2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission 02 Disc Brakes

[Crazy Horse]

After just doing a brake job on my 2002 2500 with 4 wheel disc brakes I thought I'd post some photos with some maybe helpful information to those seeking information before they jump in. This is a Dana 70 and does NOT APPLY to duallies. After doing many searches here at TDR to find info for myself I did decide to pull the wheels the day before doing the job and spraying a quality parts loosen-er spray around the hub and lug studs there the rotors are attached. I did a little beating on the rotors between the lug studs the night before to work the parts loosen-er in.

It's pretty straight forward removing the calipers (2 bolts each) and caliper mounting brackets (2 bolts each). You only need to remove the caliper mounting brackets if you are replacing rotors. NOTE: If you are just replacing pads they are removable once the calipers are out of place. NOTE: If you are replacing or resurfacing rotors once the caliper bolts are removed, tie up or secure calipers out of the way so they don't hang by the hoses and then remove rotors.

Tools need:
Quality Parts Loosen-er
High Temp Anti Seize
Non hardening high temp loc tight for caliper bracket mounting bolts
Big Hammer or air hammer w/ flat driver chisel
Flat bladed screw driver
Pry bar
1/2" & 3/8" drive ratchets
15/16" - 6 pt - 1/2 drive socket for wheel lugs (My lug nut torque is 140' pounds)
13/16" - 6pt - 1/2 drive socket for rear caliper mounting bracket bolts
1/2" - 6 pt - 3/8" drive socket for rear caliper mounting bolts
T-45 - 3/8" drive Torx driver for front caliper mounting bolts
5/8" - 12 point - 1/2" drive socket for front caliper mounting bracket bolts
3/8" line wrench for bleeder screws
Torque wrench or wrenches capable of attaining 20-210 ft lbs
In going through the TDR archives there was some question as to the validity of the 210' pound spec on the rear caliper bracket mounting bolts. They did safely go to 210' foot pounds of torque on mine.

Here is a picture of the rear after the rotor was removed. Notice the parking brake shoes, the drum for the parking brake is incorporated on the inside of the rear portion of the rotor:#ad




Here is a picture of the front after rotor removal:#ad



Here are the caliper mounting brackets after removal that includes the old disc brake pads:#ad



Here is the front brake backside after reassembly:#ad



Here is the rear brake backside after reassembly:#ad



And here are the outside views after reassembly:#ad
Front


Rear #ad



Anti seize applied lightly between the hub and the rotors prior to assembly.

 

[jeepit]

Sweet. What brand rotors are those??

How many miles on the old rotors?

 

[Crazy Horse]

After much deliberation I went with the Power Stop slotted/drilled rotors and the Z-36 Power Stop pads from buy brakes.com. What a difference in stopping power!!! And I do have to say the whole company was a pleasure to deal with, from start to finish. A rarity in today's rush-rush way of doing business. Polite patience answering questions to fast shipping and customer support/follow-up gets em an A+.



I thought the brakes were down farther than they were due to the truck having 65,000 miles on it. So, I ordered an upgrade in the rotors and pads ahead of time.



The rotors are in good shape. I'm thinking I'm gonna box them up in the replacement boxes and see if I can get $50 out of them.



As you can see the pads appear to be approx 1/2 worn. There was no pedal pulsation or wobbling in the front when braking so I could have had them resurfaced.



/webdata/photopost/data/757/medium/Rotors.jpg#ad

 

[MKinner]

Did you replace your park brake shoes? Not looking forward to doing mine, but they seem to be holding up good as well as the rest of the brakes at 115K.

 

[Jeff Knight]

Is there a reason you have to remove the mounting brackets on the rear? Won't the rotor come off with them still attached? Thanks Jeff

 

[Crazy Horse]

Did you replace your park brake shoes?

No, I cleaned them up, lubed the anchor pins and rub points.



One thing I did do was grind off the wear indicators that were on the new rear set of pads. WAPITA, trying to get the calipers back on the mounting brackets with the shoes already in place, the rubber boot and sleeve (part of the caliper hdwr) would not clear those wear indicators. I figured since the frt pads didn't come w/ them to begin with I didn't need them on the back. With the way most people are they don't get all the way down to the indicators anyway.

 

[Crazy Horse]

Is there a reason you have to remove the mounting brackets on the rear? Won't the rotor come off with them still attached?

The way the caliper mounting bracket are made they bolt on to the back side of the axle flange???, then come over to basically enclose the rotor in place. With the brackets in place on the axle housing there would never be enough wiggle room to pull the rotors off far enough to clear the hubs. Especially with as tight as those rotors are fitted. That is one reason those rotors are such a pita to get off. See the last 2 photos in the 1st post and visualize the calipers off and the pads pulled. The pads pull out to the sides with the mounting brackets and rotors in place.



Spray them down the night before!

 

[BarryG]

Thanks for the write up. I had to replace my rear rotors last night due to a disintegrated pad which I have never had happen before. Too bad I was out in the middle of nowhere and 500 miles from home when it happened and had no real choice but to continue driving it cringing every time I applied the brakes. I expected them to need a little persuasion to come off but holy crap what a pita. It took me about two hours to get them off. I honestly thought I had forgot to take something off I used some pentrating oil, BFH, heat etc all a no go. Was really wondering if something else needed to come off that I had overlooked. Thought I would do a search on here while I took a short break. Found this thread and it did reaffirm that I had not forgotten anything. In the end I got them off with the BFH. Good thing I was replacing them as the old ones werent going to be fit to reuse after all that banging.

 

[Crazy Horse]

Glad it helped you. I hate reading details about R&R details out of a shop manual. Since I'm over 50 now I have to use reading glasses to see what I'm working on and it's a PITA. I like to look at the photos to see whats up before I tackle things.

 

[wlowe]

Did you have any problems loosening the bleeder screws? Some members have complained about breaking them off. I'm getting close to replacing the pads and rotors, appreciate the write-up.

 

[BarryG]

When I replace my pads I dont bleed the brakes so I havent had the issue you mention. This is the 4th set of pads I have replaced on this truck (2 front and now 2 rear) Now before anyone goes crazy. I dont open the system so it doesnt need it. I jack up vehicle, remove tire, pull the caliper off, remove old pads and clips, inspect other items, loosen the cap on the master cylinder (depending on how full it is I may take some fluid out), use a c-clamp and slowly compress the caliper pistons, install the pads and clips, grease the sliding pins, reinstall the caliper. Check fluid level add or remove as neccesary(when compressing the pistons the fluid they displace goes back to the master cylinder thereby possibly making it over full, again depending on how full it was to begin with and I keep mine at the full level). No air is allowed to get in so there is no air to take out.



Now last night I had to replace one of the calipers due to it freezing up (the source of my trashed pad which took out the rotor) so I did have to remove the brake line and bleed the new caliper. Obviously bleeding the new caliper was easy as the bleeder screws were brand new so no problem.

 

[kscheffler]

How do you remove the calipers after the caliper mounting bolts are released? I understand how to compress them with a c clamp but then I still can not remove the calipers? Do they need to rotate or some thing else?

 

[BarryG]

You have two things one is the caliper mounting bracket that is held on with two large bolts. The caliper is held to that by two much smaller bolts that are actually the sliding pins. They are the ones that have the little rubber boots and are greased. see picture 4 and 5 above in this post he has labeled them.



Once the caliper mounting bolts are out if you look at picture 7 above you will see an aluminum clip on the top and the bottom of the mounting bracket. Each has 3 sections to it. If I recall correctly you need to pull the bottom out first then the top. You may need to use a flat blade screwdriver to release that bottom clip from a lip on the bottom of the caliper. Just sort of pry it open a bit and it should release the bottom then the top you should be able to pull right out. When reinstalling you will need to set the top in first then push in the bottom.



Going from memory here and it may be above is what you need to do for the rear calipers and the front calipers it may be opposite remove the top first and then pull out the bottom. In any case I believe one of those aluminum clips center section is different than the other and that is the one you need to release first. See picture 4 above look at caliper mounting bracket on far right labeled LF and you will notice the aluminum clip center section is different than the rest of them on that caliper bracket.



Hopefully this makes sense.

 

[JCyrbok]

How do you remove the calipers after the caliper mounting bolts are released? I understand how to compress them with a c clamp but then I still can not remove the calipers? Do they need to rotate or some thing else?

I tap mine at the top with a hammer. Tap then towards the rear. The top has to come out of the bracket first and then the bottom.



J-

 

[kscheffler]

Thanks guys this should help I could never figure out how to get the calipers off.