88 4wd Suburban 1/2T. Front brake issues, time to rebuid- or upgrade?

Hey everyone,

88 Suburban half ton with a 10 bolt front end. While driving at about 45mph it started pulling left really hard. By the time I figured out the front left brake was dragging, it was smoking very badly and pouring water on the wheel and hub caused it to sizzle immediately. Ouch.

After getting it cooled off, a friend showed me a trick: Stomp on the brakes really hard to get the caliper unstuck. It drove fine after that, but those pads are shot. Question is, is anything else shot?

I figure on replacing both sets of front pads and calipers. I've also had a spongy pedal for a while, so I'm thinking about just throwing a Master Cylinder on it too since who knows how long it's had the current one.

I've seen talk of upgrades to the 3/4T brakes with the 1/2T axle and hub, but with just 31" tires and no towing, I'm not sure it's worth it. Any input on that?

Thanks in advance, the help is much appreciated

Just replace the consumables and make sure to blow out the hard lines. Should be golden afterwards.

replace calipers and hoses. less than $100 to replace parts that are older tahn dinosaur turds and are notorious for causing your issues.

broketiredugly said:

replace calipers and hoses. less than $100 to replace parts that are older tahn dinosaur turds and are notorious for causing your issues.

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Ah, hoses too! I hadn't thought of that. So, blow out the hard lines while replacing the calipers, hoses, pads, and master cylinder. Got it. Thank you. I'm thinking about a 2" lift in the future, perhaps longer brake hoses would be good at this point.

Don't just pad slap it, turn the rotors too. Since you'll have it apart, re-grease the front wheel bearings.

May as well pop the spindles, clean and repack them, as well as check the seals AND the axle u-joints.

I'd say to clean and repack the front bearings also. Probably cooked the grease.

I was thinking the same things. I think this will turn into one of those "While I'm at it..." projects. Surely the outer axle seals need replacing. I'll have to check to see if these things even have inner axle seals. Thanks for all the replies, this has been really helpful!

I'm about to order all the parts needed. I'm getting new rotors (same price as having them turned locally!) and calipers, pads, hoses. Going to repack the bearings while I'm in there. If any one has suggestions for the best pads, I'd be grateful.

Status update: Got the parts all in. New rotors, repacked the hubs completely (the grease WAS burned), new rubber hoses, pads and calipers. I wasn't able to say I had it bled until I saw a tip to put grease on the brake bleeder threads. That stopped air from getting in around the threads, and now I have brakes! Unfortunately I think I need to do more though, as it does't really have brakes until the bottom of the pedal travel. But when it stops, it stops FIRM which is really nice. I did let the MC run dry for the front circuit, so I think may be I need to bleed that more. The brakes have never been great. If bleeding more doesn't work, I'll just replace the MC. I'm open to suggestions, of course.

Did you check the adjustment on the rear brakes? That may be contributing to the low pedal.

After having driven it a bit, I realized that the problems were in my head, and it's stopping better than ever. It's always had a lot of travel. I bought a new master cylinder to install, and when I replace the rear brakes and brake line, I'll also replace the master cylinder. For now it's done, though. Thanks for all the assistance, it is genuinely appreciated!