RE: {Chrysler 300} Dodge truck? big heads up for you

["Henry Schleimer" <henry.schleimer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have had two front disc brake drag instances.  One on my 78 Valiant with an old hose that eventually swelled up inside with no outside indication and on my wife's 65 Mustang that had rusty pistons due to previous owner's neglect.  Easy to diagnose by cracking open the bleeder to see where the blockage is.

What I learned at an early age is there are good mechanics, bad mechanics and crooks.  Can't tell whether your initial mechanic was either bad or a crook.  As a child I remember half way through a holiday trip when the 67 Valiant boiled, my father having to leave it at a highway mechanic who insisted the block had to be checked for cracks!  Surprise, surprise after the mechanic making a windfall and us having to continue our holiday with a hire car, there were no cracks.

After my father died, my mother had the Val serviced by a mechanic in our suburb who always did a good job.  When he moved to another service station further away she continued to go to him.  After moving again, she continued to go to him.  I'll never forget that.

After having my own experiences with bad mechanics with my first car, (including ones that could have killed me) I decided to learn all about this voodoo myself (Mopar in particular).  Probably why I know the "trick" about the bleeder screw.

Anyway, find a mechanic you can trust or learn yourself.  You could save more than just money!

By the way, stainless or copper are no good for brake lines.  They don't pass SAE standards because they fatigue crack. Copper nickel is the only acceptable alternative to steel lines.  I used it to make up all new lines for my 300C.

Henry

-----Original Message-----
From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Grady
Sent: Thursday, 16 May 2024 5:20 AM
To: chrysler 300 club
Cc: Jim Marino
Subject: {Chrysler 300} Dodge truck? big heads up for you

I had a lot of trouble with my 2012 Dodge truck , 4 wd Hemi shortbed  brakes a  few years back ,one  front disc started dragging smoke and all the “on the main highway hassle “ on the way to pick up 300 windshield 300 miles away , so counts as 300 related ( right?) . As in really bad . So found good Mopar guy in brake shop in Harrisburg Pa , I saw a ~ 2005 c300 customized outside , just closing 6 pm saturday night . I was in panic — cant drive the truck Great Mopar guy helped me , new calipers and pads . He stayed after closing . 

Continued , 75 miles more next day after unplanned overnight , same thing same side . Sprayed with water at firehouse  started using E brake on highway . All the way back to Boston — not fun . Made it without touching brake pedal .
Changed it again , at home , another new high end caliper , was seemingly ok . Very bothered by what is going on , ( will it happen again?) never really found out anything satisfying about the why . Still like that . ….. 

Lest you think easy —- remember ABS controls each one , gets into unbelievable (needless to me ) complexity about what ABS or master / booster might be or might not be doing . . End of day , = thoroughly screwed  up unreliable brakes — no matter the nice fairy story about advancements . 
So another Dodge truck I have 2013 250 did same thing a few months back , both sides … bought all new stuff , just put all on , ( everything on a mopar  rusts solid these days , including all brake and front end  bolts — chinese rustproofing of cheap fasteners  ) . They Save 2$ .  At least .

Having had this dance card before , went on line . Happening to all of them.  Huge hassles new brakes just burn  up . 
Lots of wrong info / opinions from guys who never touched a brake pad  . 

But finally one smart guy posted a thing I did not believe at first but also the diagnostic thing he used worked. 

He said sub intelligent design on a beefy clamp holding frame end of hose  rusts INSIDE the clamp squeezing the hose OD restricting flow ( hard to believe right ?) . So he said when wheel is dragging ( it does so even parked/ stopped) crack the bleeder , if it releases hose may be clogged ( it released , so , yes, caliper is fine (!!) all of them were fine (!!) . Then crack the connection to hard line after closing bleeder , step on brake — if it stays locked after,  it is hose for sure . How he found , in his opinion, the clamp did it . clamp or not, it IS the hose Just try and crack that fitting …or remove that clamp —  just try . Mopar coated brake lines with plastic of some  kind ( after the  dakota dissolving brake lines fiasco) but still junk steel line is bare under the nut  , — as the coating ends just before flare nut ; said nut  has no coating either — rusts into a solid rust ball with line . HEY mopar— you have a totally STUPID design . If you somehow grab what is left of nut ( nicely pocketed) you twist off the end of the line . A new party starts . 

It gets better . 

That nut is some screwball metric  thread different than the rest of world metric brake nut . NAPA = big zero . Metric that they have for you is a different thread pitch .  Same  diameter .So you strip hose end … maybe . 
Now two days into this , plus 1000 $ +
and the two days blown last time comes  into mind .  Topping 2500 in time and money now even doing it all yourself . 

So we had to get new lines replace them due to them saving .04 on flare nut and clamp rust proofing — had to hand make the lines  ( of the new good copper alloy stuff) and — finally ended up having to DRILL  out the remains of tube to use mangled old nut on our new flare . 

Compare all this sad story to our letter cars ,— the little 90 degree flag holding hose hard line  connection to frame  —with clip ;  the  way this was done with zero problems ever  — for 80 years.  37 Packard same way And one even can imagine brass or SS nuts , but they must cost ..04 more . = Screw the customer with junk nut in a critical place … Irritating beyond belief . all this cost me thousdadds of dollars in motel , brake parts days  of aggravation and hassle . And 3-4 days  of my life fighting the design of an utter moron that is on every dodge truck . So if your brakes drag , now you know why .
One guy on line had this happen and it burned his truck to the ground Tempted to buy a Ford next time . 
John 

ps, 40 years ago I got into a crash when brake line burst on a 62 dodge , my driver , panic stop . 
I wrote Feds about people with less income are victimized by this , older used cars do it, and dual masters are not  the answer , stainless lines are . I have had a line burst on dual master , almost no braking left pedal goes to within 1/2” of floor . Yet that , they  mandated . 
A woman engineer at NHTSA or whatever it is  writes back to me “ they cost too much to mandate “ next day i had our purchasing dept price 20 feet of steel line and 20 feet of SS , 8$ different .
I sent it to her . Nothing happened . 
i bet could have saved 1000’s of lives , maybe 10000. 
I am hoping a recall of all dodge trucks . they deserve it 




Sent from my iPhone

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