scott

Ok. We all know that Dodge had some serious brake problems at one point on
their Heavy Duty trucks.

What I want to know is what years to stay away from when looking at used
Heavy Duty Cummins. I am willing to look back to the mid-90's to stay within
my budget. I also heard that the trucks with the manual transmissions seemed
to not have any problems with their brakes. Is that true? What year did
Dodge finally fix the problem?

Also, did Dodge ever come out with a fix for the owners of those particular
trucks? If not, are there people driving around right now in trucks still
having to change their brakes every few thousand miles?

Thanks for your input.

Scott

pecker

Well I dont know of HD trucks but Dakota's have notoriously bad
brakes,had to change rotors after 30k. Went with aftermarket rotors
and good pads,the new rotors have 60k on em and ive had to change pads
once since..I dont know what the HD's suffer from, but if it's the
same problem, it's no big deal.On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 09:59:03 -0700,

tom lawrence

We do?


particular

See... this is how rumors get started. What was once a wter snake has
turned into the Loch Ness monster.

I have a '95 3500, and in a little over 100K, I've changed front pads 4
times, rotors once, rear shoes once, and still have the stock rear drums.
It's an automatic, so it tends to be a little harder on brakes. However,
20-30K for a set of front pads (that cost $30 and take about an hour to
replace) isn't exactly "horrible", IMO.

Granted - the brakes are no where near the 2003's braking ability, and the
brakes on my '99 2500 are also far better (before I completely re-did them,
for other reasons). However, they do stop the truck adequately.

What I will suggest is that you try and find a truck with four-wheel ABS, as
opposed to the standard Rear-Wheel Anti-Lock. The RWAL systems are a
band-aid fix at best to prevent rear-wheel lockup, at the expense of overall
braking effectiveness.

pecker

Yea, never could figure out why just rear wheel. Doesnt make much
sense just modulating the rears.On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 05:51:35 GMT, "Tom

dick

Its the rears that gain or lose traction depending on the load you are
carrying.
They used to have a load sensing valve conected to the rear spring, that
worked just as well,
as rear ABS. Its the undersized rear brakes that worries me, 9" on a V8 4X4.
They offered 10" then 11"
optional on 98 Dakota/Durangos I think. Please let me know if you hear of
someone willing to sell
the conversion parts to 11" for a reasonable price. Yards won`t seperate
brakes from the axle.
dick

on

still


the

them,

as


overall

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mopar440

The poster was asking about Dodge HEAVY DUTY trucks.
Somehow 1500's, Dakotas & Durangos' don't meet that definition.
The HEAVY DUTY trucks had 12 inch brakes.

I'll start watching reality TV shows, when I can vote people off the planet.

pecker

The poster was asking about HD breaks redneck, but no matter what
model truck, brakes are brakes and will inherently have the same
problems. Now get backin your singlewide. In other words your point is
moot! On 28 Oct 2003 17:07:39 GMT, mopar440@aol.comedy.biz (RedNeck

tom lawrence

Well, I'll be damned.... 11 posts in almost four years. Did somebody call
NHTSA?


call


I have no problem with that. However, having read this group for several
years, as well as other forums, I haven't seen this huge brake problem
you're alluding to. 1/2-ton trucks (and Daks/Durangos as well) with warping
rotors - yes. Rear drums that don't self-adjust - sure. Crappy RWAL -
absolutely. But a chronic problem that requires owners to replace pads
every 3K? No.

Anyhow - good luck with your search.

davcook

I have a 97 with 435000 on it and have only replaced the front pads once
and a 99 with 225 on it and it has the orig. breaks (all parts). both
are 3500's and get worked hard everd day abd both are 5.9's, but they
both have Jake Breaks too.

joe blow

Tom, what did you do to your brakes? My '96 3500 4x4 gave me that good
old "metal to metal" sound yesterday, so it's time to do something.

TIA