Hello all. I'm new to the DML, but I've perused the archived posts off and on over
the past several years. Forgive me for the length of this post...
I decided to go ahead and join the DML in hopes of getting some feedback on
the Dakota's front brakes. I haven't had time to stay current with reading the posts
for some time now, but I do remember a while back that a lot of people were
having problems with their front rotors warping. Forgive me if this topic has been
rehashed or repeated.
I bought a 97 Dak cc, V6 5sp, brand new. I've been very satisfied with it, except
for this brake problem. Here's a quick summary:
20k - Front rotors warped badly; entire truck shudders when braking. Took to the dealer,
they machined the rotors and said "highway driving will do that". !?!?!?!!!! This got me
off on the wrong foot...
40k - Front rotors warped badly again. I had read on the DML that a solution to this
problem is to replace the Chrysler garbage rotors with plain old aftermarket parts. So,
I personally replaced the front rotors with a set from napa.
60k (now) - Front rotors warped badly.
Ever since I drove the truck off the lot, the lug nuts have been installed exclusively with
a proper torque wrench. I very rarely haul heavy loads or tow, and my driving is about
75% highway, 25% city. I use engine braking when practical.
When I pulled the calipers off to replace the rotors at 40k, I was VERY surprised at what
I saw. Now I don't claim to be an expert mechanic, but I have done brake jobs on a handful
of cars before, and I've never seen anything like this before - and that is, the outboard brake
pads are FIXED!! Every other brake system I've ever seen is designed such that the rotor
is sandwiched between the inboard and outboard pads, which can both move and squeeze
the rotor from both sides. NOT ON THE DAKOTA. The outboard pad is fixed, and is not
free to move at all. I might be out in left field, but to me it looks like one of the following
happens in this brake design:
(a) The inboard pad pushes out against the rotor, and the rotor BENDS slightly outward from
the applied force, until it comes into contact with the outboard pad. The rotor warps from the
constant flexing (as the rotor turns, the location of deflection movies circumferentially)
...or...
(b) The inboard pad pushes out against the rotor, and the fixed outboard pad just sits there
and does absolutely nothing. The rotor warps from intense heat and pressure applied to only
the inside of the rotor.
In either case, it looks to me like the front brakes on this truck are essentially ONE PAD per
wheel, and that the rotors are bound to warp due to this setup. When I replaced the rotors on
my truck at 40k, the pads had plenty of meat left on them - but the outboard pads had
considerably less wear than the inboard pads. This tells me that a combination of (a) and (b)
above probably defines what happens when we press the brake pedal.
Now - I'd like to know, how many people have had rotor warpage problems? Again, forgive
me if this topic has been driven into the ground already.
The reason I want to know this, is that I sent a complaint to DaimlerChrysler about this,
and they replied by saying "there has been little complaint from customers about the Dakota
brakes..." (I'll send my complaint and DC's answer in a seperate post).
My point is that we should all let DC know of this problem. I'm sure they know it's there, but
they aren't going to do a thing about it unless we let them know we don't like it. Will they
change the design? Doubt it, not just because of us anyways. But it can't hurt to give
them some feedback. One way to give them feedback is at the following address. In my
opinion, everyone who's had this problem needs to let them know about it.
http://www.dcanswers.com/contact/
Please let me know how many of you have had this problem, and also let me know what you
think of the brake design and my description/concerns.
Thanks
Kevin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:52:43 EDT