Siverado brake pad help

I'm not sure how you can have done 100 brake jobs and still be amazed that you have to remove the caliper in order to change pads. That's the default method on most domestic vehicles.

What I do (and I work on these all day long) is to remove the two bolts that hold the caliper bracket to the knuckle. You can now hang the caliper and bracket over the rotor, pop out the pads, slide the bracket off of the caliper slide pins and go from there. You should be able to figure it out from there if you have done as many brake jobs as you say.

Ian

You took the words right out of my mouth Ian.

Steve

You have to dig a bit deeper some times. Unless I am mistaken the poster is in Melbourne, down under. Off the top of my head. many volvos, mercedes, saabs, more than a few VW's can have the pads replaced with out pulling calipers off. Fixed mount multi-piston calipers using "hockey puck" style pads. However that said we know rotors weren't turned, bearings weren't repacked, and things weren't cleaned as well as they should have been. Replacing pads alone a brake job does not constitute.

Whitelightning

Thanks all for your replies!!! No, I guess I have had to remove calipers before, but more often the pads either slid out, or, removing one caliper bolt allowed the caliper to swing up (or down) while still attached to the knuckle. I have never HAD to remove brake hoses, and bleed, as stated in the factory manual. I realized that pad replacement is not a complete brake job, and the above comments by others are appropriate.

Thanks again, Ivan Vegvary

And you can do that with these brakes, but you will find that the clearance between the caliper and rear spring makes it difficult to swing up, plus the brake hose keeps it from swinging up. This may be why they say to remove the brake hose, but as far as I'm concerned it's a waste of time.

No, neither have I. Don't believe the factory manual...I use it every day and it's wrong at least 30 percent of the time. I'm not sure who is writing them, but it certainly is not someone who is "actually" doing the repairs hands on.

Ian

On an '01 you do not have to remove the brake line. Still have to take the caliper apart to replace pads on rear.