Brake Disc Caliper problems of the 2002 Ford F-150

Front brake caliper mounting bracket seized on the slide bolts that allow the brakes to move in and out when pressed and released. The slide bolts that allow the caliper to move have seized causing the vehicle to pull very hard to one side of the road. In my case I was towing a 20' commercial landscape trailer equipped with dual axle trailer brakes. I approached a traffic light and proceeded to make a left turn going a speed of approximately 15 to 20 mph when I pressed the brake during the turn the truck pulled extremely hard to the left resulting in my trailer jack knifing into the left side of the truck causing major damage to my bed and rear wheel on my truck. Later after investigating the cause of the sudden pull found that the left brake caliper mounting bracket had one of the bolts seized while the other was moving properly allowing the brake to move a little but not properly causing the brake to drag against the rotor on the inner brake pad. When the brake is pressed the pressure pulls the truck to the left extremely hard. Replacing the slide bolts and the brake caliper mounting bracket fixed this issue and I haven't had any issues after replacement. I know this may be a little hard to understand as my description may not be the best, but the upper brake caliper bolt was seized while the lower bolt was moving freely, when the brake peddle was pressed caused the left brake caliper to grab harder than the right side causing the truck to pull extremely hard to the left. The trailer brake was set on 7 at the time and worked properly. The truck pulled so hard to the left caused the trailer to be at such a tight angle it began to slide and when I realized what was happening it was to late to correct it. The bed is still damaged from this. Btw I bought my Ford in 2002 brand new with 5. 4 v8 and I am at 271,000 miles and it runs like the day I purchased it! I love it!.

On August 24, 2006, my passenger-side, front, lower caliper mounting bracket bolt backed itself out. This happened at a lower speed (about 20-25 mph) and so there were no injuries involved (especially since I had three passengers in the vehicle). But, when this happened it gouged the inside of the wheel (a factory wheel) and caused it to instantly deflate the tire as I came to a stop. I ended up having to replace the wheel, the rotor and the brake pads to fix the damage. On October 18, 2006, while traveling nothbound on I-25, just north of exit 158, I heard a "popping" sound and felt as if I had run over a rock. I then took exit 161, and while traveling about 25-30 mph, and stopping, my front, driver's-side, tire suddenly exploded from a huge gash in the sidewall. I was towing a 8'x10' flatbed trailer with some tools loaded on it. When I was able to get out of the traffic lanes, I removed the tire and the entire wheel had split in two. I also discovered that again, the lower caliper mounting bracket bolt had backed itself out. I had to have the vehicle towed and the tow truck driver told me that he knew of this happening to other people after they had their Ford pickup brakes worked on. He said that it is not a problem, that he knew of, when the vehicles come from the factory, only after the brakes have been worked on. I had to replace the wheel, the tire, the steering knuckle, the rotor and the pads. We ended up replacing the lower bolts and putting locktight on the bolts (this was the recommendation from the tow truck driver and my mechanic). We did save the damaged parts. After the first incident my mechanic checked the tech service bulletins and did not find any bulletins from Ford this issue. I also spoke to the parts service rep at phil long Ford (colorado springs, CO) and he told me that he knew about this issue, that it was actually quite common, but that Ford had not issued a bulletin about this.