Anyone experience issues with brakes overheating?

[Teamoatmealpie]

1998 Chevy 3500 Express 15 passenger Van

Had van at local dealer, new front rotors, pad, calipers and now front brakes are overheating on small hill where they never overheated before. Trust me I am not riding the brakes. Driving same routes and roads always drove and never had a problem. Problem happend on the very first drive from the dealer and then repeated on the same small hills. For local Portland folks, driving over the West Hills on Hwy 26 shouldnt roast my brakes.

Taken it back to dealer and they say no problem. I was suggested that the house brand of parts at the dealer are cheap junk and that i should ask for high quality parts like Wagner or Rebestos.

Taking back to dealer again today. See how this goes.

Seems the outfitted sportsmobiles and other vans would be as heavy or heavier than my van and would tax the brakes. Anyone experience this? Any help much appreciated.

Thank you
Todd

 

[BajaSportsmobile]

How do you know that they are "overheating"?

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

acrid smell of overheated brakes after coming down a hill in traffic. Pull over, hubs too hot to touch.

Dealer test drive- I am not present- they say all ok.

I drive it at night, in heavy Labor Day traffic coming down the hill, slow. Brakes start to smell, Pull over, rotors glow orange, smoke pouring off, even outer edge of rim next to tire is too hot to touch. I take video and show to dealer. They agree something wrong.

Now I have wrenched on bikes and jeeps for years and never, ever had an issue like this with brakes on my 4 wheel toys, Sure you can cook a brake on an mx bike, if you are a brake dragger, or in hard racing. But normal driving shouldnt do this.

But prior to the new brake job, I have put 20,000 miles on this van, driving the same routes, roads and never had issue.

I spoke with the company that did my conversion and their opinion was I was outfitted with cheap, low quality parts, yes they meet spec for my van but arent up to the task.

 

[BajaSportsmobile]

Do you have brake drag when not pushing on the peddle?

 

[67390FE]

Don't forget to check the hoses between the hard line and the calipers. I had a class c motorhome, about the same year, with the same issue. Ended up being a simple hose problem. The inside of the hose detached from the outside of the hose and would not let fluid back through the system. It acted like a check valve where fluid would go to the caliper but not return.

 

[BajaSportsmobile]

That is exactly where I was going with my question. I had the same thing happen on a Chevy chassis Class A - hoses held residual pressure in the calipers, causing brake drag and heat build up. It took replacing everything else before I even thought to look at the hoses, something I never would have thought could fail with out leaking or breaking.

Don't forget to check the hoses between the hard line and the calipers. I had a class c motorhome, about the same year, with the same issue. Ended up being a simple hose problem. The inside of the hose detached from the outside of the hose and would not let fluid back through the system. It acted like a check valve where fluid would go to the caliper but not return.

Do you have brake drag when not pushing on the peddle?

 

[Desert Dan]

Have them check the rotors too as they have been toasted during the "glow"

 

[67390FE]

BajaSportsmobile, I did the same. I replaced everything (some things twice) before a WAG lead me to the lines. I have found the same thing on two other vehicles since, 1 Ford and 1 Chevy.

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

Ok still having front brake issues.
Smoked the fronts and after taking the van back to dealer numerous times, the said the rears where glazed and not contributing to braking. So a new set pads on front and rotors resurfaced. Van still over heats the front brakes. So we try new master cylinder. Dealers does poor job on rears and they pulse and squeel, so take back for about the 8th time, they redo the rears and overall braking seems better.

During the initial install they ordered 1 ton brakes and then said they had to order 3/4 ton brake since its a Dana 44 (Advanced 4x4 conversion) and fast forward to today the dealers says the problem is the van has 1/2 ton brakes and they are not big enough to handle the Express 3500. I challenged them and repeated what they told me about the 3/4 ton brakes etc. They pretty much dont want to deal with me anymore

I called Advanced 4x4 and they were going to see what my build sheet says about which brakes I have. .................Still waiting for that info.....................

I have 8 lug wheels and most GM 8 lugs would seem to indicate 3/4 ton set up. However the Dana 44 at least online seems to have some years where the 1/2ton 3/4ton brake seem to be virtually identical.


I live in the Cascade mountains and cannot afford new pads and resurface every 6k miles, nor do I want to crash my van.

Any GM experts have some input on solutions for this problem.

The odd thing is I put 20,000 miles on the van before I had the new brakes put on and never had a single issue.

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

Any Portlanders have a trusted shop in PDX that I should go to?

 

[r_w]

Did you change the rubber lines? Change them to braided if you haven't.

Did they pull the calipers again? Are they hanging up and dragging just one side? Not uncommon for a new caliper to bind up on an old mount.

 

[java]

Im voting for dragging calipers. especially if they have been over heated at some point and cooked the seals. If your rotors were glowing they should be replaced, not resurfaced. The metal IS fatigued.

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

Not pumped on the dealer response especially since i have taken it right back to them time after time.

When I asked if GM had 8 lug wheels on half ton gear the service advisor admitted he didnt know what I was talking about.

So, in general driving around town stuff the brakes seem fine. For Portland folks they would understand when I say coming over West Hills on 26 by the zoo in traffic is a typical example of when they overheat. That is not much of hill and certainly shouldnt overheat the brakes.

The van is a roller is seem to have very little engine braking or drag.

Going to find another shop and see what I can do. the brake lines are the last remaining item to replace. I will have the calipers checked out see if they are roached.

Funny Les Schwab doesnt always get it right the first time but they always back their work. The Chevy Dealers seems to want find blame in the conversion or hey not our fault we cant find anything wrong with it.

 

[java]

Stop and go is killer no matter what. Especially in a heavy truck. My 4x4 Rv doesn't like stop and go. Even with the 1 ton gear.

There is no air flow to cool the brakes.

Any idea what the beast weighs? im at 11400 (according to the title) and its tough on brakes.

 

[Stumpalump]

My 98 1 ton 4x4 Chevy p/u truck used the same front breaks as the 1/2 ton. My 02 1 ton Ford van breaks look just as wimpy so I try to conserve them especially in the hills. You don't have much time before you smoke them so ease up on that heavy beast. I use Auto zone ceramic pads. They are the best for high heat and long hard stops but not as good when cold. Trade off.