So I recently did a ton of front end work and U joints to take care of some worn parts and horrible sqeaks and figured why stop there? I could then hear a faint squeak coming from the rear brakes when I get on them enough going down hill so I figured - well with 150K and the rear brakes being original they MUST be bad right? (I've done the front brakes twice, once not being totally necessary) Well I proceeded to get the parts and when I pulled the drums the pads looked fine! There seemed to be plenty of brake pad left and the drums looked like they were in great shape and perfectly smooth! They only thing I could think of is that I was out of town training for a new job while my folks helped my wife move us to a new location and my dad took care of the front brakes before driving my truck accross the country - and I figured they must have done them all at that time, since the adjuster looked like it MIGHT have been replaced since I could see some shiny metal in there that looked newer than the rest (maybe) but after digging through my service recipts it looks like they only did the front! I've had this truck since new so they must be original? I figured since its not broke, I won't fix it and returned the parts - although I do have a more firm pedal after adjusting the rear brakes out a bit, and I know they last a lot longer but do you think the auto adjuster is doing enough of its job? or maybe I should watch that a little closer and adjust them manually or backup and stop more strictly to adjust them? Even though I do a lot of highway driving I expected things to look worse than that.. - What kind of milage have you gotten off of your rear brakes?

BTW there wasn't much of a squeak only under a pretty firm slowdown and stop going downhill etc. - I blew the dust out and that seemed to help

 

I am pretty sure I am still on my original rears at 250K+. I'd have to go through my paperwork to make sure. My front pads lasted to around 130K and I just replaced my front rotors at around 230K. I will say I am not one of those that feels they need to speed to the next red light and I use the transmission to start to slow down from highway speeds. I know for sure I have the original rear drums only question is the shoes and I do not remember them ever being changed.

 

Given the fact that the original owner had really worked the truck hard now 8 years later and at a total of 159,000 miles I'm only beginning to hear metal on metal squeaks from the rear.

 

i got 4 wheel disc and get about a year and a half out of the cheapest breaks advance auto has

 

queston, how much did it cost you to get your U-joints replaced?

 

i would say if you aren't doing brake torques like crazy... they should be good for quite some time... the rear brakes are basically only there to keep the back end of the truck in the back, and not swing you around in slippery conditions... the front brakes do 80% of the work...

 

I spent about 60 dollars worth in parts and replaced both on the rear driveshaft. Turns out only the one at the rear diff was the problem but I took care of them both. Front driveshaft I left alone and they seem fine. Its not too bad of a job.

 

Rear drum brakes should last 150-200K easy. I have 55K on my rear discs and I predict they'll be ready around 70K, probably the same for the fronts.

 

About 65K on my rears on the 01. They would have went longer, but the squeaking was driving me mad!!