I have had some fun in my truck the last few days. on Friday, I was driving my '99 ram 2500 to my new house so I could start moving some stuff around. I noticed it was taking quite a bit longer to stop than normal. When I got there, I looked at the rotor, and it had some marks that were indicative of being down to the steel backing pad on the drivers side.
I popped off the wheel, and sure enough, I was down to the backing pad on the inboard side. That sucked, I only got about 2000 miles out of the pads. I was expecting about 10k. In case you didn't know, I put slotted and drilled rotors along with some aggressive racing pads on my truck because I want to be able to stop when I press the brake pedal. I blued the stock type rotors previously, which is why I went this route.
So I was down to the backing pad on the drivers side and passenger side on the inboard pads. I replaced them with some ceramic ones since I needed to use the truck that day. I didn't want to buy replacement racing pads to be shipped out. It only took me about 3 hours from the time I made the discovery that I had no pad until I was up and running again after testing them out, not bad at all IMHO.
So today, I was just minding my own business, driving my ram to work so that I could pick up about 5600 lbs of flooring on the way home today. Usually I drive my FJ, but not today. Now normally, when you press the brake, the truck slows down. Today? Not so much. The brake pedal went to the floor as I approached an intersection at about 45.
I was actually pleasantly surprised at my reaction time, and how my truck reacted. I would bet it took me less than a second to decide to jam the parking brake to the floor, and execute it. I locked both rear wheels, and I was in it for the duration at that point. I couldn't reach the release without taking off my seat belt (stupid design) so the wheels were going to be locked until I stopped.
I ended up stopped with about 1/2 my truck past the white line, but I wasn't in the intersection cross traffic. Amazingly, despite the traffic, I didn't hit anyone and was still mostly in my own lane. If the road was crowned any more, I would have ended up farther into the lane to the right. But the road was almost perfectly level.
When the light changed green, I moved my truck into the gas station using the parking brake. I found that the steel brake line to the rear had rusted and burst. Now, what is also annoying, is that even if it burst, the front brakes should still have worked. That is why there are 2 separate hydraulic circuits. The only place they are combined is in the master cylinder. Therefore, I think I toasted the seals in the master cylinder as well. Just what I needed.
But I didn't wreck my truck, and I didn't run over any smaller cars. I'll call it a win. Well, until I figure out how much it is going to cost to fix.
I popped off the wheel, and sure enough, I was down to the backing pad on the inboard side. That sucked, I only got about 2000 miles out of the pads. I was expecting about 10k. In case you didn't know, I put slotted and drilled rotors along with some aggressive racing pads on my truck because I want to be able to stop when I press the brake pedal. I blued the stock type rotors previously, which is why I went this route.
So I was down to the backing pad on the drivers side and passenger side on the inboard pads. I replaced them with some ceramic ones since I needed to use the truck that day. I didn't want to buy replacement racing pads to be shipped out. It only took me about 3 hours from the time I made the discovery that I had no pad until I was up and running again after testing them out, not bad at all IMHO.
So today, I was just minding my own business, driving my ram to work so that I could pick up about 5600 lbs of flooring on the way home today. Usually I drive my FJ, but not today. Now normally, when you press the brake, the truck slows down. Today? Not so much. The brake pedal went to the floor as I approached an intersection at about 45.
I was actually pleasantly surprised at my reaction time, and how my truck reacted. I would bet it took me less than a second to decide to jam the parking brake to the floor, and execute it. I locked both rear wheels, and I was in it for the duration at that point. I couldn't reach the release without taking off my seat belt (stupid design) so the wheels were going to be locked until I stopped.
I ended up stopped with about 1/2 my truck past the white line, but I wasn't in the intersection cross traffic. Amazingly, despite the traffic, I didn't hit anyone and was still mostly in my own lane. If the road was crowned any more, I would have ended up farther into the lane to the right. But the road was almost perfectly level.
When the light changed green, I moved my truck into the gas station using the parking brake. I found that the steel brake line to the rear had rusted and burst. Now, what is also annoying, is that even if it burst, the front brakes should still have worked. That is why there are 2 separate hydraulic circuits. The only place they are combined is in the master cylinder. Therefore, I think I toasted the seals in the master cylinder as well. Just what I needed.
But I didn't wreck my truck, and I didn't run over any smaller cars. I'll call it a win. Well, until I figure out how much it is going to cost to fix.
Last edited: