2001 brake job

Just did the front brakes on the winnie. It started snowing a little so i will do the rear later.. I went with a ceramic pad from satified brakes for the front and pro grade PG plus Raybestos asbestos free for the rear. The front was easy I used a 6 inch c clamp and an old brake pad to push the 2 piston claiper back in. I use brake lube on all contact points with the brake pads and claliper. Just a little. Made 15 stop and goes form 30mph,to seat the brakes with 30 seconds of cool down inbetween. Just driving for 30sec before making contacts with brakes.
Last week I switch to a dot 3-4 synthetic brake fluid. Could not find some of my parts to my self bleeder kit so had the wife pump the brakes took forever. So once I complete the rear i will get another self bleeder vacuume pump and get all the old fluid out. hope this helps.. I will post back once rear is done. The last time the front brakes were done from were I purchased the van it had 62,000 miles on it right now it has 88,000 so the life of the pads were about 26,000. The pads were bad had maybe a week before metal to metal contact..I have been keeping my eye on them.. Oh I also sanded down the rotors before the install..

Just did the front brakes on the winnie. It started snowing a little so i will do the rear later.. I went with a ceramic pad from satified brakes for the front and pro grade PG plus Raybestos asbestos free for the rear. The front was easy I used a 6 inch c clamp and an old brake pad to push the 2 piston claiper back in. I use brake lube on all contact points with the brake pads and claliper. Just a little. Made 15 stop and goes form 30mph,to seat the brakes with 30 seconds of cool down inbetween. Just driving for 30sec before making contacts with brakes.
Last week I switch to a dot 3-4 synthetic brake fluid. Could not find some of my parts to my self bleeder kit so had the wife pump the brakes took forever. So once I complete the rear i will get another self bleeder vacuume pump and get all the old fluid out. hope this helps.. I will post back once rear is done. The last time the front brakes were done from were I purchased the van it had 62,000 miles on it right now it has 88,000 so the life of the pads were about 26,000. The pads were bad had maybe a week before metal to metal contact..I have been keeping my eye on them.. Oh I also sanded down the rotors before the install..

Hello

Are you sharing information or do you have a question?

Dan

Hello

Are you sharing information or do you have a question?

Dan Just sharing info...

Finally got time to do the rear brakes Friday.Not anything to hard. Also finally purchased a new vacuum pump from harbor freight. About 29.00 good deal if you ask me .Can not only bleed brakes without the wifes or daughters help but can also check Egr valves and other things on the emmissons system or other vacuum actuated items.Keep in mind when doing this job jack up rear of van and use jackstands so you can take both wheels of and use the other side as a reference. Make sure to buy at least 2 can of brake cleaner and some anti seize compound. Also the lower spring runs under the the parking brake cable I can see were a mistake could be made running over the top. The Other tricky part is always to me is the horseshoe clip. I use vise-grips pliers to hold the brake shoe around the area of the horseshoe clip and a flat head screw driver to spreed the clip apart. Thick nose needle nose pliers were used to push the clip back together. Using thin nose needle nose pliers to do this can snap the thiner needle nose. If you have craftsmen tools or other free replacement tools this may not be an issue for you. Clean the adjustment rod screw assembly and lube it with anti seize,use antiseize compound around all metal contact points.I use it also on the spring hooking points as well. Hope this helps.. Gary

I take it you didn't buy a hardware kit for the rear brakes? I also didn't remove the parking brake cable from the lever (one less step).

I have step by step pictures of my rear brake job ('96) in my pictures.
I used caliper grease to lubricate sparingly at the locations shown.
I also recommend a brake hardware kit, certainly if your vehicle is more than "a few" year's old (like mine). They are cheap. You get all new springs and clips, as shown in my pictures.
http://community.webshots.com/album/201931518cScpNK

The brake bias on these POS is so bad that the rear shoes rarely need attention. I've done three set of pads and a rotor on the front or a '98 and the OEM rear shoes still had 0.130" of friction material, and the drums had only opened up to 9.842" after 130K miles. A liitle cleaning, a dab of lube on each of the mounting pads on the backing plates, and it's back to the races.

I did two sets of PGD601M carbon metallic pads on a '96 and had the same thing happen with the rear.

And forget about repacking the rear wheel bearings on the trailer axle - They're a sealed unit.

The Ford Service CD I have for my '01 specs the wear limit of .154" for the rear shoes, BTW. I measured .173" when I replaced the rear brakes on my van a few weeks ago with 65,000 miles on it.

Thanks for this great photo step by step, I feel better about doing this to my '99 now.

Anyone know if I have the exact same calipers on the '99 3.8L? Will I need the same caliper anti-rattle kit or anything else specific to this vehicle? I've done front brake jobs before, just not on this vehicle.



I have step by step pictures of my rear brake job ('96) in my pictures.
I used caliper grease to lubricate sparingly at the locations shown.
I also recommend a brake hardware kit, certainly if your vehicle is more than "a few" year's old (like mine). They are cheap. You get all new springs and clips, as shown in my pictures.
http://community.webshots.com/album/201931518cScpNK

My manual for 95 to 01 specs minimum shoe lining thicknesses as 1/8 in (0.125) for bonded and 1/16 in. (0.0625) from the rivet heads for riveted, which is essentially the same total thickness of 1/8 in. My 95 has riveted shoes and I think bonded front pads. The pad minimum thickness spec is 1/8 in. Basically, you can measure all of them on the side from the backing plate to be sure it is more than 1/8 in.

Our state inspection laws require a minimum lining thickness of 1/16 in. (0.0625) above the backing plate for bonded and 1/16 in above the rivet heads. The same rules apply for pads. Basically they want more than 1/16 in. before you start hitting metal.