How I spend some days…
Truck brakes started grinding. So I picked up 4 new rotors and 4 sets of brake pads. I always replace all at the same time. Or so I thought…
Sounded like it might be the rear so I pull off the left rear wheel. Pads look fine, outer and inner, have at least half left. So I put the wheel back on and pulled off the right rear wheel. These pads look OK too. Hmm. Must be the front. Put the wheel back on.
Pull off the left front wheel. Pads are fine. They hardly look worn. Way over twice the thickness as the rear. Put the wheel back on. Decision time. Do I look at the right front or throw in the towel. While I’m thinking it over I take a break and have some Iced Tea.
Decide to look at the right front. Pull the wheel off. Looks just as good as the left. Put the wheel back on. What the heck. I’m not hearing things. What did I miss…
Pull the right rear wheel off again. Look at the pads. They have miles left. So. Do I replace the rotor and pads anyway or put the wheel back on and look at the left rear again. If I find something I’ll land up pulling the right wheel off again. I hesitate because they got a lot of miles left on them. Break time. More Iced Tea. I have it off now. Screw it. I’ll replace the rotor and pads.
Now to top it all off. What a PITA. Worst brake replacement experience of my life. And mind you, in 50+ years of owning and driving vehicles, only once did I *not* do the brake job myself. And that one time, when I was charged almost $800 (Dealer), at the time it would cost me $200 for 4 new rotors and 4 new sets of pads, I swore never to do that again…
So. I’ve done a lot of brake jobs. Including this truck. But this time… The pads semi-float within the caliper assembly. The caliper assembly floats side-to-side on it’s mounting bracket. That’s how they get the inner and outer pads to wear evenly. There are metal spring clips/pads that keep the pads in the proper place and they are replaced when new pads are installed.
That’s where the PITA comes in. Those new clips/pads interfered with the new pads when installing them. I now suspect the clips/pads did not fit just right due to surface rust build up on the mounting bracket they fit into. Rust scale increases the volume of the metal by up to 10 times. Maybe I should have cleaned up the areas with a file.
But. Never had to do that before so it didn’t cross my mind. Needless to say I finally was able to install the pads but I bet I spent an hour per side wrestling with getting the pads installed. So the right rear rotor and pads are replaced.
Pull off the left rear wheel. Now I’m committed to replacing the rotor and pads. Because you always replace in pairs on an axle. Check to see that the caliper assembly floats (moves) and is not frozen to the mounting bracket. Yes it does. Remove the bolts holding mounting bracket to the wheel. Pull the whole assembly off the rotor…
Again the outer pad is fine. Oh. There’s the grinding problem. How the heck did I miss that… The inner pad is gone. Completely gone. It’s steel backing plate is against the rotor. This is the second time this has happened on this truck. Last time the backing plate was completely gone too and the caliper was damaged and had to be replaced. This time it’s OK. Most likely because the backing plate was still there.
So. Grinding mystery solved. But. Another PITA getting the pads installed… Back on the road again! Hey that be a good song title…
So that’s how I spent 8 hours of my day today. A job that typically took me a half hour to an hour per wheel in the past. Now an all day adventure… But. Besides taking 6 wheels off and on to do brake jobs on 2. Besides installing those pads being a time consuming PITA. The boss let me take a few extended breaks. Like a hour or so at a time. Relaxing sitting out on the front porch with my Iced Tea.