Such is life. The more I know the more I know how much I don't know.

 

I understand.

My comment wasn't meant in a negative way towards you, but rather, in agreement with Pete that I do them myself too, and if your situation allows, don't be shy about tackling the job.

Stewart

 

I wish I was closer to your River19, I would let you in my shop and help you through all of this. Brake work is really quite simple but sounds intimidating because they are the only thing that stops your moving missile. The unfortunate part is that mechanics/garages know this and rape people for doing brake work.

If you want to save some money and maybe make a new friend in the process, start a new thread and see if a fellow FTE'er is around your area that may want to help you out. Like I said, I wish I was closer, doing my brakes was actually kinda fun, thanks to FTE and Guzzel!!

I just started doing the brake work on my PSD only because every other vehicle I ever had never took this much time and parts to maintain but it really is very simple and hard to mess up providing you have access to the proper tools, a warm area to work in and a laptop to refer to this site!

I also feel your pain for not having the time, my wife wants me to sell my truck and buy something newer so she can see me more!!

 

i would only trust myself to work on my brakes, who else will care more about your safety then yourself.

them mechanics are just trying to get thru the job being rushed by the boss so they can get as much done to make as much $ for the company, all they want is it to go away so they can get home to the beers.

 

@ b-uno...Meth-Su!!! That cracks me up!! My Sister and Brother In Law live in Wasilla and call the Valley the same thing!! They are both nurses in the area and see all the shat that goes on.

I still love Ak and am in the process of planning out my fourth trip up to the Last Frontier!!

 

Like Stewart said, River19, I understand, to, and have been cornered twice into paying someone to do either my front brakes or one side of ball joints. Having been caught with my pants down in the past, I now try to pull all my wheels at least once yearly to keep tabs on how the rotors and pads are doing on every corner of every vehicle I own so I can do things proactively instead of having to react to a situation once it gets really bad.

Having the right tools and enough tools is definitely a real issue. I only have what I do now because I choose to purchase the tools I need when I'm doing a job, and I can justify that because the money I'm saving on labor MORE than covers the cost of a few wrenches, and then I'm left with more tools than I had so I don't need to purchase as many the next time around. Taking that approach for a number of years has built up a decent little tool supply for myself.

On the garage issue, I can't get any of my vehicles into a garage either. I do have a concrete driveway, but it has exposed aggregate and is really rough. Regardless, I have to either wait for good weather or do the work in bad weather if necessary. For the cold ground, a half sheet of 3/4" rigid insulation board is absolutely WONDERFUL... easy to slide in and out from under the truck, and it really keeps the cold off while laying on the concrete for hours. Another thing I keep threatening to purchase, but haven't yet, is a 10'x10' free-standing canopy that I can place over the truck and even work in the rain. when I'm finished with it, I can collapse it and store it out of the way.

Just a few thoughts I wanted to pass on so you can begin working towards being better prepared to do more of your own work in the future. Hope it helps. If I were close enough, my sons and I would be glad to let you come over and actually do the work with you so you could see it done first hand, get some experience, and save some serious money all at the same time.

 

ya you dont wanna get no brake work done by shops in the meth-su (aka wasilla)

never know what the mechanic could be on, watch that show alaska state troopers and see, they even call it the meth capital of alaska. figures that floosy sarah palin was from there

 

Thanks guys.

F250.......I'm there, the logic behind buying the gear isn't lost on me, we built our log cabin that way in 2009.....bought all the tools I wanted and saved a bundle on labor.....lost 50weekends to sawdust and fun, but it was worth it :-)

Good though on the insulated board and we have a 10x10 easy-up as well......I'm thinking the lines will be replaced in the next couple months and then we'll go from there.

I'll sure be asking for help with that one....

 

I have a brand new set of SS braided kevlar brake lines waiting to be installed on my truck... all four hoses plus the center line in the rear! My brakes have been so doggone EXCELLENT since putting the hawk pads on front several months back, though, that I just have not made it a priority to finish up the task... maybe on a warmish day during the Chirstmas holidays.

About the closed cell insulation board, you might want to even keep it as a full sheet just for even simpler sliding in and out. I'm going to keep a half sheet in the back of my truck for any situation where I might get stranded away from home and have to work in a parking lot or on the side of the road somewhere.

I would love to build my own home some day, but the wife just will not go for a 2-3 year project that it would take for me to do everything the way I want to. Congrats on being able to get that done for yourself.

 

Who has a garage that can fit these monsters anyway? I have an asphalt driveway and I have a big tarp to cover "Stinky" when I need to work on it. I tie the tarp to poles, fences, trees, the house, or whatever is within range. That insulated foam board is a good tip - I've been using a creeper or plywood (creeper no worky in the snow). I might augment your idea and glue the insulated board to the back of plywood because that stuff breaks, stains, and dissolves with oil/cleaners.

River19 - Maybe my attention drifted on this, but how did we go from sticky calipers to replacing brake lines? Are you leaking fluid? I am not an expert, so this is not even the value of $0.02 - but the calipers seem to be the offending hardware and those are reasonably inexpensive and easy to replace. The hardest work is jacking up the truck and removing the tires, where the difficult part is bleeding the brakes when you're done because you need 2 people doing very easy tasks. Replacing calipers requires the most basic of tools: Jack, tire iron, and socket set or combination wrenches (small combination wrench is easier with the bleeding part). Just add a loaded caliper assembly out of the box and some brake fluid and you're good to go. If there is damage to the rotors, disregard this and take it in if you are uncomfortable with the notion of working on your truck - or disregard this anyway. I just felt it was worth bringing up.

 

Tugly, thanks for the post.

I just got back from picking up a load of wood with the truck; Front brakes seem fine, got home and the driver's side rear was cooked......burnt pad smell and obviously it had been dragging.

My guess is I'm going to be replacing all the calipers in the next few weeks. Definately the offending rear one.

Here's a dumb question.......how the hell do you bleed brakes?

 

River19, didn't your teacher ever tell you there is no such thing as a dumb question?

There are plenty of posts on how to bleed brakes but what I did when I put my new caliper on was just open up the little bleeder valve on the side of the caliper and pumped the air out untill I got fluid. I used a mityvac hand vac. If you don't have one of those you will need a kid, wife, or whoever can push and hold the brake pedal down.

There are many different ways guys do it. Some will say pump the brake pedal 3 times then hold down on the pedal while somebody opens the bleeder valve and allows all of the air to blow out. Do not let the pedal up until the bleeder valve is closed or you will allow air to be sucked into the brake lines.

Do a search, I am sure guys have explained it much better than me.

 

Yeah but they usually followed it with "only dumb people"..........

I've been searching and reading for 2 days......soaking up everyone's experience.

Heck I could just go to Autozone and grab jack stands, a caliper and some fluid and have at it. I don't need the rig ASAP as I have a loaner as my other rig is getting a frame replacement on yota's dime and our Subaru LUV (Lesbian Utility Vehicle......not that there is anything at all wrong with that) is rocking along at 180K miles.........

Fun fun.....

 

It is really that easy.

Jack it up and just even put a cement block or a good crib of wood under the axle.

Remove the wheel.

Two bolts and you will have the caliper off the axle.

One more bolt and you will have the brake hose off the caliper and a completely free caliper.

Take the pads off, one at a time,from the old caliper and put them on the new one.

Put the new caliper back on the axle with the correct torque specs.

Attach the hose to the new caliper.

First try to open up the bleeder and see if the brake fluid will gravity flow, mine did not.

Close the bleeder, have somebody depress the brake pedal 3 times then hold it down while you turn the bleeder out. Close the bleeder while the fluid is shooting out or you will allow air into the line.

Put the wheel back one and torque the lug nuts.

Remove the jack and take it for a slow test run. The pedal may feel weird at first but a minute later all should be good.

Half an hour later you got a new caliper on the truck.

Pat yourself on the back because you just saved a couple hundred bucks by doing it yourself!!

 

PS.

If you do decide to try it I will give you my cell number. You can call me with any questions along the way.