RE: Brakes.....sway bar?

From: Rick Barnes (rascal@scrtc.com)
Date: Thu Sep 07 2006 - 21:46:35 EDT


Chris,
My bet is a bad master cylinder or brake booster...several of us had that
issue already...your calipers are not the brake problem.

Rascal

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of ctandc
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 7:51 PM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: DML: Brakes.....sway bar?

So first the PCM code.....that's fixed under warranty.

Now, driving down the road yesterday, truck seems to be struggling more and
more to pull. No pulling from side to side...then the smell...nothing like
burnt brake smell in the morning.

So I pull over..and notice some lovely smoke rolling off the rotors. BOTH
side.....so I didn't buy a Dakota blind, I knew they sometimes have caliper
issues...calipers were locked down. They got gradually and gradually worse
that drive. With no pulling I tend to think that both locked down. The hoses

don't appear to be in bad shape. I was just going to bite the bullet and fix

it...go ahead and check the rotors, repair / replace the calipers, add some
good pads and probably check the bearings too...then I figured it's got a
warranty, so use it.

Since they appeared fine after cooling down, I requested they go ahead and
replace the calipers, inspect / test the hoses and flush the system's fluid,

since the fluid got as hot as it did. They took it this morning so we'll
see.

The free loaner? A 06 Dak 4.7 4x4 Quad Cab.

After driving that...leads me to my next question... I'm going to add better

shocks to the 01 soon. But after feeling the difference in handling, I'm
going to assume my 01 3.9 Sport 4x4 did NOT come with a rear sway bar.

Assuming I don't have one, can one from another Dakota be added if I have
all the hardware? If it can't I'll just add one of the 'sway control' kits
that install on the rear leaf springs, because from experience these go work

well.

Any input greatly appreciated.

Chris
01 3.9 Sport 4x4 5spd



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