Frozen front brake caliper

[Gulfstream Greg]

I should have written about this sooner as it happened way back in March. We were all loaded to go to the Big Sur Toy In. And so off we went. On the way down out of these mountains here the steering was feeling really weird. If any of you who have a 4x4 and have left the hubs locked in but in 2 wheel drive on the street, well thats what it felt like. So of course thats what I thought it was. I actually put it in 4x4 when I drive the toy up on my foot high leveling blocks in the driveway. So I pulled over and found that no, the hub was not locked but was it hot, really hot while the other side was cool. So we went to a grocery store and hoping for the best that the caliper would free itself up we continued on. As we approached Santa Cruz I took an off ramp and when I hit the brakes the front end started shaking violently. The caliper had not freed up and the whole assembly was smoking hot. So we returned back to Scotts Valley to an auto parts store. My intentions were to buy a rebuild kit, return home, tear it apart, fix it and then hit the road. They of course did not have a kit but their Capitola store had a complete caliper for $80.00! So back down the mountain to Capitola, but they did not have any brake pads. So then a trip to Kragen for some cheap pads. I also bought a one man brake bleeder and some brake fluid. We drove down to my work where there was a nice flat parking lot, a 3 ton floor jack and another company vehicle I could use if I had to find more parts.

I pulled into the parking lot, got the floor jack under it, took the tire off and started unbolting the caliper, put the new caliper and the brake pads, bleed the thing and was back on the road in less than one hour.

Moral to this story, never leave home with out your tools.