Front caliper seizing

[2007Limited]

Today a bud and I took the boat to get new trailer tires. On the way to the shop the Expedition had 0 issues towing. On the way home, felt some vibrating that I figured. was a tire that needed balancing.

After dropping of the boat, I noticed my Expedition was pulling to the right and holding gears. After a minute of this it shifted, stopped pulling and was fine.

Once we stopped at the first traffic light, I noticed smoke from the front right tire. We pulled over and figured it was the caliper. We limped it to a parking spot and let it sit for about 20 minutes. After sitting all this time it was still hot enough to boil water, but the caliper was no longer sticking.

From what I'm reading online; seems like there are issues with the pins not being properly lubricated. I also found a thread on the brake lines collapsing .

Just wondering if anyone on here has had this issue. And if so what was fix and what it entails.


Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

[stamp11127]

Calipers may "seize" for a couple of reasons:
1) Guide pins are very dry and need caliper grease
2) Pistons **** in the bore and don't retract
3) Brake fluid is filthy and causes the pistons to stick (usual cause)
4) All of the above

Replace the caliper, clean and grease the guide pins, flush the brake fluid(bleed system). Also check the rotor to see if it is true.

I've never encountered a brake line that collapsed, they have always blown out for one reason or another.

 

[2007Limited]

Question for you Stamp... I was wondering if it could have been caused from the rear brakes not working properly while pulling the boat. I was thinking maybe the from rotors were doing all the work and the heat caused them to stick.

Thanks for the help

 

[2007Limited]

After all was said and done, the culprit was the pins needing caliper grease. When I took off the pads they still had plenty of meat on them, but smelt burnt. I went ahead and swapped them out with some new Motorcraft pads.

And thanks to Wahl954 for helping with the job.