Dodge Ram 3500 rotors

After I purchased my 96 Dodge Ram I removed the rotors, and had them turned as they were warped, causing front wobble when applying the brakes. Now I have the same thing. I have read about the older Dodge trucks having this problem. I wonder if anyone else has this problem. Looks like about the only thing I can do is replace the rotors, as the rotors may have hard spots in the surface. Should I go with the expensive ones, or get ones from china since this may happen. Any thoughts. Stan

Had the same problem on my Dakota. Put aftermarket ones on and they lasted a long time. Sometimes they have a slight wobble but then it goes away depending on how I apply them.

(quoted from post at 09:27:16 05/02/15) After I purchased my 96 Dodge Ram I removed the rotors, and had them turned as they were warped, causing front wobble when applying the brakes. Now I have the same thing. I have read about the older Dodge trucks having this problem. I wonder if anyone else has this problem. Looks like about the only thing I can do is replace the rotors, as the rotors may have hard spots in the surface. Should I go with the expensive ones, or get ones from china since this may happen. Any thoughts. Stan

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If they were badly warped then turning them is a waste of time because the next time they get hot the metal will further distort following the areas that were heat hardended the first time.
The offshore rotors usually work ok.
As far as this happening again chances are either your back brakes need attention as they are not doing there fair share or somebody has been riding the brakes too much going downhill.

Dodges have been known to get the death wobble. Our 91 will do it, sometimes when you brake, other times for no apparent reason.

Don't forget to address the calipers. If they have never been replaced they may not be releasing properly. Often overlooked!

Chief a previous discussion on here led me to do alot of research about these brake rotors . I foumnd info stating no rotors were cast in USA . Most were Chinese or Brazillian. Some ads stated machined in USA but this is only refering to machining slots into the rotors. Ask the counterman which ones they don't have problems with. There is cheap and then there is real cheap.

I have a 85 it's called a 350. Just replaced the rotors. I think they were $20 each. Not worth turning them anymore I think. I now have changed everything brake wise except the rear drums. Has 85000 miles but sat unused for about 5 years. That's tuff on just about everything which explains why I have changed so many parts.

Just buy new ones. Don't get the cheap ones either.

If you tow alot and have marginal brakes on the trailer most of the braking load is transferred to the truck which creates alot of heat.This in turn warps the rotors. I changed out the stock rotors on my 5500 to drilled and slotted rotors with ceramic pads.and have had no problems since. My service truck weighs 22000# and was hard on pads and rotors since new. A set of stock pads would last about 15000 miles,rotors would be bad by 30,000, less if I drove alot in stop and go traffic. I have 100,000 on the drilled rotors with no shake or shimmy, the pads last about 40-45000 miles. Yes they were spendy, but it stops alot better, brake life is greater,which means I'm not losing a days time replacing the brakes every 3 months

Drilled rotors are not really needed anymore due to pad technology resisting gassing of the pad material. The other arguments are that drilled rotors not only removes surface area of the friction surface, it also compromises strength along with reducing the mass which lowers the heat capacity.

I have replaced many drilled rotors for cracking, think of all the holes creating stress points and areas where the surface is getting heated and cooled at different rates. Slotted rotors share about the same qualities of drilled rotors but they are marginally better. The reason you see them on most hi perf cars street cars is mainly appearance, but slotted rotors are heavily used on the race tracks, of course those guys change their brakes after every race or at the lower levels they might closely inspect them.

To the OP, when cutting a warped rotor, it may not have been cut deep enough, or had enough material to remove to eliminate the problem. Removing material from a "warped" rotor is not as simple as making it true again but when those heat spots develop it means the properties of the metal have actually changed and changed beyond the surface area. Cutting the rotor surface may not actually get deep enough to remove these spots and the problem will happen again.

Rotors seldom actually warp or its very rare when they do, most of the time they wear unevenly but we don't need to change the terminology that most people are used to. Hub run-out and wheel tightening technique and torque probably cause most brake pulsation problems.

Take a kook at the rotors now that they have been run. If they have different colors, shiny spots, ect, they have been too hot. They will need to be replaced. Also look the rest of the front end over, lower ball joints, a frame bushings, pittman and idler arm, tie rod ends. Anything worn could be throwing the wheels into misalignment when the brakes are applied. Might also try moving the rear wheels to the front, see if anything changes.

First let me discredit a couple of incorrect assumptions:
>>>Rotors DO warp. They warp from HEAT.
>>>Drilled, slotted or otherwise ventilated rotors do NOT significantly reduce braking capacity or braking surface. Case in point is high performance and race cars. Rotors are drilled or slotted for a couple of reasons. First is dissipation of heat. Second is shedding water in wet conditions. You can believe that if the braking capacity was reduced by this technique, they would not be used in those applications. After all, some high performance cars come from the factory with drilled rotors. And, NO , that does not add more stress points. Drilling and slotting is followed by chamfering the sharp edges. They may also be radiused to further relieve stress.
>>Also not what a brake really is and how it works: A brake converts the kinetic energy of motion into heat energy.

Now, having said all of that, I think that the problem here is that the brakes were simply too small for the application from new. While they may have the capacity, they also will generate a lot of heat. Bigger brakes from a later model pickup would likely help the problem. It is not unusual for rotors to warp after being in service for a period of time. These days, with most brakes being metallic or ceramic, the rotors wear down as the pads wear out. You can only turn them down to the dimension stamped into the rotor or listed in the service manual. Most modern rotors simply do not have enough "meat" on them to do a lot of resurfacing.
Regarding the Chinese rotors, you can get good or bad from the "land of almost right" these days. I have been running Chinese rotors on my Explorer for 2-1/2 years now with no problems. I also had a couple of sets that were constant trouble. Luck of the draw. Get the better guarantee.

(quoted from post at 07:27:16 05/02/15) After I purchased my 96 Dodge Ram I removed the rotors, and had them turned as they were warped, causing front wobble when applying the brakes. Now I have the same thing. I have read about the older Dodge trucks having this problem. I wonder if anyone else has this problem. Looks like about the only thing I can do is replace the rotors, as the rotors may have hard spots in the surface. Should I go with the expensive ones, or get ones from china since this may happen. Any thoughts. Stan

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Dodge brakes sucked until the 2001.5 model year....that's when I bought my first one and have had great brakes on both the 01.5 and the 04.5.

(quoted from post at 20:27:16 05/02/15) After I purchased my 96 Dodge Ram I removed the rotors, and had them turned as they were warped, causing front wobble when applying the brakes. Now I have the same thing. I have read about the older Dodge trucks having this problem. I wonder if anyone else has this problem. Looks like about the only thing I can do is replace the rotors, as the rotors may have hard spots in the surface. Should I go with the expensive ones, or get ones from china since this may happen. Any thoughts. Stan

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Some were a problem you don't turn'em you replace'em.. I have had more issues out of name brand expensive rotors :shock: Right out of the box they look like chit :twisted: and made in China... I have my doubts that many shops are tooled up to properly turn a 1 ton truck rotor even if they were its a lost leader as most are at discard thickness are will be once turned... I like to save a nice original rotor but is rare to have a set that can be saved... If I can and it has a slow pulsation only felt at slow speeds I try and save it if it will meet specification when machined... If it shimmy's bad braking at high speeds it junk I don't waist my time...

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/warped-rotors-myth/