How to learn to do brakes myself?

[Deezul1]

I'm with Joe G dont turn them unless they are scored or the pedal pulsates, those are the only reasons to remove metal from a costly part and shorten their life. A lite scuffing with a fine emery paper to remove glazing is all that is needed and thats why the shop turns them most times is to remove glaze that is easy to get off (sort of) with sanding

 

[radixr]

DOT 4

Bill C. ,



Make sure DOT 4 is the right brake fluid for your system. Although my truck is a '96, the shop manual specifies DOT 3 and I seem to remember seeing posts that warned against using DOT 4. Something about not being compatible with the brake system components.

 

[BC]

Deezul and Joe, I need to turn rotors. When I'm stopping I feel a lot of "pulsing" in the wheel. That is usually the sign rotors need to be turned.



Radixr, my manual says brake fluid #3. When I spoke to Sam Peterson, by the way the pads I ordered from him came today, he said the dot 4 has a higher boiling point.



Then again, I don't want to do anything that will screw up my braking system. For that reason, even though I have Amsoil throughout my truck, I still use Dodge ATF.



Thanks,



Bill Cook

 

[Joe G.]

Bill,



You should have them show you on a dial indicator that the rotor runout is more than . 005". If it is not then the "pulsing" may be from your ABS.

 

[sam peterson]

BC---use the dot 4 fluid if it is available---it won't harm any of the components in the brake system and is compatible and mixes with any dot 3. the benefit is the higher boiling point. rotor runout is not the only reason to turn the rotors. some trucks will pulsate with as little as 3 thou runout. rotors can be turned without problems if the right kind of equipment is used. sometimes it only takes a few thou to get a good flat surface for the new pads to seat onto. it elimates the pads from having to wear into the old rotor surface and combats against noise problems. hope everything goes well. -----Sam

 

[BC]

Sam, thanks for the great service and information. I'll watch whoever does my brakes and maybe I can do them next time. I picked the shop manual yesterday. I'll read about the brakes over the weekend. I'll also use DOT 4.



Joe, thanks for the info.



Again, if anyone is reading this for the Southeast TDR subgroup and know of a great place to go for brakes I'm all ears. I made an appointment to have rotors turned for next week. I'ld love to be able to go to one place for everything. As it stands now I'll get the rotors turned, then get brakes done here by local mechanic.

 

[BC]

Just want to thank everyone for all the info.



Over the past two days I've worked on the brakes. On Tuesday I took the 3500 to a local mechanic. He let me help him. I didn't say anything, just let him do what ever he wanted, watched, and asked questions.



I bought my Carbomet brake pads from Sam Peterson. I also picked up some Dot 4 brake fluid... unfortunatly, when I went to the mechanic I took the Dot 3 fluid I had also bought. Opps. Will switch to Dot 4 in 15,000 miles. It has a much higher boiling point.



Mechanic adjust the rears first. While truck was up on the lift he adjust through the slots on the back of the hubs. Petty easy. He showed me what to look for.



Then we replace pads. One thing he didn't do was remove the caliper piston, clean it, grease it, and put it reinstall. I asked about this and he said it was a waste of time.



After reading this board, and thanks to everyone who puts up so much good information, I knew it needed to be done. I didn't push the mechanic to do it. That is something I'll do this weekend.



Finally we drained, replaced, and bled the brake fluid. Again, this is something I can do now that I've seen it done.



Yesterday I took the 3500 to Dodge and let them turn the rotors.



I don't have any more shimmy in the wheel when I apply the brakes. However it will pull to the left. If I hit just the emergency brake it stops straight. So the problem is up front. As I said, I'll clean up the calipers this weekend.



Thanks for all the info folks.



Bill Cook