Ok so Im as new here as my new to me blazer is to me and Ive looked all over. This is gonna be as detailed as I can make it. 2001 Blazer 2wd 4D LS. I just changed the brakes in front, rear has plenty left. the Duralast gold (ceramic) with hardware. It sqeaks when im rolling but stops when I press the brake pedal. Also when I changed them the calipers wouldnt depress for me after i removed a bit of fluid from the master cylinder with the cap off so I had to open the bleeder to compress the calipers and they did just fine letting the fluid out that way, went right in. Ive heard of clamping the flex line and opening the bleeder so when they wouldnt go in I tried it that way. Im thinking maybe the flex line but I had to do that on both sides? both flex lines? There was a sqeak before thats why I checked them and they were low but not to the indicator. I will change the calipers, flex lines or whatever but would like some insight into pinpointing it before I throw money at it. Sorry for the long post but wanted to be as detailed as possible after viewing so many threads over the last couple weeks about everything on here. Thanks for reading and any advice you may be able to offer.

 

were the rotors cut or just pads put on? its gonna hard to pinpoint this without seeing it.. when you were pushing the pistons back in how hard were they to press? and did you have the cap open while pressing them in? not sure where you live, but if it was near me i`d come out and take a peek at it..

 

Just pads put on. The rotors looked okay but it was hard to spin the tires, either side with them lifted, took two hands or one hand really turning.. Yes the cap was off, and incredibly hard to depress the calipers until I opened the bleeder valve, pretty sure I couldnt get them to do so without opening the bleeders. Im in middleburg, FL, outside jacksonville... will get to updating my info asap.

 

Its almost sounding like you have a brake caliper problem on it, the wheels should have been easy to spin with little drag to them.. since the rotors only slide off i would take and have them cut, just to even check that they are`nt out of round ( warped) also when compressing the pistons always start the furthest away from the master cyl,, in this case right front then left front.. if you were doing all brakes,, r/r, l/r,r/f,l/f always ending at the master with the cap off the whole time of compressing them.. If i could afford a vaca, i`d fly out and help ya lol..

 

I was thinking caliper too except they compressed so easily with the bleeder open so I was thinking the flex lines might be the culprit and much cheaper than calipers. The fact it was the same on both sides kinda stumped me. Being the same thing wrong on both sides. I only did the front brakes but erred apparently starting with the drivers side. The rear brakes have lots of pad but apparently its going to come down to the process of elimination. I do anything that isnt MAJOR work myself so Ill just have to work it out I suppose. Anything else you can think of or where to start. Heck, any imput from anyone is quite welcome. Im sure I will be on here lots with all the quirks of these things. I knew my nissan so well but at 21 was time to retire her, and I found myself joining all you blazer owners. I have quickly fell in love with my new ride and want only the best for her.

 

i have bought autozone pads and actually had to file some material off the mounting portion of the pads back plate....did the pads move freely on caliper when you put them on? the pads may be binding on the slide portion of the caliper..

 

Not sure if I am thinking right but it seemed I had to compress the calipers almost entirely to get them to slide over the pads, but with a little more compressing (almost ALL the way in) they slid over them easily enough and had enough wiggle room I could move them around while putting the bolts (slide parts (grease applied) back into them.

 

Do you have dual piston or single piston front calipers? If you have dual piston and did not compress them at the same time you may have a piston that is now sticking. May even be so with a single piston caliper. A pain to identify by yourself. Because you cant depress the pedal and watch the pistons move. Remove the caliper and have someone slowly depress the pedal as you watch the pistons move. Be sure not to excede the travel distance of the rubber boot around the piston. Then using a c-clamp or caliper tool reseat the piston. Do this several times then reinstall the caliper and depress the pedal again till firm. Next check the fit and the rotor should spin with little to no drag. Keep in mind that if the calipers check out you may have an out of round (warped) rotor. You can eyeball this by looking at the wear pattern on the new pads and possibly your rotor. You can have the rotors turned as long as they will remain within specs.

I think what Warthog was explaining is how the pads mount to the caliper bracket. Check your pads and ensure they can slide in the slots where the top and bottow pad backing fit. If they do not traveel smoothly they may be binding (canting in the bracket). This may cause the pads to stay ingaged enough to contact the rotor. Therby causing the sqeek. Once the brakes are applied they straighten under force from the caliper. But once the force is let off they hang again. You can use a flat file to nock off any burs on the pad backing where the pad backing contact the caliper braket.

 

98+ all have dual piston calipers.

Most likely you have sticky calipers.

 

So to update, I took it to midas to have a free brake inspection and to see what they would try to sell me so I could tell them no then check it myself. First the FUN and quite embarassing part. Since I could swear the sqeak comes from the front and I saw I had lots of pad through the rims I never checked the rear brakes as the front stops you, right? Well as I mention this blazer is quite new to me ( a week) and apparently someone felt they only needed ONE bolt holding on the rear drivers side caliper.... sigh.. Midas dude had one in his hardware he gave me for free. Didnt stop the squeak but WTF, right? missing the top bolt. Problem is once he put it in that wheel seemed to be much hotter when I got it home? maybe it was removed on purpose. I think Im gonna swap the rear brakes with loaded calipers as Ive seen suggested on rear end of these vehicles. Midas didnt try to sell me a dang thing. Said well, do you want me to try to sell you something you dont need... even though he acknowledged it was too hard to turn the front wheels after the breaks were pressed again. The caliper depressed when he tried, enough for it not to stick.. then kinda stuck when the brakes were pressed and released again. I have seen one of the mods suggest a few times the lines can cause all kindsa issues so this weekend I am changing the flex lines on both fronts to see about the sticking. Main question. Whats a good brand for the rear calipers, I would like loaded or semi loaded if the pads that would come with them suck. I only need ceramic.. semi metalic seems overload for where and how I drive. I have seen my squeaking issue all over the net with no real answers... always dried up threads. Finally. Could it possibly be a wheel bearing? As it is a hub assembly for 120 is bucks per side from what I can tell I dont wanna change them just for the hell of it. There is no grind, just squeak squeak squeak until i press the brakes and then it stops. I cant take no more squeaking dangit. =) Thanks for ANY input. front brakes new, rear brakes plenty of pad, NOT indicators touching.