MFaulkner

I recently redid my brakes (pads, shoes, rear wheel cylinders, springs, front hoses, calipers), but some things still aren't right.
Aside from the fact that the pedal seems to move a lot before the brakes do anything (despite a bunch of bleeding), the drivers side caliper seems to be stuck. After a couple days of driving, I noticed more brake dust on that wheel, and that wheel squeeked a bit when I would first apply the brakes. When I looked at the caliper, the rotor did not turn very freely - the pads are always slightly rubbing.

I figured air in ther lines could be to blame for the unresponsive pedal, but air shouldn't make the caliper stick, should it? Should I suspect a defective caliper? Gunk in the hardlines? What things should I check now?

Cam84358

Sounds like you still have air in the lines for the pedal part of it.Sometimes a caliper wont release because the brake hose is deterioated on the inside.You said you replaced the hoses,might check if they are kinked and installed correctly.

ede

make sure the bushings the caliper bolts go through are clean and free to move. calipers are pretty cheap and if it has any age you may be ahead to replace it. lack or pressure could be a weak or failing MC. you can have a shop check with a pressure gauge.

tom3

Put brakes on hard and hold a minute, let off and wait several seconds, then loosen bleeder screw on that caliper. If you get a squirt of fluid you probably have a bad hose. They go bad right where the metal collar is on the middle part of the hose.

MFaulkner

Thanks for the help!

After a little work, I've got a few more questons.

Checked the hose as best I could. I don't like the look of the bend where the hose goes down and pretty much makes a 90 degree turn to bolt to the caliper, but I don't see any other way to install the hose.
I noticed the caliper's bushings weren't sliding much at all in the caliper body, which surprised me. I had greased those up really well - despite using liberal amounts of grease specifically for brake calipers, it took some mighty thumb work to pop them out. The caliper had at most 100 miles on it. Cheap caliper? wrong grease?

I replaced the caliper, and it seems better (if I had a TV cable, I'd test it and know for sure), but when I pulled the old caliper, the stream of fluid that came out didn't exactly inspire confidence. I got a drip drip drip drip... Should I have a steady stream? a deluge? At any rate, I'll try the trick Tom3 said.