Brakes on 3rd Gen

[Foil Freak 1211]

I took my truck into the dealer for an oil change yesterday. The brakes were starting to squeek a little, so I had him check them. The service advisor said that he would recommend replacing pads on both front and rear. The truck has 52,000 miles on it. I use it to tow, but also have an exhaust brake. I must say I expected to get more miles on this set of brakes. How long are you guys going on your first set of brakes?

 

[p-Bar]

42k on fronts backs still ok. If I had a jake brake I'd be using it all the time.

 

[JFortune]

Currently 105,000 miles and pads still look good, I would double check them, dont just take the dealers word for it. My brakes squeak slightly under light braking but that is due to dust. . Oh yeah I pull 95% of the time, a 30' gooseneck with a John Deere 7610 (16,000lbs) or my D4G XL 19,000lbs. Good Luck

 

[TCDiesel]

I have Drilled/Slotted Rotors. Stopping is Tremendously increased.

 

[MoparBob]

Brake life is determined by several factors making one person's experience different than that of another. In my experience 42K out of a set of brakes on these trucks when you have been towing moderate to heavy loads on occasion isn't out of the ordinary. But it isn't great mileage either though, especially when you have an engine or exhaust brake figured into the overall picture. Check them yourself or take the truck by another qualified facility to double check if you feel that dealership may be stringing you along.



I've seen identical model year vehicles come into the shop I used to work at that needed brakes, one car having only 17,000 miles on it and the other almost 65,000 miles (due to the drivers driving style & habits... both extreme cases). The average brake life on these vehicles was about 40 to 50 thousand miles (small passenger cars).

 

[LightmanE300]

My truck has 80k on and when I rotated the tires the other day there was still tons of brake pad left... I'm not sure what the thickness is that mandates a change, but both front and back were still pretty thick. I've been pretty pleased, because I've never had a vehicle with brake pads that lasted so long.

 

[jelag]

04 3500 dually, with 211K miles..... we pull a trailer 95% of the time that weighs 18-20K lbs... we got 160K miles on the OE brake pads and had to do them because we had cooked off the boots on the calipers... ... the boots had failed and were letting dirt into the calipers and I was afraid they wouldn't retract...



Have someone else look at it... . My daughter took her vehicle in... they told her it needed brakes... . found out it had 65% left and the dealer was trying to generate shop business... ... She never went back... .

 

[JLibert]

99,500 miles on my truck, just checked all 4 corners yesterday and the pads looked only lightly worn. I installed a pac brake at about 70k, and pull a 3 horse gn 1x a week. Also have been running 325 60 18's (33x13. 50) which added a considerable amount of rotating mass vs. stock.

 

[bkaiser]

Rears went at about 25K, taking the rotors with them. They never made a squek or grind. Just nasty silent death. I will be doing the fronts this weekend - 34K. No guys, I don't tow heavy. My commute to work is 6 miles with about a 500 foot elevation drop. I had a Neon that went through four sets of pads and three sets of rotors in 98K. At least Neon parts were cheap and easy to change!

 

[J&LRam]

Ryan

yeah, my wife just had her '03 Buick in for 80k injecter cleaner as part of the purchace deal from the Buick dealer. They told her the same thing, "the pads need to be replaced". She told them she didn't think so as my husband just did a complete brake job in July. Deaelers will tell you anything just to make more money. Check the pads yourself. I have about the same rig as yours [see cig]. With 57000 miles the pads are only about 30-40 percent gone and the rotors look great. I use the EB all the time and all hiway miles as I don't have a town to drive in. I tow a 11200 lb 5er.

JIM

 

[RTillery]

121,000 on my originals. Hope to go 30,000 more. I don't tow much and stay on the go pedal a lot more than the whoa pedal .

 

[Money Maker]

rears needed pads at 115k fronts coulda gone awhile longer but I also changed out front hubs and while I was in there did them too. I too tow 98% of the time 18,000+ pound trailer and no exhaust brake. I never downshift when coming to a stop and I drive in the mountains a lot.