Replacing rear brake pads and rotors

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Overtow

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Didn't see a guide, so I figured I would contribute back to the community since I'm a frequent consumer of information here. Long story short, this is an easy job, by far the easiest brake job I've ever done. Eight total bolts to remove, six of which are lugnuts. Here we go!

1. Put the truck into parking brake maintenance mode - without doing this you won't be able to push the caliper pistons in.


2. Lift the truck and secure it with an appropriate jack stand. Don't go under a car that is only supported by a jack unless you want to hang out with Henry Ford sooner than planned. This is where its great to have an actual frame to lift.

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3. Remove the lugnuts (21mm) and the tire. I place the tire under the rear hitch as an additional safety while doing the work. My M18 Fuel Impact Wrench removed the lugnuts without issue.

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I live in Cleveland, rust is part of life here.

4. Now that the wheel is removed, we can see what we need to do to get the caliper off - specifically a 10mm wrench/ratchet, and a pair of pliers if you don't have thin walled wrenches to hold the caliper bolts while you are loosening.

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continued....
 
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Overtow

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...continued...

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Theres a plastic boot that connects to the lower caliper bolt to hold the wiring harness in place, remove this so you can access the lower bolt.

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5. After removing the caliper you'll be able to remove the pads using a flat blade screw driver.

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Overtow

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continued...

6. Now that the pads are off you should be able to remove the rotor. In my case, I could not get it to come off without seven or eight whacks with the pictured sledgehammer.

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7. Once the caliper was off, I removed the brake pad mounting clips from the caliper mount.

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Overtow

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....and started scraping away the rust with the wire brush....

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8. Again, its Cleveland and I intend to keep this truck for a while, hence anti-seize is your friend. You'll thank yourself later, just remember that antiseize has a magical ability to get on <everything>.

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Reminder of the cardinal rule - Antiseize gets on everything!

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Overtow

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Home stretch:

9. Presuming you've successfully entered Parking Brake Maintenance Mode, you'll be able to use a standard caliper piston compressor to push the piston back in. No special tools required here, so don't worry about renting the kit from your part store.

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10. Now its time to start reassembling! Step one was greasing the brake hardware mounts and the ends of the brake pads with Antiseize. A word of caution: it is generally bad form to get antiseize on the face of the brake pads or the rotors. Brakes are supposed to seize. Don't get antiseize on the friction material!

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Notice that I have antiseize on the ends of the pads - again, this is Cleveland...
 
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Overtow

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11. Now insert the pads into the mounting positions. I did the inside pad before the outside pad because it was easier to hold in place while mounting the front pad. Once the pads were on, I re-installed the (piston-compressed) caliper. Also, take note that the arrow on the pad with the word "UP". Apparently the pads are directional, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the friction material.

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I was able to hold the caliper bolts with my fingers until they tightened up enough to crank down with the ratchet.

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Finally, I reinstalled the wheel, torqued the lug nuts to 150 pounds (!!), and then reversed the procedure above to exit out of parking brake maintenance mode.

This side of the truck took me less than 45 minutes - the other side was a little over 90 minutes because I could not for the life of me get the rotor off using my small sledge - I had to upsize to the big guy.

Hopefully this helps someone. I saw a comment in another thread that this was easier than changing the oil. I could not possibly agree more!

Fronts coming soon....
 
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X BRONCO OWNER

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No matter how careful i am I always seem to end up covered in anti-seize lol. How do you get the ebrake in to maintenance mode?
 

Going_Going_Gone

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In looking at the photos, I have not had my rear calipers off my truck so it appears in your photos that the piston is retracted into the caliper by force (a la using a C-clamp) and not being "threaded" back into the caliper like on the Edge etc. rear brakes??
 

Soliyou

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In looking at the photos, I have not had my rear calipers off my truck so it appears in your photos that the piston is retracted into the caliper by force (a la using a C-clamp) and not being "threaded" back into the caliper like on the Edge etc. rear brakes??
Yes, it is retracted using force after placing the parking brake in service mode to disengage the actuator. Service mode is a must here.

The service manual warns against using a c-clamp to push the actuator since it can crack the plastic housing of the parking brake actuator. The tool that Overtow used is the recommended one.
 
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