1986 740 sedan, ~180 K mi, The front brakes are dragging hard, both sides, takes two hands and a grunt to spin wheels with car on jack. I read the faq, it suggests faulty flex hose, or if both wheels, suspect cylinder. There is no elaboration on the cylinder. I presume it means master cylinder.

Are there check valves or soething that can stick? Is this something that can be checked/fixed, or is it better to just replace it?

Nothing is leaking anywhere, and pedal feels good. The drag is not even, that is, there are some spots in the rotation that are tighter than others. That part is probably just a warped rotor. Driving slow one can feel the car surging to the brake drag. But where it's tight, it is really tight.

I'm looking for wisdom on the most likely cause, in order to avoid fixing what ain't broke.

There's about 1/4 inch friction material on pads. Rear brakes seem fine, no drag evident, wheels spin easy.

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-rcf