Brake wear?

Super_Dave wrote:
Apparently, my front brakes are in great shape but the rears are past gone. Is it normal for one axle to wear more than another? Compounding the problem was a bad caliper on one side, so everything on that side needed to be replaced.

The front brakes do the majority of the braking and the front brakes usually wear out first. However, if the vehicle was driven a pretty good distance with the parking brake applied, that could account for the rear wearing out first.

Depending on the age of the vehicle, I've also seen the flex brake hoses go bad and flake off inside the hose and restrict the flow of brake fluid which can cause the brakes to hang as there isn't enough pressure on the calipers to fully release the pads. Since there's a single hose to the rear axle, a bad hose can also cause premature wear and also cause overheating of the calipers and disks.

Super_Dave wrote:
Apparently, my front brakes are in great shape but the rears are past gone. Is it normal for one axle to wear more than another? Compounding the problem was a bad caliper on one side, so everything on that side needed to be replaced.

Trailer? If it's the trailer then I don't really see any reason for the axles to wear separately. I don't think there is any bias or balancing valving involved. I thought the disc brakes were pretty straightforward.

How many miles on the truck?
Have the fronts ever been done?
Rears will typically last longer, what was bad about the caliper?
Parking brake is a separate set of shoes inside the rear rotors.

Is there a proportioning valve on that truck that allows more braking as the load increases? If so and he does a lot of towing this may explain the excessive wear.

My dually wears the rear brakes faster too. And tires for the that matter. I think it's just a function of running heavy most of the time.