(Orignal message - Mopar1973Man's Cummins Site • View topic - Brake Parts Needed!)

Hey Gang...

Once again I'm looking for some help with my truck. Lately my rear brakes have been binding up and dragging. I clean the rails the shoes ride on and the shoes themselves. Externally mostly lost of mud and dirt. Well I popped out a piston to check the bores for problems and found that sand and very small stones under the weather boots. (I can't figure out how they got there...)

But found that the sand and debris has worked its way under the O-rings in the calipers. Now my problem is that everything is fine except the O-rings which has taken some damage. (Deformed, nicks, etc.)

Now I went to the local NAPA store and they don't list any rebuild kits for the 2002 Dodge Cummins at all... Only $120 buck per caliper (new assemblies!) I would need 2 of them...

But the very same day I was ordering rebuild kits for a 1961 GMC 4000 Firetruck and they had 2 on stock for a total of $45 bucks...

Why is it that you can get parts for a 47 year old firetruck but can't buy a simple rebuild kit for a 6 year old truck???

Well enough ranting... I need to know if there is a alternate part number or something... I just don't see $120 per axle... It only a cheap $5 to $10 buck seal...



Take notice to the chunk missing on the right...

 

eBay Motors: 00-03 Dodge RAM Truck 2500 3500 Front Brake Calipers x2 (item 260222393479 end time Mar-27-08 19:35:02 PDT)

 

That's the problem there... I don't need the entire caliper...

Ahhh!!! But I just got off the phone with my local parts guy in Council, ID he got in contact with Hometown Motors (Dodge Dealer) in Weiser, ID and found seals and 1 piston (Brand New!)

$22.20 Piston
$1.45 Seals

That is much cheaper than $120 bucks per caliper...

 

Does the 01 have the same calipers on the back as it has on the front?
having a hard time finding rear brake parts on Rockauto...maybe it was that crack I smoked earlyer...LOL

 

the auction was for 2 calipers.

good to see you found what u needed

 

Dealer only item...

Yeah after I got hooked up with a good friend down at the NAPA shop and he pulled a few strings with the dealer I show be able to pick up the parts on Wednesday... Lets hope they are the right ones...

 

Well I got it fixed up right and gain a butt load of MPG's back...

What I found out was the pistons in the rear calipers where binding up with old brake fluid turning solid. So After taking the caliper apart I found that all 4 seals where completely damaged from the uneven surface on the pistons. So I got 4 new seals from the Dodge Dealer and 1 new piston. The one piston was froze up so bad that I could put 120 PSI of pressure on it and it wouldn't move. So I tired one last time and... BANG! It shot out of the caliper and hit the opposing side and dented the top of the piston and cracked it. (OPPS!). But what I found out was the brand new piston falls right in place (completely to the bottom of the bore without seals in!). So I took the remaining 3 pistons and sanded them. As I sanded them I can see the harden brake fluid build up on the piston. I took my time and sanded lightly and checked often to not mess up the size of the piston (too small). One I was done doing that I installed the new seals and reassembled the caliper as normal.



As you can see I took my time and got the first piston to seat completely to the bottom without push on the piston and with the seals out too. After I was done the brakes felt differently. But much better. My MPG have increase majorly. My loss of MPG for this winter is 2 fold. The winterized fuel and the start of my rear caliper dragging on the rotor. Which this was masked by the extremely cold weather (-20*F) that kept the rotors cool. But now on my last trip to Council, ID to get parts for a automotive job I've got I was shocked by the ScanGauge II...



So for all of you that are getting poor MPG's I suggest you check your brakes and driveline for drag. Also it help a lot to drive a bit slower like 55-60 MPH.

 

Grrrr,maybe I need to swap the drum brakes rear axle into my 01 then...

 

Usually when we do a service and find calipers in bad shape we replace them, It not only makes it easier, but relates to less hastle! Not to say that you went the wrong dirrection, in fact I agree when it comes to a personal vehicle i would rebuild them!

Only reason I posted in this thread is a few weeks back I had a tech blowing pistons out of a caliper and about take me out! I can relate!

Also , If you have an Advance auto parts the rebuild kit is around $12.00 Commercial price, comes with all the pistons and seals

 

Here is what I paided for the part from the Dodge dealer...

(4) Seals - $1.49
(1) Piston - $20.69

New Caliper from NAPA was $120 per caliper... UGH!

So I did right and spent very little money and still got the problem fixed...

I'm 180 miles from Boise, ID which has a Advance Atuo somewhere... I'll I got is a NAPA auto parts store that is 50 miles away...

But still in all I got everything rebuilt and only spent $26.69 roughly for parts and no more problems with binding brakes... I figure that pretty darn cheap in my book...