So I had my brakes done about 2 yrs ago on my 96 ranger so now they need new pads and rotors. SO this time I decide to do them myself since I spent about triple what it cost me do it and the rotors only lasted 2 yrs. This was my first brake job ive done also but a very good friend of mine helped me otu who had experience in changing the brakes out on his 2001 mustang. Well apperently the front discs on mine are a LOT harder to work on. For one thing you have to do the bearings on mine. I wanted them repacked anyways but still doing it for the first time is a great learning experience. Also the people that I paid to do it last time must have used locktight on the caliper bracket. We could not get one side to even budge and the other side we had to hit with a hammer to break it free. The other side we had to make that run up to the auto part store at 830 at night to get a breaker bar. Put it this way even with the breaker bar it was hard to break those caliper bracket bolts free. They came out with this dried white stuff all in the threads. I am thinking it was locktight since it was SO hard to get off i was putting all i had into it and my friend was also and he his over 250lbs. Well we finally finished my brakes ( didnt get to bleed them but I will later), then we have to change the oil on my friends wifes toyota 4 runner with a 4 liter V6. We could not get the filter free for the life of us on that one either. It was insane. oil filter wrench was hard to fit onto the vehicle but we did and it couldnt get it lose. We just changed it and left the old filter on. He is going to have someone do just the filter. We were starting to warp the filter trying to get it on. Plus my friend was told my napa that his 4 runner held 6.5 quarts of oil, so we dump the oil and fill it with 6 just to make sure we didnt have too much since we couldnt get the filter off, now it was about a quart too high. That V6 only takes 5.2 the V8 takes 6.5 so now he has about a quart too much in his toyota. Do you guys think that will cause any problem. By the way I talked him into trying the new penzoil synthetic and it seemed to do great plus it is the best smelling oil i have ever smelled. All in all its a good day I feel good I got the brakes done ( wished I could have blead the brakes though). Sorry for the long post.
Interesting day today working on truck and car
- Thread starter mcrn
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Agree with 95. Warping that filter could have weakend it. I'd change it out. If the previous lube joint used a filter wrench to tighten the old filter when they put it on
it can be a PITA to get it off. Try punching a screwdriver through it with a hammer and turning the screwdriver to get it loose. Place a drain pan underneath to catch the oil that will come out. Also, if the oil filter was super tight and you do manage to get it loose the gasket may stick to the block. Make sure you get the old gasket off before you thread on the new filter on!
As for the calpier bolts I use Anti-Seize lubricant on the threads for the exact reason you posted above. My rule of thumb is if there is any remote possibilty that I will have to take it apart in the future...it gets a small dab of antiseize on the threads. It's priceless.
And you learned the hard way with the oil that's its easier to add oil then to remove oil. Good luck.
As for the calpier bolts I use Anti-Seize lubricant on the threads for the exact reason you posted above. My rule of thumb is if there is any remote possibilty that I will have to take it apart in the future...it gets a small dab of antiseize on the threads. It's priceless.
And you learned the hard way with the oil that's its easier to add oil then to remove oil. Good luck.
Same comment about the filter. If you gave it another shot and could get it off yourself, you might be able to kill two birds with one stone. No more dented filter, and depending on the size of the filter, you might drain out 1/3 quart or so of oil at the same time. FYI, try taking the filter off when everything is completely cold if you haven't already...
Can you get a can of WD-40 or something up in there too? Hose it down around the gasket. I'm laughing right now picturing someone under their car doing this. Anyway it's worth a try. Good luck.
Can you get a can of WD-40 or something up in there too? Hose it down around the gasket. I'm laughing right now picturing someone under their car doing this. Anyway it's worth a try. Good luck.
hey thanks for the tips guys. I just let my friend know what you all had said. He said he is going to take it in sometime today to get that filter off. Its a short drive. Yeah I should have put some anti sieze on there or something. I also told him about the screwdriver thing and he said he can just picture the metal of the filter just ripping off it was so tight. And yes we tried the WD-40 already believe it or not we tried that on the filter and the bolt and it didnt seem to make any difference except maybe the first caliper bracket we did but that second was not moving at all. Thanks again!
Sounds like there may not be room for this, but just in case: Twice, on vehicles long gone now, I've had trouble with oil filter stuck on. In both cases, I was able to get to them with 16" ChanneLock pliers- and *presto*, the oil filter was stuck no more.
So, *if* you can get a good grip up near the threaded end, I betcha some 16" ChanneLocks will loosen that filter muy pronto!
And besides, if you don't have any 16" CL's, it's a good excuse to buy another tool.
So, *if* you can get a good grip up near the threaded end, I betcha some 16" ChanneLocks will loosen that filter muy pronto!
And besides, if you don't have any 16" CL's, it's a good excuse to buy another tool.
yeah i hear ya stuart that is one reason i decided to do my own brakes so i could buy more tools and still came out cheaper than someone doing it. plus i found a great place to buy tools for great prices. just jack stands for instance at napa for 3 ton were over 50 bucks i went to this place and they had 3 tons for 12.99 and 6 tons for 19.99 i got the 6 tons just for extra peace of mind and in case i ever get a big cummins diesel or something i can support it now. and got a hydraulic jack 2 1/2 ton for 39.99. all these prices were new i couldnt believe it. plus i got the needed breaker bar but that was at autozone at 830 at night so no deal there but still with all those tools i bought i still saved over 100 bucks its great oh and thanks everyone for the advice i think my friend is taking the 4 runner in someplace today to get that filter off.
16'' CL, great tool. Bought one about 1970, but struggled for 20 years before thinking to use it on oil filters. Never a problem since.
No need to bleed the brakes unless you open brake line. At 10 years old and at lest the second reline, you might rebuild/replace the calipers. Nothing lasts forever. The important rubber parts like the boot and seal are old and worn. Push a piston with a gob of rust on the outside back into the seal, and it will seize or leak.
No need to bleed the brakes unless you open brake line. At 10 years old and at lest the second reline, you might rebuild/replace the calipers. Nothing lasts forever. The important rubber parts like the boot and seal are old and worn. Push a piston with a gob of rust on the outside back into the seal, and it will seize or leak.
I've had good luck in the past using a cold chisel against the flange of the filter to loosen it. Once you stick a screwdriver through something, you better be able to remove it. Using a strap type filter wrench up near the flange is less likely to warp the filter than a socket type wrench on the bottom of the filter if you go that route.
The white powder stuff was non-ferrous corrosion, more than likely from the alloy content in the caliper bolts.
Get yourself a KD filter wrench with the swivel handle. Check out the link below:
http://www.kd-tools.com/35273324.htm
Get yourself a KD filter wrench with the swivel handle. Check out the link below:
http://www.kd-tools.com/35273324.htm
ok thanks labman and goldenrod. The calipers were rebuilt on the last brake job so i hope they should be good for awhile. I wanted to bleed the brakes just to get fresh fluid in there. I did have a question about the fluid also. When we compressed the calipers with a c clamp to put the new pads on the fluid backed up and is now over the max line which i will drain out today. But is the just because of the new size of the pads? or something else? Also Goldenrod thanks for the link but we had a filter wrench with those same features and it still didnt work. The problem is also on that 4 runner there is not much room to get something down there so the swivel i thought would work but i am thinking that the battery would had to have been taken out for use to get that particular filter off. The filter sets on top of the engine looks like it would be easy and should have been. LOL oh well. Oh thanks for the info on what that white stuff probably was. I was wondering why they would have put something on there but i guess they didnt. Thanks again everyone.
Every second reline likely is plenty especially in a warmer climate. I think the cold and salt is more hostile to brake parts.
Best thing about the 16'' Channellocks is that it is a heavy duty tool with a thousand other uses. Try unscrewing a rusty 2'' pipe with a filter wrench.
Best thing about the 16'' Channellocks is that it is a heavy duty tool with a thousand other uses. Try unscrewing a rusty 2'' pipe with a filter wrench.
As your brake pads get thinner the pistons within your calipers sit further towards your brake pads to keep the pads close to the discs when the brakes aren't being used.
What happens is the cylinder in which the piston sits increases in volume the further towards the disc your piston is sitting.
This is normal. It is typical to remove some brake fluid from your fluid reservior after pushing the pistons back into the cylinders during a brake job. Just suck some out with a turkey baster until you get the correct level.
My guess on the white stuff was that it had been loctite. Locktite sometimes gets white when it is old, and when it has undergone heat cycling (as it would in brake calipers). I imagine the repair shop doing it to be good and sure the calipers don't work loose for liability reasons. If it looks like old crazy glue, then it was loctite, which in some flavors is colored crazy glue.
In any case, I would strictly follow the repair manual when it comes to preparation of the caliper bolts and the torque values. Usually loctite is not specified.
Furthermore, be sure not to omit the step of using the specific (specialty) grease to lube your caliper slides otherwise dragging calipers and uneven pad wear can result. If this specialty grease is not included with your set of brake pads, you can typically buy it in small amounts in a little "ketchup pack". You have to use the grease specifically designed for caliper slides/bolts.
Good luck, and once you've done your brakes once or twice, you'll wonder why you've ever paid anyone to do it!
What happens is the cylinder in which the piston sits increases in volume the further towards the disc your piston is sitting.
This is normal. It is typical to remove some brake fluid from your fluid reservior after pushing the pistons back into the cylinders during a brake job. Just suck some out with a turkey baster until you get the correct level.
My guess on the white stuff was that it had been loctite. Locktite sometimes gets white when it is old, and when it has undergone heat cycling (as it would in brake calipers). I imagine the repair shop doing it to be good and sure the calipers don't work loose for liability reasons. If it looks like old crazy glue, then it was loctite, which in some flavors is colored crazy glue.
In any case, I would strictly follow the repair manual when it comes to preparation of the caliper bolts and the torque values. Usually loctite is not specified.
Furthermore, be sure not to omit the step of using the specific (specialty) grease to lube your caliper slides otherwise dragging calipers and uneven pad wear can result. If this specialty grease is not included with your set of brake pads, you can typically buy it in small amounts in a little "ketchup pack". You have to use the grease specifically designed for caliper slides/bolts.
Good luck, and once you've done your brakes once or twice, you'll wonder why you've ever paid anyone to do it!
Hey thanks Jim I already wonder why i ever paid someone to do it. Especially when only doing the pads! That part was really easy. And yes we did pick up the ketchup packet grease. Thanks for the tip. It did not come with my set but it was right there at the napa check out line. And yeah I will just suck out some of the brake fluid thanks again.
The great thing about tools (unlike the wife's latest fashions) is that they never go out of style, generally don't wear out, and pretty much never lose their value to you. Buying the tool for the job almost never even comes close to paying someone to do the work....and the next time you need the tool..it's paid for.
One of the best tools you can buy is a shop manual specific to your vehicle.
One of the best tools you can buy is a shop manual specific to your vehicle.
That "specialty" grease that Jim 5 refers to is easily bought at NAPA -- grab a tube of their Sil-Glyde.
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