Replaced front rotors and pads now onto the back

[Doug H]

Replaced the front rotors and pads today with NAPA Ultra Premium parts. That sure was easy! Hope the rear are as easy to do. I'll tackle those later this week.



I have a 2004 4X4. At 72K miles there were barely any groves on the front rotors. I could probably have had those turned without compromising the integrity of the rotors. I also jumped the gun on replacing the pads, as they seemed to have a lot of material left. I bought all new parts only because the dealer said they were getting close to needing replacing. If I had looked before buying the replacement parts, I could have waited several more miles before replacing. But, as it is I have new parts in hand so I'm replacing front and back. Hoping to have better braking feel with the replacement parts.



If anyone has any advice on replacing the rear rotors and pads, please send me a note. If they are anything like the fronts it should be very easy.



Thanks

Doug in NC

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

The rears are pretty similair to the fronts except for the parking brake shoes on the inside of the rotor hub.



There's a rubber grommet on the backing plate that you remove to adjust the adjuster with a flat head screwdriver.

 

[EddieS'04]

As jerry said the rears are very straight forward. Dont set the park brake. As the shoes for it are in the rotor top hat. Some members wondered why the rotor wouldnt come off..LOL

 

[Doug H]

Thanks for the advice.



You guys didn't tell me that the back brakes were even easier than the front. Only two bolts to remove to take off both the caliper and the rotor! Almost scary how little is hold on the back brakes. All done. Anyone should be able to replace the brake pads and rotors on a 2004 vintage Sport Trac 4X4.



But don't be in a rush to do it. I bet that I could have gotten another 30K plus miles out of the original stock brakes (I do a more highway driving than city). I should have checked better before buying all of the parts.



Doug in NC

 

[Richard L]

DouginNC,

Just curious? When was the last time you flushed the brake fluid? When you said it was so easy, made me suspect that you just pushed the pistons back in and slapped on new pads. If you had loosedn the bleeder nut before pushing the pistons back in, you would probably have some really nasty looking brake fluid, but now you pushed all that crud back up into the ABS servos where it can get real expensive.



....Rich

 

[EddieS'04]

Doug, Rich is right. If you didnt bleed them. I would do it imediatly.

 

[Doug H]

Thanks for the responses.



I bled the brakes last January, and plan to do it again this weekend.



When I did the brakes I attached a hose to the bleeder valve and opened the valve as I was pushing the piston back. So, no crud was pushed back into the system. Fluid was like new on three of the wheels and a little dirty on 1. I didn't get any air into the line that I can tell. Have good peddle feel. But I like to flush the brake fluid every 1 -2 years, so I'm going to do it this weekend.



Guess my "easy" comment comes from doing the same brake job on a few BMWs. They were pretty easy too, but had a real issue with the rotors rusting onto the axles on the BMW. They also have hex nut that attaches the rotor to the axle, which is prone to stripping out or breaking. No such issues with the Ford. Also, the fact that I didn't have to remove the caliper bracket on the rear wheels really sped up the work.



Doug in NC

 

[Richard L]

Doug,

That's good to know, as I feared that you had taken the obvious shortcuts and might think you had done a good thing when it was just the opposite.



Yes, I always recommend that you flush the brake fluid every 2 years or with every brake job...whichever comes first. I have stretched the 2 year limit a few time when I know I will need to do a brake job in a few months....especially if I plan on replacing the calipers with new or rebuilt units which I will often do with every brake job if the price is right. Since I started doing that about 25 years ago, I have never had amy brake issues with any of my vehicles.



....Rich