Ive owned this car for about 3 1/2 years and have never done brakes. I've never done brakes in general, but I know the basics. I did my clutch and rear stationary gear O ring last year, but im hoping its not anywhere near that hard

My rears will grind once and a great while if I drive a lot, and I started hearing this for the first time last month intermittently, but its happening more frequently, so its time. Im doing rear rotors and ceramic pads first, but im wondering is there anything special aka tips I should know about doing rear brakes thats not in the FSM?

 

Pretty simple for the most part.

Just make sure the Ebrake is down...

 

The rear caliper piston cannot be pushed in...it must be turned/screwed back in. I use a pair of needle nosed pliers but they do sell a special tool for the job.

Don't remove the caliper...loosen the top bolt and remove the lower then just rotate the caliper up and out of the way to remove the pads.

A couple of hints for ya.

Regards,
Crispy

 

yeah pretty straight forward

 

best thing to do is to rent the tool from autozone. They require like 35bux I believe but they refund you ounce you return it. Its a lot easier with the tool as the caliper gets pretty hard to move over the years.

 

there is a special tool that could be used with a ratch. It's a cube looking thing with 6 faces that has different extended nipples for holding the rear caliper piston some you can push and screw it back in for few backs at Kragens =). Good luck!

-AzEKnightz

 

The front brakes are VERY simple. Hardest part is compressing the pistons back in, and that's not that hard.

Rears are also simple, again hardest part as stated is compressing the piston. The Autozone tool is well worth a free rental ($35, then you get that back when you return it) as it makes the job SO much faster.

When compressing the pistons in I like to crack the bleed screws and have a bleed bottle hooked up to them. Instead of trying to force the old fluid backwards through the lines when you compress the piston, just push it out the bleed screw. If you're doing a full brake job a good bleed/flush of the lines is a great idea.

Dale

 

Just took apart my rear brakes today, and I noticed that the right rear is missing a "V" clip when the LR had one. What is the purpose of this clip?

 

it backs the pads off the disk - rattle/wear. You can get one locally cheap.

 

I got the rear caliper tool kit from Harbor Freight for <$15. really handy for compressing the front pistons too.

 

does anybody know how to remove the rear brake rotors??? I did everything it said in the FSM, removed the rear pads/caliper, and caliper bracket, and it says the next step is to just remove the rotors, but its not coming off. I tried hitting with a hammer and prying, but nothing.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

1 question, look at the rotor does it have 2 small holes on the hat? Is it threaded. If so, then you can use a bolt the right size and thread pitch, screw it in and it will remove the rotors fairly easy. IF NOT, then if you are not keeping the rotors, just use a hammer and from the inner side of the car, whack the rotor hard to unfrozen it.

BUT before u hit it with a hammer, I suggest putting on a wheel lug nut on of the the bolts that way when you whack it, it wont come flying off!

-AzEKnightz

 

Before even trying to attempt to simply wail at the rotor if you're removing it, make sure there isnt a screw holding in place like all other vehicles i've seen, even the handful of FD's i did brake jobs on had this set screw in place.

If there is a screw holding the rotor in place, make sure you have an impact screwdriver. Otherwise you'll be cursing up a storm for a week trying to figure out how to get it out now.

 

Ended up getting both rotors off, I was over thinking things. My brother told me to just wack the rotors hard several times being that both are being replaced anyway. Rotors are supposed to arrive sometime today via fed ex so still waiting...

I had already removed the rear calipers before reading this, will that cause a big problem?

I do have a pair of needle nose pliers available, would I physically grab ahold of the piston itself with the pliers and turn it clockwise I assume?

 

Another tip.........I smear a little low-temp anti-seize on the back of the rotor hat (or on the face of the hub) before reinstalling. And some on the thread of the screw if you re-use it.

Removing the calipers shouldn't cause any issues by itself. But use a small bungie cord or something to hang the caliper from the spring. Don't let hang by the brake line. And don't twist it unnecessarily.

 

No, but it makes it a little more difficult. When you look at the piston you should see 2 slots opposite of each other set the pliers in the slots and turn clockwise.

 

Job completed and everything drives great Now I need to replace the RR broken wheel stud, and part of the brake hardware was missing on the RR wheel. Only the RR brake pads were grinding because it had tapered wear on the pads. This could be due to the caliper sticking, or the missing hardware/dirt contamination, and missing V clip. I cant replace the caliper now, too much down time I cant afford. I will see if over time, the missing hardware negatively affected the pad wear.

Brake hardware and wheel stud are special ordered and I will install when they arrive. Next month during tax return...Front pads and rotors and fluid exchange. I will also inspect the front pad wear as well and check for missing hardware

 

Tip for removing brake rotors in general: striking with a hammer works but it's probably not good for the bearings. Anyway look for tapped holes in between the lugnuts. Thread an appropriately sized bolt (M8 comes to mind) each hole and tighten down the bolts. This will elegantly pop the rotor free without hammers.

 

Also keep in mind that the rear caliper housing bolts need to go in the proper spots. If memory serves, the one that goes in the top is labeled G and the one for the bottom is labeled L. When I did my rears i mixed em up and had a hell of a time getting the car to move, glazed the pads, smelt great!
Sounds like you have everything in correctly.

Mike

 

The brake mount on the rear is marked G and L in case you forgot which was which.

 

I also forgot to mention that who ever did the brakes last time, didnt put the bolts back in the right places. I remember when taking it all apart, one of the rear was correct, (Guide pin on top, and Locking on the bottom) and the other side was incorrect, it had the Locking pin on top, and Guide pin on the bottom. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out which one was correct and which was incorrect, but after studying the FSM picture, finally figured it out lol

 

Is the impact screw driver the only way to remove the screw that holds the rotors together? Im thinking I might have to drill these screw out, I dont think they will ever come out!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 of them already somewhat stripped. Anybody have a better idea??

 

It's not the only way, but it's the best way. They are usually only $15-20 from Sears, so I would recommend grabbing one. If not, just drill them out.

 

The impact screwdriver SHOULD be able to get the set screws out, even if they are slightly stripped.

If they are stripping even with the impact, then you'll have to drill them out

 

I think drilling is the best option being that I already have the tools for the job, and I have a bad feeling that ill be buying an impact gun, and later realizing that I need to drill anyway.

Would it be ok to not use new screws when I install the new rotors? My rear rotors did not have screws when I removed them, and if I can be safe without them i'll be more then happy to leave them out!!! Any thoughts on this?