Brake issues

[BogeyBoyNevada]

Hello fellow GD ers
I have a question and was wondering if anyone out there could offer an opinion
We tow our 2500RL with a Nisson Titan V-8. Truck tows rig really well. It's the stopping I have an issue with. We had a pulsating feeling coming down a rather steep hill last month. Had the truck looked at and it was determined we needed new rotors which we replaced. This past week, coming down Spooner Summit from Lake Tahoe to Carson City, we felt the same pulsating. I put the truck in lower gear to cool brakes some, and it didn't really make any difference. I used the trailer brakes manually to see if they worked smooth. They did. As soon as we got on level ground, the truck brakes seemed to be smooth again. They don't feel soft or mushy and stop good on level ground. As mentioned, the trailer brakes felt smooth and we could feel them working to slow us down. I am not quite sure where to start. Any input would be appreciated

[ThePowells]

Rotors have a tendency to expand at different rates at different places when hot. When that happens, that is when you will feel the pulse in the brake pedal. If that is the case, most of it will have subsided when they are cooled, but not always completely. It may take a few complete heat cycles for everything to go back into place ( the molecules expansion / contraction). If it continues after that mic'ing the rotors cold and then at least warm will tell you exactly what is going on. You will be surprised how little it takes to feel that.
Aamco had a video related to this and they mic'ed a cold one, drove it hard, mic'ed it, let it cool a little, put it on the lathe and heated it to around 400-410 and turned it smooth at heat. Once they were finished, the vertical runout was worse than it had been hot and a huge problem at the first application of brakes, and then got better as the rotor heated.

Just give it a little time to see if it gets better, plus you probably need to be at a slower speed at the top of the hill and you may want to add a little more gain to the brake control. Another thought is don't go back with any pads / rotors that aren't at least OEM quality. I just spent over $1300 in parts for my full brake job and it paid for itself on the way home from Charleston.

[goducks14]

Sounds to me like your TT brakes aren't doing their job. With your TBC cranked to the max and manually applying the TT brakes they should either skid or really grab hard. Your Titan should be more than enough for that TT. What I do now that I have a gasser is when descending on a long grade I'll kick my TBC gain up so the TT brakes do a little more than normal work. Once on the flats or not so steep section I'll reduce it back.

[LV Naturist]

Just shootin' from the hip here but, that wasn't the trucks ABS kicking in, was it? You'll feel a rapid pulse sensation and hear a kinda growling noise if it was.

John