BIG_Steve

In the way to work this morning I noticed the jeep (09) didn't seam to have the normal get up and go. When I got to work I could smell the breaks and there was a lot of smoke from the rear driver side. It was fawkin hot, the driver side rear was hot to touch but nowhere as bad. When the smoke stopped I pulled the tire off the pass side, thinking the calliper sliders were stuck. They were free. The e break wasn't on and was all intact. I loosened the bleader screw an could push back the piston by hand. Pads are new 1 month ago and still intact. Don't see any oblivious things that would cause the break to stick. Any ideas?

rob_engineer

Maybe bad spot on caliper piston. I had that happen to a Mercury mountaineer. Changed out the caliper and all was fine.

Soupy1957

Oh........

When I first read the title of this Thread, I thought it was someone complaining about not having enough smoking breaks (cigarettes).........lololol

warpeg

This EXACT situation happened on my old '08 JKU. The driver-side rear would smoke badly, but the caliper was fine. It even went into the shop twice for an assessment; they couldn't find a thing wrong with it. They even witnessed it smoking, but couldn't find any kind of root cause. In the end, they just guessed it to be some foreign substances getting in between the rotor and pad.

jtphoto JK

Did you check the emergency brake shoes inside the back of the rotor?

zstairlessone

ESP or Traction control lights coming on??

Leiper

Hey, I’ve got the same issue and yes, traction control lights were on not long ago. I suspect they were on because the front speed sensors were replaced and not the rears.

any idea why that’s cause something to burn?

Sixty4x4

When a brake heats like that it is 99% the caliper pistons not returning after pressing and releasing the brake pedal. The 1% is check the caliper float pins to see if they are free. Replace them anyway with the caliper. Most people do not change the brake fluid every 2 years and this puts moisture in the fluid (its hygroscopic) and creates a corrosion ring in the piston hence stopping it from returning to rest position.

Ghost JK

Yep, it's a necrothread back from the dead, but I'll throw in the brake hoses. It's very common on the JK for the hose to breakdown inside and a flap almost forms like a check valve, not letting the fluid pass back and keeping pressure on the pads.

Sixty4x4

True another possibility but if the fluid is a dark color then I would go more to caliper damage. Ghost raises a good point that reminds me what I do with the brakes and that is be proactive. I have hard lines lowering in the rear, for the small lift, with the stock flex lines that are probably original. I am going on a 5 day overland trip in mid August and those lines are being changed to longer TF lines and the hard lines being returned to original location. Good insurance.