I plan on replacing the front rotors on my 1998 4X2 F-150 Friday moring/afternoon. I've seen some forums relating to the front rotors and how much a pain they are to remove and replace.

The rotors I bought from Autozone come with the hub assembly which means its not as easy as I had hoped it would, such as just removing the old rotor and slapping on the new one. Does this mean I have to pop out the old bearings and regrease and such before putting them into the new assembly?

Any help ASAP would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

Hi Waff78 and welcome to FTE

Your truck is easy to replace rotors on but you're right about the wheel bearings. You will have to pop out the old bearing, clean and repack them and install them with a new seal. Pick up wheel seals, grease and a couple of cotter pins before you start.
It is best if you completely remove the old grease from the bearings with solvent but if you dont have any way to do that you can wipe as much grease out of them as possible and leave it at that. Then you need to force as much new grease into the bearings as you can. Usually I find it easiest to put a bunch of grease in the palm of my hand and then push the bearing into it until new grease comes out between the rollers. When it comes out between the rollers you know it is packed full. Put a bit of grease in between the 2 bearing races which are already installed in the new hub. Put in the inner bearing and tap the seal into place carefully...making sure you dont distort it. Put a light film of grease in the seal where it rides on the spindle.
To adjust the bearings when you reassmeble the rotor/hub onto the spindle you turn the rotor while tightening the nut until it is quite tight. You'll feel quite a bit of drag on the bearings. Then back it off til it is fairly loose again and then just snug it up until all the play is gone and there is a bit of drag on the bearings. Dont leave it too tight. Put a new cotter pin in.
While you have the calipers off it's a good idea to remove the caliper slide pins, clean and grease them. You can get caliper slide grease or use some dielectric grease. You dont need much. The pins just push out of the rubber boots and go back together the same.
Hmmm that's about all I can think of right now.
Let us know how it goes.
Other guys here might have some more tips for you too.

 

Thanks Racerguy for the help.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Waff78

 

Thanks for the help Racerguy, the rotor job went fairly well. One major problem was that one of the caliper slide pins was rusted in place, causing only one pad on the driver side to wear down to metal and the other practically untouched. Since I could not get the rusted pin out, I had to go to a Ford dealership and buy a $95 caliper bracket to replace the whole assembly. Hope that doesn't happen again.

Advice to anyone, make sure those slide pins are well lubed and protected from elements otherwise be prepared to pay the big $$$ for a new caliper bracket when they freeze up.

Thanks again Racerguy!

Waff78

 

Thanks for letting us know how it went.
Good tip about the caliper slides

 

On my 98' F-150 both of my bottom slide pins are rusted on..I got the brackets and the slide pins from a bone yard..Cost me $75 for both of them..And the only thing i needed to know was what kind of grease to use for the pins..Hey thanks for the post..

 

You're welcome

 

I did the rotor replacement just as the post above says to,
and now my brakes are dragging.

Does anyone know where to start with this?

It seemed to check out fine on the test drive just after
I installed the rotors. I put new everything on it. Rotors,
pads, bearings, seals, everything. Took it out for a test
drive and the brakes were quiet,and a little grabby, but
seemed fine.

Then I let the vehicle sit for a week or two, and drove it
at highway speeds and you could smell the brakes and when
at slow speed it would brake to a stop with out the pedal.

Thanks for any info.

 

This may be a dumb question but you didn't be any chance leave the emergency brake on did you?

 

This may be a dumb question but you didn't be any chance leave the emergency brake on did you?

That would be a blundering embarrassment...

No, the brakes are on, it's the calipers.

I guess manipulating them by pushing them inward to instal the new pads caused them to coincidentally fail.

New calipers, plus all the other junk.

Just my luck.

Thanks for nothing. Mystery solved.