Good Afternoon Folks, My GF has a 2011 Wrangler RHD that we bought for her new mail job. I am currently changing her oil every 2000 miles and changing brakes every 3 months...we are 2 months in and the right front brake is starting to chew into the rotor. Last change we didn't need to replace the RF rotor as she is paying attention to the brake pad sensor now...is this normal for a mail delivery jeep or do we have a caliper issue?
2011 Jeep Wrangler Chewing front right rotor
- Thread starter CGMiller
- Start date
i don't know about that, but brakes every 3 months?
goodness.
i have an 85 mile route with 648 boxes and change brakes every year.
slow down, take your foot off the gas and ease into the box.
above was advice from my regular when i started...one of the many ways he never steered me wrong.
Twistofcain
Well-known member
What kind of pads are you using? High or low grade? Metallic or ceramic? If the caliper piston compresses fully when changing pads, then it should be fine. You should only be running 1 set of rotors per 2 brake pad changes in the front. Rear you can do more. Otherwise you'll risk deathwobble breaking downhill at fast speed. Drive slower, and ease on that brake pedal!!!
blamethesub
Well-known member
Everything on the right side (especially the front) wears faster than the left - tires, brakes, shocks etc.
"Normal" brake pads that places like Autozone replace for free might as well be made of cardboard on a mail vehicle. I had the best luck with Wagner pads. I kept a full set of pads and rotors at home so they could be replaced when needed. If you have a local shop that will resurface the rotors for cheap, you can change both each time so they'll last as long as possible.
Keep a close watch on the tire wear. Rotate when you change the oil.
"Normal" brake pads that places like Autozone replace for free might as well be made of cardboard on a mail vehicle. I had the best luck with Wagner pads. I kept a full set of pads and rotors at home so they could be replaced when needed. If you have a local shop that will resurface the rotors for cheap, you can change both each time so they'll last as long as possible.
Keep a close watch on the tire wear. Rotate when you change the oil.
Rt2mailman
Well-known member
There are slide pins on every caliper for disc brakes. They must be clean and not dirty or rusty to allow the caliper to release fully after brakes have been applied. You should probably replace your calipers and slide pins and grease them with high temp brake grease. Oriley's, Autozone, Napa all sell lifetime warranty on their ceramic pads. I has a warranty at each store since I needed to change them every 9 months. That way you hit one store about every 2 years. They usually say the warranty only applies if not using your vehicle for "business" use.
A lot of people also don't rely on their vehicle enough (engine braking/coasting) to slow down. They think they need to apply gas all the way up until they are forced to stop at a TCP or before a collision.
I will say getting drilled rotors also helps reduce the amount of time you need to replace pads significantly.
I prefer the power stop brand and I ordered a full front end brake kit on amazon early last year for my 96 Cherokee and havent had to replace my pads yet. My route is 581 boxes, 36 cbu and roughly 52 miles.
Also do not go crazy on the grease as too much can also cause the problems you are having.
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BraveHrt68
Active member
Sometimes i get a rock stuck in the caliper and it grinds against the rotor.....just happened last week. Check for that too.
Unclewolverine
Well-known member
I have comments for the brakes, but 2k on an oil change is absolutely throwing money away! Old 4.0s will run forever on 5k, newer engines on synthetics are supposed to go 10k easy
I know they "can" but I do 2-3k oil changes especially with how hard we run the vehicles stop go stop go and how much extra idle time we put on em.
Unclewolverine
Well-known member
Like I said, throwing money away. My last 4.0 was at 416k running fine when it was totaled. Nothing but 5k changes with cheap rotella. You'd do better spending that money on more frequent transmission services. The stop and go is much harder on the trans than the engine; and as hard as she jamming those brakes to go through them that fast...well I'm with the others, I have a 122 miles 6 days a week and get around a year out of a set of fronts.
IrvingSalter
New member
That’s definitely not normal wear, even for a mail-route Jeep.
If the right front is consistently eating pads and starting to damage the rotor that quickly, I’d be looking hard at a sticking caliper, seized slide pins, or possibly a brake hose that’s holding residual pressure.
I’d check whether that wheel is noticeably hotter than the others after a short drive. If it is, that’s a pretty strong sign the brake isn’t fully releasing.
Since it’s already chewing into the rotor, I wouldn’t keep running it like that. I’d inspect the caliper, slides, hose and rotor before just throwing another set of pads on it.
Yes it's harder on them but you could easily go 3500 to 4000 WITH NO PROBLEMS. That's what I do with my vehicle. Changing 2k is just wasting money. Back in the day of oil quality not being as good, I would 100% agree with you, but this newer full synthetic has allowed to go further.
DB.Cooper
Well-known member
I'd check all the stuff on that side relating to the brakes, especially the hose between the brake line and caliper. I've had those seem fine until they heat up, then they would plug up internally and not let the caliper release. So if it's just one side, there's something going on with that caliper or hose or something... good luck!!!
The thing a lot of people overlook with mail vehicles is that it's more about hours than miles. The shortest POV route in my office takes 4-5 hours on an easy day, and that's only 50 miles. 10mph average speed.
3000 miles is about 300 engine hours in that example. Change intervals of 400-500 hours are often recommended for heavy duty equipment. Those are big, diesel engines that hold much more oil and have more filtration than a car/SUV. For that reason I never like to go more than 3000 miles with a mail vehicle.
To the topic at hand, the brakes should not wear unevenly, you have a problem somewhere. If the inside pad is worn more, the caliper is sticking. If the outside pad is worn, you likely have a slide pin that's stuck.
There's a couple things people often overlook when swapping pads, sometimes the caliper brackets can get rust scale underneath the little pad slide clips and make the pads bind. If you're in the road salt a lot, you really need to remove them from the vehicle, pop the clips off, and sandblast or scrape all of those areas where the pads ride every time you swap pads. You should not have to fight to get the pads in the bracket, and they should slide easily once installed.
Additionally, on some of the older Jeeps and GMs where the slide pins ride on rubber bushings in the caliper, you often have to push the bushing out, and get in there with a stiff scraper, sandblaster or bottle brush to get all the rust and dirt out, or the pin won't slide freely.
I also second buying good brake pads. Parts store stuff is garbage. Wagner is very good. I get about 6-8 months out of a set. Akebono, Bendix, and Centric are pretty decent as well.
