After our holiday weekend trip camping, upon exiting the interstate, I applied the brakes and heard a loud low-pitched drone coming from the rear of my 2011 Ram 2500. The sound would continue for a couple feet after releasing the brake peddle. After entering the storage yard to drop off the trailer, I had my son get behind the wheel so I could pin point the location of the sound. It was definitely coming from the passenger rear. The wheel and hub cap were considerably warmer than the other side. When the brakes cooled the noise was gone.I have tried to reproduce the sound during the week. If I take it on the interstate for a few miles and then exit, I can get the noise to come back, but not as loud as when the camper is hooked up. A couple days driving to work this week, the noise has been non-existent.I am suspecting a seized brake caliper. The other day after the truck was parked for about 45 minutes, I went out and touched the front surface of the rotor and it was still hot to the touch, the other side was air temperature.The truck is going into the dealer Tuesday for the tie rod recall and for this brake? issue. My concern is that if the tech drives it and cannot reproduce the noise, I will leave the dealership with the same problem. Is there a way a tech can diagnose caliper? by sight alone? I did crawl under there and noticed that the rubber dust seals around the caliper pistons are distorted and not the same shape as the other side.Anyone ever run into this? Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

If the caliper is hanging up all you need to do is jack up the rear end put the truck on jack stands then rotate each side (truck in neutral). The drag for force it takes to rotate should be the same on both sides. I would also look at the parking brake and make sure the cable going to the brake shoes is free. There should be a little slack between the cable and the arm.Don

If there is distortion they will probably replace the caliper.

I had the same thing on my 2011 only on the drivers side. The service writer knew exactly what it was when I explained it. The caliper was hanging up and was replaced. Now for my tie rod ends.

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:If the caliper is hanging up all you need to do is jack up the rear end put the truck on jack stands then rotate each side (truck in neutral). The drag for force it takes to rotate should be the same on both sides. I would also look at the parking brake and make sure the cable going to the brake shoes is free. There should be a little slack between the cable and the arm.DonMaybe, but this would not necessarily be true for an intermittent sticking of the caliper like I had on my 90 Dodge Ram 150. If it is intermittent, you will have to get lucky and hope it happens when the tech is driving it.

Fast Mopar wrote:Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:If the caliper is hanging up all you need to do is jack up the rear end put the truck on jack stands then rotate each side (truck in neutral). The drag for force it takes to rotate should be the same on both sides. I would also look at the parking brake and make sure the cable going to the brake shoes is free. There should be a little slack between the cable and the arm.DonMaybe, but this would not necessarily be true for an intermittent sticking of the caliper like I had on my 90 Dodge Ram 150. If it is intermittent, you will have to get lucky and hope it happens when the tech is driving it.Fast Mopar,Your reply is what exactly happened to me today at the dealership. Brought it in for the recall, which was taken care of, and the suspected brake issue.Got a call back from the service writer saying the tech could not reproduce the sound. They inspected the differential and all braking components and said all was good. Go figure, just my luck.I will say the past couple days before the dealer visit, I drove it all around, expressway, surface streets, etc. to get the brakes good and hot but could not reproduce the noise. I'm not angry with the dealership, how can they fix something they can't hear. I wish I would of thought to take a video with my phone to show the service dept. I guess I will just have to drive it and see what happens. I've got the extended warranty with plenty of time and miles left, just hope it doesn't leave me stranded somewhere.

2011 Ram brake issue? | Good Sam Community

larry_kruzan
Explorer
Jul 26, 2014
If you have one of those cool Harbor Freight IR thermometers ($25 on sale) that EVERY RVer should own, check your caliber & rotor temps and take real numbers in with you, in addition to "sounds" that very often can't be reproduced. If they plug the temps into their computer, it will tell them to change the caliber. Give them the answers they need to find the problem we all know exists.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Jul 26, 2014
Cummins12V98 wrote:
As i said before lubricate all mating parts with silicone grease and I will bet your problem will go away. My Dually will do it occasionally depending on the weather conditions.

Sounds like I was sorta right!

Sounds like I should take my own advice and lube my calipers!
Perrysburg_Dodg
Explorer
Jul 26, 2014
Well that good to hear, would have been nice if they had found it the first time it was in. But now you have all new rear brakes and it didn't cost you anything. Have to say that sure sounded like the egg brake shoes to me.

Don
HRcampers
Explorer
Jul 26, 2014
Well, mystery solved. Got a call from the service writer today.

The "caliper guide pins" were completely corroded and "frozen" on the passenger rear brake caliper.

The opposite side was "sticky" and on it's way to being like the passenger side.

So, new calipers, rotors and pads for both sides. I am relieved. Have to believe that driving in wet, road salt covered roads every other day this past horrible winter may have had a hand in this.

Should be done Monday afternoon. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions!
HRcampers
Explorer
Jul 25, 2014
Well, truck is at the dealer in Richmond. Very nice people there.

I pulled into the service lane which was about 200 ft long and I got the truck to make the noise the entire length. Needless to say, I was able to capture everyone's attention, especially the service writer who also has a copy of the video.

I will report back when I hear something which may not be until the beginning of next week. They are busy and service writer informed me prior to bringing the truck in that it may be sitting until Monday. No problem by me, I have Max Care and drove home a nice Dodge Avenger.

Thank you again Don, for helping me out today. I appreciate it, and thanks for getting the video up on line for me.

Everyone have a great weekend!
DirtyOil
Explorer
Jul 24, 2014
everyone thinks it is the emergency brake.

X2 definitely! (parking brake)
Perrysburg_Dodg
Explorer
Jul 24, 2014
link to video of his truck

To me )and the service manager at my dealership + 3 techs) everyone thinks it is the emergency brake. My truck made the very same sound when I forget to disengage them.

Don

BTW HRcampers to shear the video I had to download it to my computer (only for speed reasons) then upload the video to my photo bucket account then link it to this thread.
Dave_H_M
Explorer II
Jul 18, 2014
You have determined early on what wheel is the problem. Why not concentrate on that and give them all the symptoms of just the problem wheel.

If they take an impact wrench and yank the tire off, my thought is that the problem should smack them in the face.

Just a thought.

BTW, I don't recall, are you taking it to the stealer you bought it from?
Perrysburg_Dodg
Explorer
Jul 18, 2014
Drive it around long enough to get it to act up and call the dealership and ask them to have someone ready to go for a ride with you. That would be the easiest thing to do wouldn't it?

BTW the dealership can bill for an extended diagnostic time if needed.

Don
HRcampers
Explorer
Jul 18, 2014
jwoods61us wrote:
Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
"could not duplicate customer complaint" most time that is a sign of a lazy tech.

Don

But it can also be the consequence of an over worked tech. When you are being paid by the flat rate hour, you don't have time to spend 20 mins trying to get a vehicle to replicate a sound. If it is a real problem, it will show itself in due time.

Just keep an eye on it and if it starts happening regularly then take it to the shop, and the tech will be able to more easily diagnose the problem.

Thanks for your advice everyone. I think I will go in the direction of this reply. It took approx. 20 minutes of highway driving and about 15 minutes of city stop and go to get the the truck to make the noise and take the video, time, I'm sure, a tech will not/cannot afford to take to find noise issues.

I wish I could post the video to show all of you, but my phone will not let me "share" in any format because the file is too large.

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