Hi everyone,
I stop by from time to time and i try and catch up with the problems the dakota is hving with brakes. I leased my dakota 5/05 2miles on it. At 5444 mi. rear brakes and drums and wheel cylinders shot .Deal would not warr. them said it was normal wear and tear 525.00 At 9500 mi. needs new rear brakes drums turned new front pads 2 rotors and 2 new calipers said i use the brakes to much! Dodge won't help said they agree with the dealer another 789.00
I kept all the parts .
Let see if i can download them.

right pixs. wrong file name.

Holy crap! I bought my Dakota around the same time you did. I have about 10,000 miles on it now and my brakes and calipers still look almost new. I mean yours look like they came off a truck at least ten years old. I am at a loss as to what the problem could even be.

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!
I have NEVER seen brakes that were in that condition. Nor calipers. I am at a loss for words. Have you thought of taking them to another dealer or even competitor dealer for a second opinion. The shoes actually seem to have been coming apart. I had mine in for the braking TSB. That was at well over 5,000 miles. Not only did my components look new, but still do now...even at well over 16,000 miles.

I don't care what they say. That's not normal wear and tear on a set of brakes. Your brakes are covered for the first 12,000 miles under the warranty. I'd go back and talk to the GM at that dealership. THERE IS NO WAY those brakes are that bad already. I've got just about 20,000 on my truck and my brakes are in almost perfect shape.

If the GM isn't working with you on this, threaten to take them to court. That should get them to change their minds.

I am taking a closer look at these parts. Are you certain you got your parts back??? The parts in these pictures look like they had been submerged in liquid for a long period of time. Especially the calipers. The damage to the pistons looks alot like the shoes had to be pryed from them. HOLY CRAP[>:]

Yes their mine they told me they had to pry them off. I know about the 12,000 mi. warr. but they keep flipping the page and keep telling me normal main. I filed a complaint with the nhtsb so you can see it there also. As for going to another dealer they bought them out. Atty. gen. has a few complaints against them so does bbb.As i said dodge said it's normal case closed.
The worst part is i could do the work myself replacing everything but all the parts are oem. Also the rears along are 165.00. I noticed they put the ajuster at the top now and darned if i could get it off.

Sorry to hear that,man...Hopefully the A.G. will do thier job and follow up on this

Thought I'd give an update I just put on 2,500 more miles and the rear wheel cylinders blew again the rear brakes were destroyed again. took it to a different dealer but is owned by the same people.They said they would fix it no charge as a favor. The worst part i haven't even got the to take a look why it keeps stalling.

First of all, it shouldn't be a favor, it should be because of your warranty. And since it's a brand new truck with less than 12,000 miles and it's a Dodge and a Dodge dealership, there shouldn't be any question. I don't know where some of these dealerships get off not taking care of their customers.

it can't hurt to check into the lemon laws for the state you live in

Looks like you or someone else likes to drive with their foot on the brake pedal all the time. Hookup a buzzer to the pedal someone will go nuts.

Here's an update. Just picked up my truck again.

Leased it in May of 05 now has 15400 miles on it.
3sets of front pads
2 sets of rotors
2 set of calipers
2 set of drums
5 wheel cylinders
5 set of rear brakes

will not cover anything dealer said the truck is being abused. It's only a little 6 cyl. nothing has even been it the bed yet. They said it's normal wear and tear. They also said no other trucks have had a problem, so you would think maybe it's this truck and something is wrong with it.
All most spent 2,000.00 on it. I could do it myself if the parts were available in the store.

I still believe if not by you someone else is driving your truck. Those brake components were destroyed by heat caused by the brakes being partially applied for long periods of time. To have them replaced so many times, you would think if it was the braking system the cause would have come to light by now.

Does anyone drive the truck who uses their left foot for braking? Does the truck get driven with the parking brake partially set. Do you have any teenage drivers? How much tread is left on tires? I was a teenager driver forty or so years ago. I remember my dad trying to figure out how come the transmission had gone bad and I never did tell him, but thats a long story. Personally I belive it is caused by one or more person's bad driving habits. My two cents. Sorry


ORIGINAL: grandview

Here's an update. Just picked up my truck again.

Leased it in May of 05 now has 15400 miles on it.
3sets of front pads
2 sets of rotors
2 set of calipers
2 set of drums
5 wheel cylinders
5 set of rear brakes

will not cover anything dealer said the truck is being abused. It's only a little 6 cyl. nothing has even been it the bed yet. They said it's normal wear and tear. They also said no other trucks have had a problem, so you would think maybe it's this truck and something is wrong with it.
All most spent 2,000.00 on it. I could do it myself if the parts were available in the store.

Ya for sure! The dealer is raping (for a lack of better word) you. I tookmy calipers and pads and drums and EVERYTHING apart about two weeks ago now, and I have 4700 miles on it, and NOTHING like that!!!

And hell, I brake rather hard as well!!!

Yeah someone is a left foot driver! Damm I know I onl have 2500 on my truck but I barley even get brake dust on the rims and I tow every weekend. Those shoes/pads look burnt with those pot makes in them. 6 cly or not at high speeds you can still melt brakes. They look like shoes I had on a 67 dodge coronet with 4 drum brakes in traffic once they were smoking, when I pulled the wheel all the shoe material were totally melted. If you are not doing it to your truck someone has to be. Anyway doesnt warranty cover 12,000 miles? My fathers RAM had a caliper problem he had 14K on it they replaced everything, but his truck was 100% not abused.

How did the pistons get damaged? When they removed them? I never seen pistons so beat up and I did hundreds of brake jobs when I was in college working at Sears. Only one time did I see pads fused with the pistons in a 80s car (think was a grand-am) that always sat out in the salt of Buffalo NY. We even ruied the wheels getting them off everything was so rusted, not what you would see on a 05.

maxmax, after the melted clutch plate problem on my father's 1983 Rampage I adamantly denied any wrong doing on my part. :) To this day he knows I destroyed the transmission and I know from here to eternity what reving up in neutral and slamming into drive will do to an automatic! I assume by your statement that you discovered something to this effect also.

On a side note, I haven't seen another silver Rampage with a fake factory shaker hood and "Rampage 2.2" decals in probably 15 years.....if he still has that thing I want it.

wow i have had my dak for little over a year now and 21000 miles on it. brakes still work fine there is no shaking or wobbling coming to a dead stop from high speeds. this looks like the parking brake is dragging on the cyl. prematurely wearing the snot out of them.

Just a couple of points.
1. Yes i do left foot drive
2. I only drive it.
3. I have had a lot of different trucks and cars before
4.I also have a 02 f250 bought new finally changed the brakes thats after 5 seasons of landscaping and snowplowing 33,000mi.
5. i don't use the dakota for work
6.I leased a 02 dakota before this one so when the lease was up i went to the 05. The 02 had the 4.7 in it, changed the brakes only once.

I know full well the out come of dropping it in gear, but my story is a little different. I was driving down a county road under repair at various spots, with some of my friends riding along and this is always a disaster waiting to happen in those days. Well the first big red safety cone spotted in the middle of the road was just asking to be driven over. It maybe soft plastic, but when you hit it at over 40 mph and it goes under the vehicle look out. It grabbed the transmission shifting linkage and put the vehicle in reverse. You will never know the volume of mechanical noises, screaming and yelling I heard.
ORIGINAL: Beazer

maxmax, after the melted clutch plate problem on my father's 1983 Rampage I adamantly denied any wrong doing on my part. :) To this day he knows I destroyed the transmission and I know from here to eternity what reving up in neutral and slamming into drive will do to an automatic! I assume by your statement that you discovered something to this effect also.

On a side note, I haven't seen another silver Rampage with a fake factory shaker hood and "Rampage 2.2" decals in probably 15 years.....if he still has that thing I want it.

I sometimes use my left foot for braking, and I used to drive my old car the same way as I found I had a quicker reaction to braking (and living in Los Angeles you need all the help you can get with those crazy drivers lol). But my brakes on my truck and the brakes on my old car never got worn down nor suffered from heat abuse, the brakes on my truck are doing really well, no problems yet.

ORIGINAL: maxmax

I still believe if not by you someone else is driving your truck. Those brake components were destroyed by heat caused by the brakes being partially applied for long periods of time. To have them replaced so many times, you would think if it was the braking system the cause would have come to light by now.

Does anyone drive the truck who uses their left foot for braking? Does the truck get driven with the parking brake partially set. Do you have any teenage drivers? How much tread is left on tires? I was a teenager driver forty or so years ago. I remember my dad trying to figure out how come the transmission had gone bad and I never did tell him, but thats a long story. Personally I belive it is caused by one or more person's bad driving habits. My two cents. Sorry


ORIGINAL: grandview

Here's an update. Just picked up my truck again.

Leased it in May of 05 now has 15400 miles on it.
3sets of front pads
2 sets of rotors
2 set of calipers
2 set of drums
5 wheel cylinders
5 set of rear brakes

will not cover anything dealer said the truck is being abused. It's only a little 6 cyl. nothing has even been it the bed yet. They said it's normal wear and tear. They also said no other trucks have had a problem, so you would think maybe it's this truck and something is wrong with it.
All most spent 2,000.00 on it. I could do it myself if the parts were available in the store.

shoulda got a ram

I bought my 06 back in february of 07 new off a dealer lot and now I have about 28,000 miles on mine in just a little over a year. Mine are squeeking right now when the weather is dry but they still work perfectly fine, I suspect they might need a bit of resurfacing to get rid of the squeeks but jesus I don't even have an explanation for your brakes!

Grandview - Yikes, that's really bad news. I had to replace my front rotors at 12,000 miles (last summer), on my 2005 Quad Cab and thought that was bad. Have not had to touch my rear ones, yet (knock on wood).

Goldpro get out of here with your big ol dinosaur antique ram gashogs! [8D]Daks rule hands down!