Hi. Just got a 99 Ranger last week. I learned to drive in an '85 with 33 in mudders and have wanted another one ever since my dad sold it. I don't want to do anything crazy to it. Okay I really do, but all my money goes into my mustang. Any way, when I got it the brakes were a little grabby and the guy I bought them from said it was because the rotors where warped. It wasn't bad, but I thought I could fix it pretty easy. I was wrong.

I turned the rotors and put new pads on and the grabbiness stopped, but now I get a strange noise when I brake, which I would normally associate with grabbing but there is no peddal pulsation, and no steering wheel pull. I have tried rebleading, put new calipers in (which hurts knowing the ones I took off weren't the problem) and even went as far as to get new rotors incase turning them didn't make them true. I am out of Ideas, and I really like doing my own maintenance when I can, and was fairly confident in my brake abilities until now. I don't know what else to try. I've changed all the front components now (right, or did I miss some?) I am pretty sure its not the rears because I tried slowing with the emergency brake and the noise didn't occur. Thanks

 

if youre getting a noise, but not feeling anything, it is most likely the rears. the parking brake uses a different mechanism inside the drum, so just because it didnt do it with the parking brake doesnt mean that the rear brakes are not the problem. it cant hurt to open the drums and take a look at whats going on inside. its possilbe the drums could be warped, the shoes worn or warped, the wheel cylinder is malfunctioning, or a spring is broken, missing, or worn out. it cant hurt to try.

of course if its not the rear, theres a good possibilty your ABS unit is malfunctioning, which would cause rapid grabbing, or you master cylinder or brake booster is not functioning correctly

 

I would check these next....

 

I'm for the rears. I had lots of problems with mine by not assembling them properly which were aggravated when I put new rotors on for some reason -- maybe the rears getting a different pressure, don't know.

Might help to have someone outside the truck listening as you stop to help pinpoint it.

Also, is it a 4x2 or 4x4? If 4x2, and you reused the old bearings, maybe you have a problem there.

 

You did use plenty of grease on the pins that hold the caliper on didnt you.
This 88 I just got had squeky brakes. I pulled the fron apart to find the pins that hold the caliper wer bone dry. The manual says to lube thes liberaly. That took care of my problem

 

Thanks, got them working. Guessing it was the bearings or the rotor. I changed the left rotor thinking it could still be warped even after being turned, and put new bearings in at the same time. The pins holding the rotors on were pretty dry when I changed them but I lubed them up reall good. Thanks for all the input, glad it wasn't any of those tricky (or more expensive) things.

 

ah i must have misread your post, i thought you had already changed out the rotors, i would have suggested that if i was paying attention