Crappy brakes

[Truckin Redneck]

So quick catch up,
In 16 I bought a 2500 RCLB 6.4 as a work truck, It runs a a snow ex 9'6" stainless V-blade on the front and Snow Power reversable box plow on the rear. Still have the 16, really enjoyed it but wanted something for play I began looking for a Power Wagon about a year later I for the perfect truck. The truck was a CPO 15 Power Wagon I purchased in 17 from the local dealer, the previous owner was a dentist who used to to go fly fishing. He traded the truck in on a 17 for the updated styling. fast forward to the purchased day brakes seemed sub par even unloaded compared to the 16 with 2500lbs of plows on the truck. I scheduled an appointment and they found nothing wrong. The trucks brake pedal would drop about third of the way to the floor before any real braking would happen.
In the mean time i purchased a lifetime maxcare mopar warranty, unlimited miles and time bumper to bumper 100 deductible. At 65k I had enough, I resurfaced the rotors and got some EBC green pads slight improvement, but again not where 16 was at the time. I scheduled an appointment again no issues, at this point I contributed this to the 35" Coopers.
Fast forward to last week headed to work and the brakes felt worse than ever, practically standing on the floor to stop from 50. Then nothing pedal to the floor, no pressure. Used the emergency brake and brake release to slow down. checked fluid and it was full checked lines for leaks, nothing checked linkages nothing loose or disconnected. I tried pumping the pedal slight pressure, repeat, more pressure, repeat, continued until the pedal felt normal. limped the truck to the dealer they found that the seal between master cylinder and power booster had failed this also caused the brake lines to "bulge and begin to leak" long story short they wanted just over 2k to fix everything. I reminded the service advisor that I had the warranty. Long story short the warranty has now paid for itself and will keep on keeping on. The brakes are now ten fold what they were and I almost believe the seal was bad from the get go. The reason for the long write up is to hopefully help someone if they are having issues with their own brakes before they go out like mine and have an accident.

[olyelr]

Heck yea thanks for posting this up!

[SimonandSimonBeast]

I had 2 similar experiences with an '02 Chevy 2500 Suburban. So, don't feel it is just a Ram thing. 1st was a hard break line failure right behind the driver front wheel. Apparently, this is a known corrosion issue. If I had known this I may have paid heed to the corrosion. No warning and of all times happens when a full grown doe decides to mosey across the road. Really, they normally bound across the road, this one couldn't have moved slower. I almost hit it's ass end as I pressed the pedal to the floor. 2nd was the same seal between the master cylinder and hydro-boost. It started with a weep and progressed to a mess of fluid under the hood. Might be worth it to pay heed to any weeping in that area.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[Hbpwagon]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. I’m having a similar feeling with my truck since the first day. Dealer said all is normal.
Now I have something concrete and logical to check.
Thanks again, I need to be able to stop this beast!

[Time2kyl]

My '19 PW has been at the dealer for weak brakes for 17 days. Diagnosed as bad booster. However, they are backordered from FCA. So they found one from a dealer. It took 8 days to arrive and it was broken when they got it. They found another one and it arrived today, so here is hoping it gets fixed tomorrow and does something. I bought it on 1 Jan so they have had it 70% of the time I have owned it. Lots of soft brake talk on HD forums.

[Jack187]

My brakes felt really bad the day I picked them up from the dealer (in 2015). I have never had any specific maintenance on them, but they improved dramatically in the first year. Still don't know the reason why they improved. Maybe a TSB of which I was unaware?