How to change brakes on a 1/2 ton 4x4.

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Irishman999

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I want to start by saying im not a mechanic, not in the sense i get paid for it. I have done many brake jobs, this is how i did mine on my 85 K1500. Before you go to a shop glance over this, its really not complicated and the end result is very fulfilling as apposed to paying a big bill.

My brake system in this truck was pretty nasty, the fluid was dark and the pads were worn in the front badly. I decided since the parts were affordable i decided to replace everything but the lines. For under 220$ you cant go wrong.

The first step to this is getting your truck on jack stands and pull off all your tires. Steal a towel no one will miss and use it to place parts on so nothing is lost.

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Here is the tools you need, For the caliper bolts you need a 3/8 hex bit. The big ass socket in the top right of the picture is a special tool you will need. I found mine at Orileys auto parts for about 10 bucks.

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Calipers come off first. 2 bolts. 3/8 inch hex bit fit into mine.

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I have after market hubs but im sure they are all similar to remove. After i got the small screws out i gently pried the cap off with a screw driver.

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When the caps off you will see a gear almost popping out but barely held in with a Phillips head screw. Remove the screw, gear and spring.

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Its hard to describe the next step, You need to remove a ring that holds in the next peice. Just do what im doing in this picture... To see what the ring looks like look below.

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The ring.

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Stick your thumbs in and pull this out.

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Next you use your special socket. Break loose the nut inside and remove.

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You should pull one of these out.

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This peice pulls straight out, nothing holds it at this point.

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One last jam nut and your hub/rotor slides off the axle.

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reach into the hub and pull this bearing out before you drop it in the dirt.

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I know there is proper tools for this but im a redneck so instead im using a flat blade screw driver and 12oz claw hammer. I hammered down one side of the wheel seal and the other usually pops up making it easy to remove. This seal might not be easy to remove, your not re-using the seal so dont stress it.

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After you get the seal out pull out the inner wheel bearing pictured here, set it on your towel. Now you at the mid point of this job, its time to go buy some parts and get some work done to your rotors and drums. The rear drums just slide off without dissembling anything.

The rotors are pressed onto your hub, luckily i didnt have to separate mine. If your rotor is too thin they wont be able to resurface them and you have to go through all the bs of having them separated and have new ones pressed onto the hub.

Dont take your brakes to oriley's to have them turned, their lathe is not big enough. Luckily i RESCUED mine before the dude turning them pounded out all my studs so it would fit on the machine. No matter what they tell you, you dont have to separate the hub and rotor to get them turned. A real parts store with a real brake lathe will turn your rotors and drums in one peice. The local Napa store here won my business.

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Pictured here are the parts i bought. 2 front calipers, brake pad set, 2 new wheel seals, New master cylinder, rear brake shoes, rear wheel cylinders, wheel bearing grease, cans of brake parts cleaner, a small tube of locktite, 2 bottles of dot 3 brake fluid and a couple rolls of shop towels. Also pictured are the resurfaced rotors and drums, and a Shelby GT-500.

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Apparently i bought a lithium grease that wont mix with other types of grease so according to instructions i have to clean all the grease out of my bearings and hub. I sprayed the brake cleaner into the bearing and turned it, wiped with a rag and repeated until it was clean.

If you have regular wheel bearing grease its still a good idea to clean out the bearings. The grease inside the hub should be okay, dont clean it out unless you really like playing with grease.

While your cleaning these bearings you might as well clean all the other parts going into the hub, just make sure you dont mix up the parts (right and left side).

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Now its time to pack the wheel bearings. Tools are available to do this quick and effective. Basically all your doing is jamming all the grease inside the bearing as you can. I did this the old fashioned way with my hand. Get a glob of grease in your palm and just keep ramming it into the bearing, on the side with the biggest diameter. the gap between the inner ring and the cage is the best place to ram grease in, be very generous with this grease. You cant use to much grease.

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After you pack the bearings drop in your inner wheel bearing and install the wheel seal. To install this seal gently tap it into the hub with a smaller hammer. Now your bearing is trapped in the hub.

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now back to those jam nuts, 1 of them has a small peg on the face. Spin on the nut with a peg first, with the peg facing out.

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Now you set the bearings. Keep tightening the nut you just put on and turning the rotor until you feel alot of resistance, the rotor will be very hard to turn by hand. After the rotor stops spinning or is very hard to spin... back off about 1/8th of a turn.

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This part is important, the small peg on the jam nut needs to insert into one of the small holes in this piece. You will have to tighten or loosen your nut a little bit to get it into a hole. Once it fits flat against the jam nut you can install the outside jam nut. Use some muscle on this one.

The other 3 parts go in exactly like they came out, very simple, Then you can put the cap back on.

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Now install your calipers, they are side specific. 2 new pads per caliper. Look below before you stick pads in the caliper.

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This spring clamps onto pad. Clamp it on facing down (down if the caliper is mounted on truck). This spring clips on the inner pad and pops into the piton.

After your calipers back on the brakes are done, for the front anyways. Spray everything really good with the brake cleaner to get grease off the rotors. If your re using your calipers and they are not fitting over the rotor with new pads its probably because the piston is pushed out. Get a C-clamp and squeeze it back in. Really though, 30 bucks for 2 new calipers.... dont be cheap when it comes to brakes.

Front brakes are almost done, they still need bled. I can only post 25 pictures so im making another thread for the rear brakes and bleeding.
 

85k10383

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Awesome job! Great pics and descriptions, bet your truck stops a whole lot better now too.
 

crazy4offroad

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Two things I would like to add that may help.

A grease gun makes it a little easier to get grease back inside the hub between the inner and outer wheel bearings.

After getting the front fully assembled lock your front hubs and take a 5 minute drive in 2WD. The grease sometimes makes the hubs not want to lock the first time you use them. This will help the grease heat up and allow the hub parts to move freely.

That is all. :favorites13:
 

Manbearpig

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Nice write up

locking hubs are fun to pull apart lol
 

Jaymez

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I never knew there was so much involved in doing the brakes on these 4x4's.

That's going to make for a *fun* project when the time comes. Mine are so rusted that I need to cut the calipers off and replace the whole thing.
 

Irishman999

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Thanks guys, its cool adding new content, i enjoyed it. I got a chilton manual for my truck and im not really impressed, It only showed how to do the brakes on a 2 wheel drive. We can make one hell of a how to guide on this site.
 

HotRodPC

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Nice Write up. If not mistaken, isn't this the exact same process for a 3/4 ton 4x4 front brake job??? The 1 ton maybe a bit differant, and I know for a fact the DRW 1 ton is differant but I think the 3/4 ton is identical, just that the rotor has 8 lugs instead of 6. ?!?!?
Also, you mentioned there are special tools for quickly packing your bearings. True there are tools for that. But, although it takes plenty of time, I do hand hand pack my bearings just like you did. Put the grease in your palm as you have pictured and just keep wiping the grease, rotation the bearing and filling the bearing with grease. I have done it that way for years, and have never had a bearing go bad ever. How or why, I don't know, but I think you must get more grease in the bearing doing it that way, and its packed tighter. :High 5:
 

Irishman999

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My favorite way to pack the bearings was using a cone thing that threaded together and sanwiched the bearing in between, you just hit the zerk on the end of the threaded part and your good. Going by hand does seem alot better though.

*update on the brake job, the brakes work great but for some reason I hear a ticking sound that sounds like something rubbing on the rotor. It sounds like the rotor is warped also.
 

HotRodPC

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My favorite way to pack the bearings was using a cone thing that threaded together and sanwiched the bearing in between, you just hit the zerk on the end of the threaded part and your good. Going by hand does seem alot better though.

*update on the brake job, the brakes work great but for some reason I hear a ticking sound that sounds like something rubbing on the rotor. It sounds like the rotor is warped also.
I have the exact same tool. Looked like a great idea, and using a grease gun would make it so quick. But Not. I didn't like it after I seen it really didn't pack the grease near as good as I can do by hand. So that tool is just a tool chest ornament to fill up space in one of the drawers to make it look like I really have something special. LMAO, But its sure not.
 

HotRodPC

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I wouldn't think its a warped rotor if you had them turned like you said you did at Napa with the rotor and hub as one unit. That should have trued the rotor and hub as a combo. Could it possibly be one of the hub parts slightly out of place instead? Did it just start or has it done from the get go after the brake job?
 

Irishman999

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Its a strange noise, it started during my recent move, it is a chirp chirp chirp and its been getting worse. While I was having tires put on at the Arizona border I looked at the caliper and everything looked fine. It sounds alot worse now, at low speeds its making a clicking sound.
 

mikeh4848

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jack-up front and put on stands,turn front tires and wheels by hand. see if you can hear the noise. (1) if you do, try to lock and unlock diff. (2)if it you do, move by hand, the front drive shaft, and see if noise goes away. if it does something is wrong in hub assembly. mine is a 88/89 gmc burb. I broke something in mine 5 years ago (still haven't fixed it), just took out front shaft done ok so far.
 

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So the clip only goes on the inner pad like this? There's nothing goes on the outer pad?

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Goldie Driver

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So the clip only goes on the inner pad like this? There's nothing goes on the outer pad?

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Yup. Sometimes you have to tweak (hammer on ) the ears of the outboard pad to make it hang tight on the caliper.
 

BJedi76

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What size is the specialty socket for the first hub bolt?

when I’m standing in front of the parts guy, I want to be able to answer his questions if he is ignorant to this tool.

Obviously I am just as ignorant.

…and what exactly makes this socket looking tool “special”?
 

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