Working on the brakes on what was my uncle's old truck, 2007 F-150 2WD. The ABS light is on with an ABS ECU code. Brake warning light is also on -- hope that's just the fluid level sensor or something. It has plenty of fluid and no leaks.

Pedal feel isn't great but it stops decently. I'm first making sure everything is mechanically sound and will then do a fluid flush if I still don't like the pedal, before worrying about ABS.

Front brakes look OK, no need to replace yet, except that one caliper pin on each side requires a lot of effort to move. It's the one with the rubber bushing on it:

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another angle


Didn't look too bad but I cleaned it up (including the bore with Q-tips) and used a small amount of Sil-Glyde (not too much), but it's not any better. The bore looks perfect and the pin looks good, just one shiny spot further up but nothing I can feel. I thought maybe the rubber had swollen so I got a new bushing/boot kit (orange is new, black is old). Unfortunately that's not any better!

Am I missing something -- is the Ford design supposed to be hard to move on that pin, or do I need to replace the pins and/or caliper bracket? When swapping pins around, it's always the pin with the rubber bushing that's tight, the same in any hole, and one of the two pins with bushings is tighter than the other. The pins without bushings move perfectly.

Yes, they should move smoothly. The pins are cheap and readily available at the auto parts store. I'd start there.

If you can move it with your hands or fingers, it's fine. It just needs to move. I usually just wipe the pin off with carb cleaner, gob some brake line of your choice in the hole and on the pin and send it. If mine moves, I call it good.

It's hard to determine how mhard it is to move on the internet.

If your pad wear is somewhat close to even, it's working as good as you can expect.