FYI...make sure you check that the brake caliper slide pins--front and rear--are well lubricated! I would recommend that this be done on a fairly frequent basis. This is based on my experience...I was in the mountains on an elk hunt when one of my rear disc brakes all of a sudden started making that gawd aweful metal on metal grinding noise. Once back at camp, I pulled the tire and removed the brake caliper and discovered one pad worn down to the metal back plate while the other pad was less than half worn. Upon further inspection, I discovered one slide pin firmly seized into the caliper from corrosion due to the lubricant having apparently dried up. The pin was so solidly attached to the caliper that it snapped when I tried to remove it by twisting with a pipe wrench! Hence, I replaced both the caliper and the pin. I probably could have saved the caliper had I not been in the mountains without access to a machine shop.

Anyway, in my opinion, this is a poor mechanical design that is highly unreliable. But, if you check the pins frequently and maintain their lubrication, they'll probably last...just a pain since we should be expecting less maintenance to do on modern vehicles!

I have a 2002 Ford F250 4x4, V10, auto, 4.3 limited slip axle, four wheel discs and ABS.

Otherwise, it has been a mostly trouble free truck. The only other problem I have is a low speed vibration problem that I've requested help with...diagnostics are in progress...

 

Dmprice ,this is a common problem with our trucks .
we've seen lots of times before!
But a good a post to bring this situation to the top for new readers of our forum.

I recommend lubing the slide's every time you rotate your tires.
Rich

 

i've found that a white lithium grease in a spray bottle fixes the problem.
spray on when you have the tire off and forget about it

 

See Guzzle's nice write-up on putting the update kit into his.

http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/cu.html

Pop

 

Hey springer that's a pretty good link. Looks like alot of work. I know when I
start a job like that. If there is something that could go wrong it will when I'm doing it. It all looks good on paper. But when the wrench rage kicks in watch out .HA

 

Nice job on the front hub maintenance procedures, SpringerPop! I will likely need those instructions to deal with the other problem I have...the low speed vibration problem, which I've yet to isolate.

Anyway, I'm not seeing what the update kit really updated?? My truck came with pins of the same appearance you described along with the cute little rubber boots, and the pin still corroded and seized up! Maybe they use a different alloy for the pins?? Otherwise, I don't see what changed, so I'm not convinced their kit really solves any problem or eliminates the need for diligent monitoring of the caliper pins.

An idea I had for insuring easy lubrication maintenance of the pins would be to drill and tap the calipers over the pin holes and insert a grease zirk fitting. Then, one could just inject a shot a grease every tire rotation or two.

By the way...I can identify with "wrench rage"...unfortunately! So far, no one has been injured, but inanimate objects have not faired so well.

 

I personally think it's a problem with EVERY vehicle with caliper slide-pins...

The only calipers I ever liked were the ones in my Triumph TR7's ... two pistons, no slides.

The front brakes on my 2001 V10 were wearing one pad more than the other.

But it was NOT slide-pins. The pads themselves rusted to the caliper bracket.

 

dmprice,

Though the zerk fitting idea is a good one on the surface, we really don't know anything about the forces exerted on the piece in which you want to drill a hole. If you somehow manage to cause a stress point where a fracture could develop, you might have a heck of a surprise some day when the caliper decides to leave the vehicle at the worst possible time. ;-)))

I WOULDN't go drilling holes in brake components without a complete structural analysis from a factory-quality team of engineers and metalurgists. Just too risky!

And for those who think it's too much trouble to keep the pins lightly lubed, the procedure is thus: Remove wheel from hub (eight lug nuts); remove two caliper pin bolts and lift out calipers (set aside on spring); pull pins and lube; properly re-assemble.

Done. Simple.

Pop

 

This is a GREAT link! Thanks for providing...

I wonder if the "update" kit is for certain years of SDs??? Maybe FORD realized the problem and started to use the "update" kit as OEM from a certain year to current?

Would be interesting to find out...I suppose.

biz

_______________________________
2003 F250 SD SC 142" XLT FX4 V10 Auto 4x4 3.73s

 

Art do you use neverseiz on the part of the brake pad that touches the caliper ?
This is what I do ,I have 57,000 on orignal brakes,but I don't live on the island with a alot of stop and go situations .
Just a thought.
Rich

 

Whats the difference between the 2 pins that come in the kit (one green and one gold?) Why is it critical that they go in the same bores that the old ones come out? I recently did my brakes but didn't really pay attention to this (2 diff pins) and haven't noticed any probs - did I just get lucky into putting the new ones in the correct bores?

 

There is one pin with a flat-spot, I believe. I made sure that pin was not the top pin, because of loading, and the one pin that did have the flat spot on it, I made sure it wasn't aligned in a way that let the caliper move.

Believe it or not, Rich, I use marine trailer-bearing grease, the stuff that can take water (both fresh and salt) and not disappear. Same stuff I put in my inner-spindle needle bearings...

It takes the heat, it doesn't mix with water (or deteriorate w/water), and lasts a long time. I used it in the front wheel bearings and hubs on my '74 highboy 16-17 years ago. I ran the thing through 3 feet of water, it was in the cab. Snow, mud, you name it. A few years ago, I took the front hubs off to adjust the wheel bearings (left them too sloppy 13 years before). There was water in the hubs, but it never mixed with the grease. It was just laying on top of the grease. No rust, either. I've had regular (and even "high end" grease) mix w/water and turn grey, like motor oil and water mixed.

I forget the name, it's the blue stuff you can get in boat places.

Never had a problem after using that stuff on caliper slide pins.

Come to think of it, I've never had a problem with the caliper slide pins in ANY ford I've owned. My '96 t-bird and '97 cougar, and the '01 SD, all use caliper slide pins front-and-back.

My pads were rusted to the caliper bracket in the '01, but the pins were perfect.

I live in a heavily-salted area, on Long Island, the first three years I had the SD, it saw so much snow over the winter, it was amazing. Caliper pins were fine.

I don't know, my '01 seemed to have every TSB done to it under warranty while on the lot, but an OASIS report didn't show any work at all. Weird.

 

This has grown into more of a discussion than I would have imagined! This is the first time I've ever had any corrosion problems with any part of any disc brake on any vehicle I've owned in over thirty years, so I thought it might be just a fluke, but it sounds like it is more common than I thought.

Secondly, while I would never knowingly recommend anything dangerous, I would not argue with anyone wanting to err on the side of safety. Although it's been more than 20 years since I obtained my Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, it is my educated opinion that there is an acceptably very low risk of weakening the brake caliper bracket (the stationary part of the brake mechanism) by drilling a pilot hole of, say, 1/8" diameter with a sufficiently larger blind hole for the grease fitting. This hole would be well beyond the point of greatest stress on the bracket...that area occurs between the mounting bolts and the caliper pins and carries the force that the rotor imparts on the caliper which is transferred through the caliper pins and back to the axle housing flange via the bracket. The area around the pin pocket holes where I would place such a grease fitting is an area carrying relatively much lower stress loads, thus the likelihood of creating a fracture point in that area is nil.

I am not suggesting that anyone try this...but I might try it. I am quite sure Ford would void any warranty coverage on the brakes if they found that anyone had done this to their brakes within the warranty period.

I am of the inclination to minimize or eliminate maintenance and repair time...no matter how easy it may be--if it can be eliminated, I'd just as soon eliminate it. I'd rather be driving the vehicle than working on it!

Also, I would caution anyone changing the specified lubricants on roller or ball bearings. Other low pressure, low speed applications like the caliper pins are less sensitive to lubricant types (although temperature and water are still major concerns there). On rolling bearings, however, the lubricant used can either extend the life or end the life of the bearings prematurely...stick with the recommendations on lubricant specs there for long life and reliability.

Hey, this has been fun!!

 

I actually had the same experience, same year truck and such
I removed the slide pins, but seemed properly lubrciated, IMO, but the caliper had a broken piston.

 

dmprice, from an engineering point of view, you are absolutely correct that a 1/8" hole will not reduce the structural integrity of a caliper bracket.

But you gotta realize that a lot of people on here will give the least-problematic solution to a problem. Whoever said it might be a problem strength-wise was just being cautious and trying not to give the backyard-monkeys a way to kill themselves (or anyone else).

Hey, I'm a backyard monkey, I take offense at that!