Fixing the brake's on a Ford

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Mar 5, 2024
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Today I was out fixing the brakes on my Ford, unfortunately I lack tools to complete doing so

This guy comes up to me asks if I need help , I tell him I need a certain tool to take off the calipers which I was told by the auto part store I was buying the right set of tools.

Well they were right but wrong , the tools I bought were to Short.
Anyways dude comes over with his set of tools thinking he knew what he was doing started trying to take off the wrong parts.

He was trying to remove the bolts that hold the rotor on , which comes off only when you change the rotors .

Granted I did buy new rotors but brought them back to buy tools .

Anyways I told him multiple times he was trying to remove the wrong part .
Me being a female in this **** town men assume woman don't and can't know more than they do.

I had to ask my bf to come out to explain to him that his help wasn't needed just a 1/2 inch Allen wrench.

It took multiple attempts to get dude to listen , and he wasn't listening to me.
 
Today I was out fixing the brakes on my Ford, unfortunately I lack tools to complete doing so

This guy comes up to me asks if I need help , I tell him I need a certain tool to take off the calipers which I was told by the auto part store I was buying the right set of tools.

Well they were right but wrong , the tools I bought were to Short.
Anyways dude comes over with his set of tools thinking he knew what he was doing started trying to take off the wrong parts.

He was trying to remove the bolts that hold the rotor on , which comes off only when you change the rotors .

Granted I did buy new rotors but brought them back to buy tools .

Anyways I told him multiple times he was trying to remove the wrong part .
Me being a female in this **** town men assume woman don't and can't know more than they do.

I had to ask my bf to come out to explain to him that his help wasn't needed just a 1/2 inch Allen wrench.

It took multiple attempts to get dude to listen , and he wasn't listening to me.
Know-it-alls are the worst. Don’t let a bad experience keep you away from DIY wrenching in the future. Did you end up completing your task?

Also, I’m curious about what the tool was that needed to get the calipers off. I’ve had four Fords and have never needed any special tools to take off the calipers. I did however need a rotating caliper piston compressor to get them back on after the new pads were installed on two of the cars.
 
FORD car or truck?
On a FORD car, typically you'll need a 5mm or 7mm Allen Head or similar(may differ from car-to-car) to remove the caliper bolts that mount-on the caliper hold down bar which need to be removed in order to remove the rotors.
 
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If you are going to do it yourself, read up and learn for yourself how to do it. and be equiped to do so, otherwise let a pro do it... Brakes are too critical to dive in unprepaired or uninformed.
 
Technically you're probably both right.... if you remove the caliper AND BRACKET you can still service the pads, and while you're at it get the rotors too. The flaw is you're not lubing the sliders and not doing a complete job.

I guess next time do this sort of thing where gawking lookie loos won't see you, or learn to tell them how to flake off. There are some real knuckleheads who get goofy around a "damsel in distress."
 
Today I was out fixing the brakes on my Ford, unfortunately I lack tools to complete doing so

This guy comes up to me asks if I need help , I tell him I need a certain tool to take off the calipers which I was told by the auto part store I was buying the right set of tools.

Well they were right but wrong , the tools I bought were to Short.
Anyways dude comes over with his set of tools thinking he knew what he was doing started trying to take off the wrong parts.

He was trying to remove the bolts that hold the rotor on , which comes off only when you change the rotors .

Granted I did buy new rotors but brought them back to buy tools .

Anyways I told him multiple times he was trying to remove the wrong part .
Me being a female in this **** town men assume woman don't and can't know more than they do.

I had to ask my bf to come out to explain to him that his help wasn't needed just a 1/2 inch Allen wrench.

It took multiple attempts to get dude to listen , and he wasn't listening to me.
I know there is a procedure that you need to put the brakes into service mode on models with the electronic parking brake, and the front brakes might need a tool to turn in the calipers as they cant be retracted with a c-clamp.
 
Today I was out fixing the brakes on my Ford, unfortunately I lack tools to complete doing so

This guy comes up to me asks if I need help ,

It took multiple attempts to get dude to listen , and he wasn't listening to me.
Where were you fixing the brakes that some stranger comes over to try and help? If at home, have him arrested for trespassing.
 
Today I was out fixing the brakes on my Ford, unfortunately I lack tools to complete doing so

This guy comes up to me asks if I need help , I tell him I need a certain tool to take off the calipers which I was told by the auto part store I was buying the right set of tools.

Well they were right but wrong , the tools I bought were to Short.
Anyways dude comes over with his set of tools thinking he knew what he was doing started trying to take off the wrong parts.

He was trying to remove the bolts that hold the rotor on , which comes off only when you change the rotors .

Granted I did buy new rotors but brought them back to buy tools .

Anyways I told him multiple times he was trying to remove the wrong part .
Me being a female in this **** town men assume woman don't and can't know more than they do.

I had to ask my bf to come out to explain to him that his help wasn't needed just a 1/2 inch Allen wrench.

It took multiple attempts to get dude to listen , and he wasn't listening to me.
It was a setup. The dude behind the counter sold you the wrong tool on purpose so as to open the gate for the helper to step in.
 
FORD car or truck?
On a FORD car, typically you'll need a 5mm or 7mm Allen Head or similar(may differ from car-to-car) to remove the caliper bolts that mount-on the caliper hold down bar which need to be removed in order to remove the rotors.
It's a I don't know what to call it maybe suv type looking mail truck wannabe. This is my troubles
 
Fords are the worst vehicle I've never had so much trouble fixing or replacing anything on any other type of vehicle in my life.

The oil job alone took me 2 months of trying to get the rusted replaced oil bolt off only to end up removing the oil filter turning the car on to let the oil drain .
Now the brakes , asked the guy at auto zone what I would need to buy to remove the caliper pins , they hand me a set of tools saying one of them should work .
You would think since they sell them they would of been able to look it up.

Anyways the car is a mess as far as what needs to be replaced.
Needs new unjoint, rotors , probably new calipers, rack ,struts and eventually a transmission.

I'll drive it until the engine goes even if I have to drive backwards.
 
The bolt below the caliper pin with all the rust is what dude was trying to take off
That bolt will take off the caliper (there is another one on the top) along with the bracket as one unit. In a lot of cases this is actually easier because you get everything off and can work on a bench to then change the pads, grease the pins, clean everything up etc. So the guy wasn't really wrong in trying to take the whole thing off.

For the caliper pin, you need an Allen key set.

Something like this will get you by
Allen key set
 
That bolt will take off the caliper (there is another one on the top) along with the bracket as one unit. In a lot of cases this is actually easier because you get everything off and can work on a bench to then change the pads, grease the pins, clean everything up etc. So the guy wasn't really wrong in trying to take the whole thing off.

For the caliper pin, you need an Allen key set.

Something like this will get you by
Allen key set
I get that the whole thing does come off , I watched a few different videos on how to do it (only way I can learn) and every video showed to take the front clip off the caliper, loosen the two caliper pins , remove the caliper then the brace for the rotors .
But only if the rotors need to be changed does that part need to come off .

Yes the rotors need to be changed but I brought them back to buy tools to do this job which of course none of the tools I was told worked for the caliper pins.

I understand what he was doing next time I attempt to change the brakes I'll take a picture of the front of the calipers .
 
Yes the rotors need to be changed but I brought them back to buy tools to do this job which of course none of the tools I was told worked for the caliper pins.
Not sure what sort of tools they sold you, that you had to choose between them and the rotors.
All you need is simple hand tools for this job.
The Allen set I linked above is like $11
Here is a piston compression tool that’s less than $10. I’ve used a similar one for years now. Besides that all you need is either a ratchet set or just plain old wrench set, that’s it.

I suggest you return all the tools and buy the rotors. If you install new pads on the old, rusty rotors, they will not work properly and you will have re-do the job again soon with new pads and rotors.

IMG_3939.jpeg
 
Dude was looking for a payment for "effort".

Had a woman try to do that to my mom. I wasn't there, but for all of that "assistance", she never tightened the battery terminal down, which would have been the fix.

If non-mechanics are like this, so are the majority of mechanics.
 
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