2011 RAM brake caliper issue again

I've been fighting this issue for several years now. I'm at a loss. 2011 Ram 1500, 5.7, 4 x 4. Front brake calipers start sticking, (not releasing), after a long drive. Brakes drag to a point that the front wheels are to hot to touch. Lots of brake dust. I've replaced the calipers and pads. I've checked the hoses. Brake fluid seems to flow freely. Master is not over filled.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one that has had this problem. Suggestions please.

1) Replace both front brake hoses. They deteriorate on the inside, I have no idea how that would show up on any kind of inspection short of removing them to look inside. At that point why would you put 13 year old hoses back on?

2) If its been an issue since the truck was new, I would shorten the adjustable rod between the master and the booster by about 1/4 turn. Its possible the adjustment does not provide enough clearance and the under hood heat is expanding things just enough the brakes are always dragging when everything gets hot. When you adjust it by shortening the rod length, you are effectively giving the brake pedal more free travel before it actuates the brakes. Understand, a little adjustment goes a long way, the adjusting bolt is a fine thread bolt, but a 1/4 turn is a lot of movement. You may also have to adjust the brake light switch after so the brake lights don't stay on, but usually the rod adjustment doesn't effect the brake light switch adjustment.

3) It is possible the brake light switch is out of adjustment and may not be applying the pedal to fully return to its designed position and is still holding pressure on the brake pedal. This one is a long reach, but I have seen it before.

Thanks for this.
I have ordered new hoses. After changing calipers and pads rotors, etc., process of elimination says hoses are the next step. I didn’t know the brake push rod was adjustable!! This will be my next step after replacing the hoses.
Thanks again

So again, that adjustable rod is between the brake booster and the master cylinder, you need to unbolt the master (usually no need to disconnect the lines), then pull the master forward about 2". you will see the rod from the booster that actually pushes the piston in the master cylinder. The adjustment is at the cylinder end of the rod.

The old ones (96 era) had a lock nut you loosened then turned the end into the shaft. The older rods were removable, I don't know if the newer ones are removable or not. The rod doesn't have to be removed to make the adjustment, but if it can be slid out, it makes it a bit easier. Again, a 1/4 turn is a lot of adjustment on that rod length, it doesn't seem like it would make any difference, but it does.

Silly question but are you lubing the slide area of the caliper?

As already stated, replace the brake hoses.

Although it was rare, we actually had bad ones in the Ram Assembly Plant.

Brake hoses become a one way check valve when they deteriorate internally.

Installed both front hoses two days ago. I’ve driven a bit. So far so good.

Congrats. Hope it stays that way.

I found on my Ram the front hoses have a metal clamp / bracket on the hoses

And with time the clamp rusts and squeezes the front hose closed


Had it happen on mine on both sides

It's a Mopar problem because they insist on putting phenolic pistons in the calipers which don't stay round over time and stick. Had the same issue on a Jeep awhile back. Put rebuilt calipers with metal pistons on and never had another problem.

Oh God, not that again. IIRC, they used phenolic pistons in the early '70's single piston disc brake calipers. Same result. Fix was to replace all the phenolic pistons with steel pistons. Apparently some lessons have to be learned over.

I just replaced both my calipers on my 2010 Ram R/T. They work fantastic now!

Mine has a plastic bracket to hold the brake sensor wire.
So far so good. Bin driving it for three days now and no hang ups. 🙏👍

Well it's back. After driving for a couple of weeks with no issues, the front brakes are dragging again. Could this be normal?? It sure is hurting my gas mileage. Both calipers and brake hoses have been replaced along with the brake pads. What about the ABS system? Could this be causing my problem?? Very strange that after all these years that this would develop. I bought the truck new and didn't have any issues until a couple years ago. I can't think of anything that I have done to make this happen. I have been a professional mechanic most of my adult life since my discharge from the service, so I'm not a "weekend warrior", so to speak. Maybe a truck mechanic could chime in?

That sucks!

The next time its dragging, maybe pop loose a bleeder screw and see if you get a big squirt, or just a little flow like you would expect when gravity bleeding. A big squirt would indicate there is still pressure on the system, and then at least you have a direction to chase.
If there is no big squirt, then the drag must be caused by the brake pads or the caliper.

I'm really starting to wonder what they are making the brake pads and shoe linings out of these days, and if that can be some of the brake issues that seem to be appearing in recent years.

I have all new brake shoes, springs, wheel cylinders, backing plates, and drums on my 49 truck (96 Dakota stuff). I get about 3,000 miles out of new brake shoes before I start getting a howling from them as the truck is about to stop. This it the 3rd set of shoes, the drums have been turned (yea, I had new drums turned) and those drums have been replaced. The shoes have come from different parts stores. With each replacement, I get about 3,000 miles before the noise starts again. After that, the more you drive, the worse it sounds. Reminds me of the howl some of the old big truck brakes used to make.

My issue appears to be weather related. This set of shoes does not make the noise every day, but maybe a time or two a couple times throughout the day. Hot and humid weather seems to make it worse (rarely happened through the winter). I have even pulled the master cylinder off and shortened the adjusting bolt for the booster, thinking maybe the extra under hood heat was causing the problem. That helped a little, for a while. I might pull the master and shorten the rod another 1/4 turn.

Here is something strange. I opened the master cylinder cap before taking the truck for a ride yesterday. It ran perfectly!!! No brake dragging at all. No heat build up, no nothing! I’m confused to say the least. What about drilling a small vent hole in the master cylinder cap?? I will check the brake pedal push rod adjustment.

Okay, first off, no adjustment on my brake pedal. Second, I removed the cap on my master cylinder. I does have a small channel to vent. It must have been blocked somehow. I did drill a small hole in the cap to insure there was a vent. Test ride went good. I hope this cures my issue. 🙏

That brake rod adjuster is between the booster and the master cylinder. That may be something the manufacturers eliminated as a cost cutting feature on the newer vehicles, I don't have anything newer then a 04 and I have not taken the master cylinder off the booster on that ride.

You may want to keep an eye on the drilled hole to be sure it doesn't start spitting out brake fluid into the engine compartment. The last I heard, brake fluid is still effective at removing paint from everything.

I completely understand the “paint Removal” with brake fluid. Bin there done that 😂😂😂 The hole I drilled is about 1/64”. Not big at all, but I will be monitoring for a while. The channel in the master cylinder cap is much larger than the hole I drilled.

Problem is back. 👎. The longer I drive and have to use the brakes, the worse it gets.
I’m beyond frustrated. As a mechanic for most of my adult life, I am perplexed.
I can’t believe no one else is having or have had an issue like mine.

I have no idea how the ABS systems work on the modern brakes, but when they first started using them they would release the brakes a bit to prevent a wheel lock up. Now that they have added a computer, and the system is tied to all 4 wheels, its not out of the realm of possibilities they have adapted the the brake system to apply more braking to wheels that the system has determined has more traction and can use more braking. If that is the case, as that system gets older, its possible the mechanical part of the system isn't functioning as well as it did when it was new. The older systems were just bypassed when they no longer functioned the way they were designed to. Can't really do that with the modern system without a major rework.

It would be interesting to hear from the experts how the modern ABS systems work and see if that system could be your problem. Then suggest ideas on where to begin to address the issue. If it is indeed an aging problem with the system, its going to become a bigger issue as this stuff gets older.

Its also likely many others have experienced the same issue you are having, but have been unable to cure the problem and have given up and are just using the truck knowing the problem is there. Some people probably have no idea dragging brakes are not normal. I believe many of the trucks of this era are no longer in good enough condition that many of the owners don't want to invest the money into new parts that isn't solving the problem. They have thrown enough money at it that has not fixed it, they are just going to deal with it the best they can.

It's really uncommon but I've run into a couple instances where the booster was failing and slightly engaging the brakes.

Start by cracking a bleeder to see if there's hydraulic pressure causing the drag. If so, it could be the booster. When the brakes drag again, loosen the master nuts a couple turns and see if the drag goes away. Note, the pedal will have extra travel so be careful.

Did you get rid of the calipers with the phenolic pistons yet? The failure mode you're describing is exactly what happens with the phenolic caliper pistons.

Both calipers have steel pistons and are free. If I open the bleeder, I can easily collapse the caliper pistons.
New hoses and pads.
If the booster was bad, all 4 brakes would drag or lock up.
I loosened the Master from booster and no difference in the drag
What's left? ABS?? What If I remove the ABS fuse? What would happen??
Is it possible that the brake pads can expand when hot? I've never heard of this, but at this point, I'd suspect anything.
Everything that I've researched on the internet, I have checked or replaced.
Buy the way, My truck just turned 35K miles. It is not beaten and kept clean and maintained like all my other vehicles. The truck is a 12 year old new truck. This issue started several years back and has progressively gotten worse. The longer I drive it the more likely the front brakes start to drag. Yesterday after a drive in stop and go traffic for about an hour, the front brakes were steaming hot and smelling. Today, I went out and the front brakes had no drag at all. Seems heat related to me!!!

could it be possible the calipers are binding on the slides or pins when heating up ?
know you have said opening the bleeders releases the offending caliper[s], but could they be cocking on the mounts slightly during application, then not releasing fully, building up heat, then getting worse every brake application ?
just throwing something out there, trying to help.
i have been told i'm full'a $heet before, so this may be another of these times............

No you aren’t full of it😂😂. And no the calipers aren’t cocked or binding. Thanks for the suggestion though

Seems like this should be easy to diagnose. When they are acting up jack a wheel off the ground and open the bleeder. If it frees up then its a hydraulic issue. If it still drags after opening the bleeder its a mechanical issue. This needs to be done to continue diagnostics.

Just did this this morning. Cracked the bleeders and fluid dripped out. No pressure. The calipers were both loose. Last night I couldn’t turn the tires because they were so tight. Over night, no drag at all.

You have to do this when the brakes are dragging. Even waiting 15 minutes gives you false information. The problem can go away that fast. If its a reoccurring heat issue, you have to open the bleeder screw while its hot and still dragging to see if there is still pressure there.

Get them hot and dragging, pull into the unoccupied end of a parking lot, stop and open a bleeder screw (caution, the fluid will be hot). If it squirts out and the wheel turns, there was still pressure applied.

You need to do this when its hot and acting up. Not sitting over night. No wonder you cant figure it out.

Tell me how you really feel. How about some good in put as to what is going on. It’s easy to sit in the bleachers and criticize.
I’ve given up to date info as to what I’m experiencing. Criticizing isn’t helping.

Well with your attitude I wont waste my time trying to help you. After all you do claim to be a mechanic so you should not need my help.

68LAR, Just for your information, NITROUSN is a service manager (or in some other position related with dealership tech service) at a Chrysler dealership. The simple fact that he spends his time assisting us here is extremely helpful. He deals with Chrysler techs every day, short blunt answers is what he has to do on a daily basis, he doesn't have time to exchange pleasantries. If you want answers, he has a pretty high success rate here.

At least the calipers on your RAM are on sealed lubricated slide pins. The front brakes on my 2001 Dakota are in a word, chit. The calipers "slide" on a cast rail on the caliper mount bracket. Through years of Wisconsin salty winter highways the calipers wear "notches" on the rails and after time the calipers never fully retract. Rubbing increases, calipers get warm/hot, slide rail builds up crap and wears and gets hot as well. At one time I took a 4" grinder to the slide rails and ground them down to get rid of the notches. But that leads to too much play in the area where the slide rails retain the calipers. Just a cheap crappy design, lousy brake feel, brakes dragging on when trying to stop on slippery surfaces. When I put this Dak chassis under my 56 Dodge build I'm replacing the entire front brakes with the setup for a 2003 Durango, which uses slide pins. Much better braking, much less caliper drag, much better braking feel.

On ABS systems, the braked wheel has to slip about 10% to 20% less than the actual vehicle speed before the ABS does anything. Two things required, the wheel has to have the brake applied, and the braked wheel has to turning slightly slower than the actual vehicle speed. If not both, the ABS does nothng. If the brake on that wheel circuit is not applied by in cab brake pedal pressure, and if the wheel is not slightly sliding already, ABS just monitors the wheel speed. Active vehicle stability is different. If the stability system senses a vehicle yaw thresehold out of the intended track, of if the traction control system senses a driven wheel spining faster than the actual vehicle speed, then the ABS/Stability control can actually apply brake pressure to that sensed wheel independent of the driver input on the brake pedal. The system may also reduce engine power independent of the driver input to get that wheel speed to match the actual vehicle speed. So its not likely the ABS/Stability system is applying a brake independent of the driver input to cause brake drag. Even if a wheel speed sensor was well out of adjustment, the ABS/Stability system would not function and recard a fault, possibly shut down and turn on the ABS light.