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View Full Version : Jeep on fire....not good right?



Syme
12-12-2005, 07:11 PM
Well basically to shorten up a long paintful story of watching my very babyed zj light on fire..i belive my right front caliper seized up causeing enough friction to...well catch fire. Luckly it was small and some hillbilly pulled over and through a cooler full of water on it. but non the less it was on fire. i think the caliper may have welded itself on to the rotar.
i would have got under it and looked, but between work and school its been sitting at my dads house and with out a car to get there...well i havn't had time. But i am supposed to tonight.
Anyway my main question is does anyone know why this would happen? is there anyway i could save the disk and just repalce the caliper? AND any thing else need be known. Oh and where/kind of brakes i should buy?
I found some in my quadrtrac for zj/xj but dunno if there good or not??

OverkillZJ
12-12-2005, 07:45 PM
I wouldn't even try saving that rotor. If it's not warped, I'd be amazed. I'd go for some new calipers, discs, and pads. I like to keep pass and drivers side brakes matching, so if you're replacing one side, I'd go both.

DJJordache
12-12-2005, 08:01 PM
probably a new brake line on that side too, but yeah I like to do my brakes in pairs.

KeepItCrunk
12-12-2005, 09:52 PM
yeah, thats a good idea, try to keep everything evenly wearinbg, jsut easier in the end. I ahve a pair of rotors, calipers and pads from my yj that i rolled, like, maybe 7k on them. one rotor was replaced like 500 miles ago because the first one was a factory defected one(gave me death wobble, already wapreed when i got it). so if your interested PM me. later days dude

rockhardmj
12-12-2005, 10:11 PM
good thing we just went over this in my lab before exams. for this, i also would be amazed to see it not warped, even .006" of runout i would be amazed, the cause however would probably have been a seized caliper, and for up front, its a dumb idea to do just one, its like replacing a coil spring, if your gonna do it, do it in pairs, so do both front calipers and discs, and also brake lines as well, you should always replace all of this stuff at the same time, for a few reasons, wear factors for one, two, time, and three, new parts on both sides saves you money later... now you should also do a complete brake system flush while your at it, heat isnt a good thing for brake systems, it will allow for your system to build up moisture and your lines will rust from the inside out,
hope this helps,
joel

Krash80
12-13-2005, 01:17 PM
So your babied jeep was almost totalled due to a fire, but you're worried about spending a few hundred dollars for a little insurance to keep it from happening again?

A COMPLETE brake job is in order. IE- BOTH SIDES: rotors, calipers, pads, brake hoses, and a complete system flush...your burnt brake fluid is no good and will only lead to problems w/ the new calipers if left in the system. And the reason i say you should replace these parts on both sides is that if your caliper froze up, (i'm guessing this is probably an older ZJ) your other caliper could easily do the same thing shortly down the road. And...if it is an older ZJ, your brake hoses are probably dry-rotting and aren't safe anymore.

Brakes are one spot you definitely don't want to cut corners on....put all new stuff on there and have a little peace of mind for yourself and the drivers around you.

-Ron-

PS...not sure if he's still around, but if you can find a guy with the username KOLAK on Jeepsunlimited.com, he should be able to hook you up with some Stillen performance rotors that will greatly help the braking ability of your ZJ.

nate
12-13-2005, 10:19 PM
Or just email Nick. Kolak@aol.com I think that's still his email address.

grnd93
12-14-2005, 12:28 AM
I had the exact same thing happen to me. It happened right after I changed brake pads. I think when I compressed the piston back into the caliper it got cocked a bit. You need to do a complete front brake job (both calipers, rotors and pads). Should cost you around $200.

CurtP
12-14-2005, 01:20 AM
Yep, Nick can still be contacted at kolak@aol.com - I just placed another order with him the other day.

I'm just curious how much drag it would take to get a brake hot enough to catch on fire, and how someone wouldn't notice one side constantly pulling :confused:

Syme
12-14-2005, 01:29 AM
lol actually i did feel it it felt liek sasquatch was dragging on my tire. i was just waitin till the light ahead of me so i could turn. but it was too late. no but i could feel it and i knew it was teh brake. i shoulda just pulled over then but w/e. gotta learn the hard way.

grnd93
12-14-2005, 01:45 AM
Mine happend on the last 10 miles of a 40 mile drive. I knew exactly what happened when it happed, but hoped i could limp it home without too much damage. I still haven't replaced that fire extingusher.