Severe brake / caliper issue?

[Russ72C10]

Lately under braking (esp hard braking) the truck pulls HARD to the right. I actually have to turn the wheel left just to keep it tracking straight. It scared my GF so bad she doesn't want to drive the truck anymore (darn!) At any rate, today while taking a 15 mile drive on the interstate.... I smelled something burning. Pulled into a gas station only to notice smoke rolling out from my driver side caliper! This is when it pulled to the right the worst. I could have turned the corner (to the right) by only pushing the brake & not hanging onto the steering wheel. Well, I had to get where I was going & back home again (22 miles) - It still pulled to the right under braking, but not as hard - and the caliper was no longer sizzling.

So, this gets me to thinking. First guess is a that caliper is bad. Or maybe the brake line is bad? I bled the brakes twice after relocating the line for my lift kit - fluid came out of both sides perfectly fine (and fast) so I'm not inclined to think a line is pinched. But maybe? I had an alignment done so it does drive & track straight. It only acts up under braking. But it has to be fixed... it's simply not safe.

Any advice? Opinions? Experience?

[SanitysBane]

rubber line swolen shut, or caliper stuck

[ElGracho]

Sounds like a stuck caliper to me. They are around $15 for a rebuilt one, I wouldn't mess around and just change them both with a new set of pads and get the rotors turned while you're at it.

[Russ72C10]

I think first I will replace the brake hoses just to elminate that. If that's not the cause, then the calipers will be next. Only thing I'm not looking forward to is grinding down new calipers for my 15" 8 lug wheels to fit again! :p

If the hose is indeed bad, is there a way to tell by visual inspection? Cause I crawled under the truck just now to nose around and nothing seemed out of the ordinary in that area - no bulges, cracks, or collapsed areas.

Speaking of calipers... apparently there's a JD6/JB6 and a JD7/JB7 caliper setup. Those are GM RPO codes, however my option sheet lists neither. Does anyone know the difference? Or how to tell? My truck is a 3/4 ton w/ "HD Chassis" as the option sheet indicates, if that makes a difference.

[SanitysBane]

on our 77 that was a "hd chassis" it was 1 ton brakes on it.

[Palf70Step]

The 82 my daughter has was doing that, except it even would completely lock the wheel. I would change both, if not all three (rear too) rubber lines. If they are the originals they are probably causing the trub. On mine, I also had to replace the proportioning valve. Evidentlly the clogging of those rubber lines and the pressure imbalance can cause the valve to go bad. Not sure how true that is, becase that was the first one I ever had go bad on me.

[lolife99]

Check the rubber hose on the opposite side. They can collapse and when you hit the brakes,... all the fluid goes to just one caliper. In your case the right side. Also,... the hose can be collapsed internally, and look fine from the outside. If the caliper sticks all the time (even when your foots off the pedal),... I would bet it's a bad caliper.

[SanitysBane]

and check the caliper by disconecting the line, we almost bougth a new one thinking that was the problem on red

[Russ72C10]

Based on all of your input & the opinion of my more mechanical friends... I have got the driver side brake hose on order. $30 friggin dollars! Turns out I have the JB7/JD7 setup (the heavy duty ones)... and they aren't normally stocked. I pick up the part tomorrow afternoon.... will know by tomorrow night if it's the hose or caliper. Thanks for all the help, everyone!!

Edit ---

Just updating this with what ended up being the fix - at least to pulling HARD to the right under solid braking. I replaced the brake hose, took the truck for a spin - STILL pulled to the right, not REAL bad, but bad enough. Got to looking around... turns out the gasket under the master cylinder lid had the diaphragms (if that's what you want to call them) OUT instead of in. I compressed these back in like an accordian... took another drive... and even while smashing the pedal to the floor w/ no hands on the wheel... it stops perfectly straight!