replacing brake pads and rotors? see inside

bradjh · Post by **bradjh** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:38 pm

This weekend i need to replace the front rotors and pads. I have done this on a honda civic but not a s10.. i want to avoid bleeding the brake lines. can i just swap the pads and rotors and pump up the pedal and put it all back togather. can i get a simple step by step for the front pads and rotors. brad

Wrangler · Post by **Wrangler** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:53 pm

Replacing the brakes on a crew is pretty easy and straight forward. Just make sure to get grease for the slide pins. No special tools are needed just a wrench (forget what sizes) and a clamp. Rotors pop right off the 4WD s10. The seach function here can probably direct you to more detailed threads on it.

I just loosen the brake fluid resevior cap and slowly crank the brake piston back with the c clamp and old pad in place over the piston.

Post by **HenryJ** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:53 pm

Please, please do a search to see if what you need is already available.

This thread starts with a post that is almost word for word what you posted.

changing brake rotors and pads

I has the correct procedure. Make darn sure you don't mess up your ABS system by not cracking the bleeders before you compress the calipers.

bradjh · Post by **bradjh** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:38 am

thanks for the info. i did try searching but i just could not find it about the brake pin lube what kind should i use? any pics of the brake pad and rotor changing would be helpful aswell. brad

Lil-j · Post by **Lil-j** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:12 pm

you have to crack the bleeders to compress the pistons? I did not know that, why must you do that? I didnt do that when I did my bearing change. not cool. see my thred on squealing if you will. sorry brad, not trying to thread jack

T Man · Post by **T Man** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:45 pm

You crack the bleeders so as to not flush any accumulated junk in the caliper bores back into the ABS system. I had an excursion come into work that had a soft petal that felt and reacted EXACTALLY like a bad mastercylinder. I talked to the customer and he said he recently had brake service performed. After replacing the mastercylinder 3 times, bleeding the brakes numerous times (ended up running close to a gallon of brakefluid through the system, I thought about the possiblity of the ABS unit being bad, sure enough, new abs unit in it was perfect. I began to take apart the old abs unit to find the cause of the failure, and found a tiny piece of rust, or old brakie line lining (something not sure) was causing one of the pistons in the abs unit to not close all the way, causing a soft petal. While this kind of thing is rare to say the least, its much cheeper to just do it the right way. Crack the bleeder, compress the piston, close the bleeder, then release pressure on the piston. Brake jobs are always a good time for a brake flush as well. Being that brakefluid is hydrosopic, and there is no way to preventy any moisture from getting in the brake lines, a flush every brake job is the cheepest preventive from having to replace calipers. The moisture will sit in the bottom of the caliper and rust, which tears up the square cut o ring on the piston, which causes failure. New Calipers? 200+ Quart of brake fluid 12.99....Preventitive manitnce is ALWAYS cheeper

Lil-j · Post by **Lil-j** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:06 pm

T Man wrote:You crack the bleeders so as to not flush any accumulated junk in the caliper bores back into the ABS system. I had an excursion come into work that had a soft petal that felt and reacted EXACTALLY like a bad mastercylinder. I talked to the customer and he said he recently had brake service performed. After replacing the mastercylinder 3 times, bleeding the brakes numerous times (ended up running close to a gallon of brakefluid through the system, I thought about the possiblity of the ABS unit being bad, sure enough, new abs unit in it was perfect. I began to take apart the old abs unit to find the cause of the failure, and found a tiny piece of rust, or old brakie line lining (something not sure) was causing one of the pistons in the abs unit to not close all the way, causing a soft petal. While this kind of thing is rare to say the least, its much cheeper to just do it the right way. Crack the bleeder, compress the piston, close the bleeder, then release pressure on the piston. Brake jobs are always a good time for a brake flush as well. Being that brakefluid is hydrosopic, and there is no way to preventy any moisture from getting in the brake lines, a flush every brake job is the cheepest preventive from having to replace calipers. The moisture will sit in the bottom of the caliper and rust, which tears up the square cut o ring on the piston, which causes failure. New Calipers? 200+ Quart of brake fluid 12.99....Preventitive manitnce is ALWAYS cheeper

thanks I didnt think it was that important to do it EVERY time. That takes alot though on a simple brake job, and unfortunatly time is always something I'm short of....kids will do that

T Man · Post by **T Man** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:26 pm

I recommend the flush everytime, at my shop it doubles my brake jobs warranty. You dont have to do it right now, but its one of those things that will never hurt it

*EDIT* Never think of a brake job as a simple procedure. That makes you lazy, bad idea when you are working on something that could be the difference between life and death. A little extreme, but you get the idea. I can do a front brake job, including turning the rotors in about 30-45 minutes, if i went at it as a simple procedure i could nearly cut that time in half, but its not worth it to me when my, and my shops reputation, and someone elses life is possibly on the line.

rlrnr53 · Post by **rlrnr53** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:27 pm

I found out the hard way about not cracking the bleeder screws. On an Astro van we used to have, I didn't bother to crack the bleeders. After finishing the brake job, I had a brake system light on. That mistake cost over $700.00.

T Man · Post by **T Man** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:55 pm

normally when I get a brake light on after bleeidng the system, ill go to the opposite side of the system (i.e.front or back) crack the blleder and have someone press the petal till t he light goes out. close it up and its done. The brake light switch works by a piston sldign back and forth, tomorrow when Im sober, ill explain it...if someone will remind me