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Changing brakes myself...need helpful tips!!!

3K views 23 replies 15 participants last post by  jhanna 
#1 ·
ok so i wanna change my own brakes...anyone been there done that with some good lessons learned????
 
#18 ·
:agree:

The one-man bleeders are a joke..... get a friend to help. Of course you wont need to bleed the system if you are just changing pads.

My tips are:

1. suck out as much of the old fluid before you start.

2. go ahead and buy the $7 caliper compressor tool (yeah you can use a c-clamp or just a pry-bar, but it's it's only $7).

3. fill will clean fluid before you start pumping the brakes after replacing all of the pad/shoes.

4. Top off reservoir to fill mark after all brakes have seated.

There are also a ton of videos on youtube.com that show you have to do this.
 
#8 ·
It's helpful to have a big c-clamp to push the piston back in. Otherwise pretty simple job.

CAUTION- the caliper bolts only require 11 ft lbs of torque when putting them back on -do not overtighten those boogers because it's real easy to strip the threads on the knuckle. 11 ft. lbs is not much and it's very tempting to tighten them more.

If you drum rears and you are doing them it's a bit more involved but doable.
Jim
 
#9 ·
indeed, quite a simple job to just change the disk pads, I did my rear pads 2 weekends ago (fronts had already been done), couldn't be easier, didn't have to bleed the brake fluid or anything, just pop the old pads off, clean the caliper then pop the new pads back on again, ba-da-bing. :)

yea, I wondered about that 11 ft.lbs, but I figured if that's all that's required, that's all I'm gonna give it :)
 
#11 ·
If you are going to work on your jeep you should invest in a torque wrench. Has an adjustment on it so that effectively it will only tighten to a certain level. For differing connections and products the manufacturers specify how tight the connectors should be. You adjust the torque wrench to make sure you hit what they recommend. In the case of brake calipers it is not very tight and people regularly strip them.
 
#15 ·
(This is assuming you have drums in the rear; if not, disregard this....)

Back ones are easy, don't let anyone scare you. Take off both drums, and then only work on one side at a time. That way you have one complete as a reference in case you forget how something goes. Its not hard to do, it just takes some time to put the puzzle back together again.
 
#16 ·
On some brake systems it will damage the brake system pushing the caliper back in and forcing the fluid back thru the system into the reservoir, you should open the bleeder valve when pushing back the caliper. Can’t say this for sure on a TJ but I have seen this give people a lot of grief.
 
#17 ·
On some brake systems it will damage the brake system pushing the caliper back in and forcing the fluid back thru the system into the reservoir, you should open the bleeder valve when pushing back the caliper. Can't say this for sure on a TJ but I have seen this give people a lot of grief.
The TJ system it is okay to do so (most without ABS). It's with most ABS systems I've seen that they don't recommend pushing the brake fluid back through. I think the reason is that this creates the possibility for the more dirty contaminated brake fluid down the line to foul up the ABS sensors when pushed back through.
 
#22 ·
SAFETY!!!
If you're new enough to ask how to do brakes, then I'm going come out with the safety reminders.
This job requires the use of a jack and jack stands. DO NOT just jack the jeep up and go to work. You need to rest the axle on solid, sturdy jack stand (or two). Never rely on the jack for holding, only for lifting.

Besides that, everything else was covered pretty well I think. Do one side at a time with the rear drums so you have an assembled reference to look at if you need to.

Clean up the area where the pads slide on the caliper bracket / knuckle to make sure they can move freely.

Break in procedure is very important for new rotors and pads. From 40mph slow to 5mph firmly, but not skidding. Repeat 5-6 times. Cool off for 10-15 minutes and do it again.
 
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