This is my first post here, so bear with me if I make mistakes.
I have recently purchased a 1996 Explorer Sport 4x4 4.0L automatic with 80k miles.
After inspection, I discovered my lower ball joints were real sloppy. I decided to upgrade the front brakes & shocks while everything was apart. I also had the rotors turned.
I removed the CV joint / half shafts to make the ball joints easier to work on. I had no experience with CV joints, so in my ignorance, I just grabbed onto the outer CV & tugged. They came out rather easily (no tools required, just tugged a bit).
I replaced the brake pads with the new Ceramic type, I tow a trailer & had heard that they would wear out too quickly with the OEM type pads.
I have 2 problems, the brakes screach pretty badly. Also, there is a pulsing in the suspension / steering like it had a bad CV joint.

I have a couple questions; Were the Ceramic pads a bad choice for this vehicle? Do the newer vehicles with Ceramic pads use different rotors?
Could I have damaged the CV joints by just tugging them out? What kind of damage is likely & what would it feel like? Is it repairable? Or do I have to replace the shafts?
Any information would be appreciated.
Dan

 

its a shame 30 people have looked and no one answered you. not nice treatment for a rookie.

I have not heard any difference of ceramic or oem brakes as long as you put the anti squeel goop in the right spots it should not make a noise being new. i just did a BMW front brake job the other day and the guy who did them last at the dealer used a nice copper silicone and basically glued the pads on to the caliper so they would not make any noise.

as long as you pulled the half shaft out by grabbing onto the actual bar between the 2 knuckles you should not have done any damage. what does happen is the knuckle comes apart if you grab at the spline or boot to get it out that way.

the pulsating you feel in the pedel and steering wheel is probably warped rotors since you said you pull a trailer. you got them hot and they are a little warped. My truck is the same I just let them wobble.

Unless that wobble is loose wheel bearings then they need to be retightened. mine seem to come loose every once in a while for some reason.

 

This took some detective work to figure out. The pulsing in the steering wheel was the PS pump overworking, trying to overcome a siezed ball joint (one of the new ones.....). I pumped it full of grease & drove it down a very bumpy road & 2 minutes later, all symptoms were gone.

The brake squeel was not the ceramic pads, there was a small part that was incorectly installed (don't ask......). The ceramic pads are dead quiet & brake much easier than the OEM pads, I am quite happy with them now.

Thanks for the input, Dan