealer (the good ones) and had the rotors turned. Now everytime I hit the brakes, there is a clunk,clunk,clunk... until the truck comes to a stop. I have pulled the truck back apart and I cannot figure out what I might have done!!! Can anyone help??? Thanks in advance.

Aaron

I assume that when you looked at everything you made sure that everything was tight and nothing was able to move abnormally. There is no marks on the wheels, rotors, calipers and mounting bracket.

If all that checks out, look at the rotors themself. Look for the resurfaceing line in the rotor, is it smooth with very very small line or is it kinda rough with a large easy to follow line that you may be able to catch a fingernail on if you drag it across.

Depending on who trued the rotors and what equipment they used they may have allowed the bit to vibrate (chatter) and that will cause brake noise due to the roughness of the rotors everytime you apply the brakes. Many shops have the adapters to mount the rotors to the lathe but some adapters do not hold the rotor correctly to resurface without chattering.

Hope this helps

I had it back apart and could see nothing. The rotors seem smooth, no chatter marks. I took the truck out and stopped FAST from about 60 mph a couple of times, and it seems to have made the clunk go away. I will find out later when I drive it to my softball game. I will post again later. Thanks for the help.

Aaron

Somewhat typical on a "fresh" brake job. 2 things......1) the rotors being recently turned makes the brakes very aggressive. Lots of surface area. Each little groove cuts into the pad and alows for even more surface area.These grooves get filled in , so to say, with brake pad material after the pads have been seated in. 2) New brake pads are not yet "cured" . The pads have to reach some fairly high temps in order to cure the friction material. Most pads come with directions that say to make 30 moderate stops from 30 to 50 mph , allowing for the brakes to cool in between stops, in order to cure the pads. This also allows for the material transfer to the rotors during this period. It is important to do this in order to have surfaces that are relatively equal ( pads/rotors) . If not ( like if the rotors were not turned ) uneven braking surfaces lead to other issues like warped rotors or accelerated brake wear. For instance....the brake pad material from the last brakes may have been "harder" than what you just recently installed. If that were the case, you could have accelerated brake pad wear beacause the rotor surface is "harder" than the pad surface. I have done it both ways on my own vehicles and not had a problem, but I try to machine the rotors if at all possible. Hope that answers your question. Took long enough! LOL

Update on Had to stick arm in exhaust pipe to shutdown
 

7 weeks later TRUCK IS RUNNING!! Knocking whitesmoking running backwards YES BACKWARDS!- All a result of 3 injectors going bad at 167k miles. #4-5-6 inj. dumping feul into turbo an muffler causing knock an smoke.Then when motor kicked back pulled feul from muffler [enough it was dripping out ex. pipe clamp]and ranaway.Dodge dealer charged 265$ to tell me a 2700$ inj. pump would need to be installed before they can go any farther.Note :Robert Bousch Corp. can test pump for 275$;inj. for 30$ each;both refundable on purchase. The best way to tell which injecters are malfunctioning is to unbolt an pull exh. manifold away from block-crank engine while watching all 6 exh.ports-in my case #4-5-6 exh. ports were heavy whitesmoking-thick black sludge[feul mixed w\carbon] spewing out. Sent injs. to Bousch all bad. Replaced all3 @393$ each incl.tx [Dodge wants 880$ +tx.each] Shut Down 4 lanes of traffic for 2-3 miles with the thickest lingering SMOKE Ive ever seen.All work done in driveway with basic tools and expert advise.THANX TO ALL WHO SHARED INFO!! Hope this helps many.PS Never ever prime feulfilter canister after running out of feul!!! This is the only way debris can enter pump or injecters.Simply open lid[loosen] an let lift pump fill it-then tighten an crank.

After driving yesterday and today, and doing some HARD 60 to 0 stops, the brakes seem to be getting better. I think alot of it was when the rotors were turned, they didn't get a smooth enough surface. Thanks for your help!!!

Aaron