'93 F-150 brake maintenance

Hi all,

was driving my pickup the other day and despite the fact that I thought I'd finally got it all into shape (engine is now leaking much less oil now that I've had the lifter cover gasket replaced) I discovered that it was pulling to the right under braking (damn NoVA drivers making me brake hard...) Fortunately I found calipers were on closeout from Rock Auto for $9 apiece! Ordered three hoses, a hardware kit, and front wheel bearing seals at the same time.

questions:

1) Does this truck (2WD, BTW) use conventional one piece rotors/hubs or can I just replace the rotors without undoing the wheel bearings? (doesn't really matter, but was curious what I was going to be in for.) They'll need to be a turned or replaced; a mechanic replaced the pads very recently but apparently didn't turn the rotors. This annoyed me, but not enough to fix it - until now.

2) I just realized after ordering all the hoses that this truck has a rear wheel ABS... remembering from a former life when I actually messed with this stuff, I recall being told that as a rule it was bad to ever let an ABS controller run dry, as then air would be introduced and would have to be worked out either by repeated cycles of ABS activation and rebleeding. (I don't really want to do this as it would likely involve flat spotting my front tires...) During normal maintenance one would pinch off the hose with plastic pliers, but in this case I would be replacing the hose. I remember that in those cases the techs would use a pedal jack to keep the brake pedal depressed to cover the return port in the MC so that a siphon effect would keep the brake fluid up in the lines. Question is, where do I buy one? Don't remember ever seeing one in a store, what brand is good?

I do want to replace the hoses as they apparently aren't real durable... a friend has a similar truck, actually a year newer and with fewer miles - and had one of the hoses let go while he was driving. The other front hose let go while checking for leaks after bleeding. So I figure now that I'm seeing signs of problems in my own truck I should replace them all and be done with it...

thanks

Nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel
Loading thread data ...

Rotors and hub are one piece. New rotors usually come with bearing races, no seals or bearings. Whatever pads you use, I recemmend the cerramic - metallic pads instead of the normal semi-metallic pads used on them. The cerros work better than the full metallic, have far less dust to coat the wheels and greatly reduce the tendency of these vehicles to warp rotors resulting in brake surge. I once had my doubts but, am now convenced this is the way to go.

Use a good calipre slider lube. I like the copper based lube as it seems to stay in there better than lithium based lube usually used for this. Don't overdo it.

Resurfaced rotor seem to work as well as new as long as they are in specs. Again, rotors and hub are one.

The FORD RABS is located inside the left frame rail under cab. It has it's own bleeder valve just like the calipres. Bleeding is not a critical process on these and is done just like a brake cylinder. In function, it dumps pressure on both rear wheels simultaneously. It gets it's signal from the speed sensor in the rear axle pumpkin. It is easy to know when this one kicks in with all the noise it makes.

I wouldn't worry about using a pedal jack or loosing fluid from the system. It should be flushed and purged with fresh fluid occasisonally. Now is your perfect opportunity. If you have the time, gravity bleeding works well if the vehicle is level. Do a final round by pressure bleeding with a helper just to make sure.

I have replaced the hoses on my '93 a couple of times. Don't be surprised if you find fluid bubbles in the outer sheathing if they are originals. Fortunately, these are cheap compared to most.

If you have cruise control, another thing you may do well to do is replace the interrupt switch in the brake line. It is the one in a tee of the brake lines on the left frame rail. That is the one responsible for so many fires and is the subject of a huge recall. There is also a modified wire harness that includes a fuse on the powered side wire. Some dealers have this available but the big feature is the fuse. I don't recall the value of the fuse. I am sure the info is out there soemwhere. The problem is internal leakage of fluid to the electrical contact area of the switch. The contacts become corroded and remain energiged when the vehicle is off. After a while, the combustible fluid ignites and it is car-b-q time.

Lugnut

Reply to
lugnut

I was thinking that I would just reuse the old pads because they probably only have 3K miles on them if that. False economy? Dusting isn't a HUGE deal because I have the base model steel wheels and dog dishes, although if I have 'em off I might paint 'em red and see if I can find some trim rings :) (yeah, I'm goofy like that.)

What would you recommend? (brand?) In the past (as a poor starving college student doing maintenance on my own cars) I have just used anti-seize paste without any evident issues, but I understand that there are purpose made lubes for this job.

Good to know, thanks. I was not aware that there was a separate bleeder for the RABS valve.

Heh, guess what I just did a couple months ago. Full brake fluid flush with Ca$trol LMA in all my vehicles. I do have the correct adapter for a pressure bleeder so no helper required. I was just worried because the K-H ABS systems that I'm more familiar with require use of a Tech II or other special tool to properly bleed, so I wanted to avoid that hassle if at all possible.

No cruise control on this truck, but that's the kind of thing that makes posting to this NG worthwhile. (occasionally. when we're not all fighting amongst ourselves, at least.)

Just bought a new trash can so I can repurpose my old one as an electrolytic derusting tank... if I'm doing a brake job, I'll have to repaint the dust shields, of course, and of course I'll be buying some caliper paint... (this is why I do my own work, nobody is as anal retentive as I am myself)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Actually, should not be a problem. If they have fully seated, it may be a good idea to use a file and chamfer the edges of the pads to reduce the chance of squeal or chatter during reseating. All you need is just enough to remove the sharp edge in contact with the rotor.

On my own, I had replaced the rotors, calipers, hoses and pads last year. After 5k miles, I had the brake shudder back. I had noticed that the brake shudder had not been noticeable at all after I installed the ceramic on my Sable. It was not bad enough for me to worry about it on that car, but after I installed the Ceramics, it was hardly even detectable. For that reason, I decided to pull the Bendix Titanium Metallics and installed the Morse Ceramics on it. The brake shudder was reduced to almost nothing and has not returned. That alone is worth the cost of admission.

I don't think it makes a great deal of difference about the brand. I have the large lifetime supply size from Pep Boys when they closed. I believe it is the LocTite brand who also owns Permatex and a slew of other brands now. It is supposed to be good up to 600 deg/f IIRC. If the calipre ever gets that hot at the slider on your truck, you will have other immediate problems to deal with.

The Antisieze paste will work fine. It does seem to have more oil to leach out onto the surrounding area and collect dust and dirt.

One other thing you may watch. The calipre pins tend to take a set with heat and age. When they are new, they are symetrical. It doesn't take very long for one side to get squeezed down such that the plates are a bit closer together. I try to reinstall them the way they came out to avoid reshaping them. It is also much easier to get them back in if you match up the narrow side with the calipre slot. Be sure the hump on either end of the pin is exposed and not in the slot. That is what locates them in place.

Sounds like you have it under control. Sorry about mentioning the simple obvious things but, thase are the ones that seem to bite me in the ass at my age for some reason.

Good luck

Lugnut

Reply to
lugnut

I'm ASSuming that this will make sense when I get it apart. I don't know if the "hardware kit" includes the parts you mention or not. I ordered quickly because RockAuto listed only two calipers available at the $9 price.

Don't apologize, that's why I posted rather than just diving right in. I may be able to do a brake job on a drum-brake Studebaker with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back (and I might be able to pull it off, I've done enough) or an old WCVW but that experience may not prepare me for what may be simple stuff for someone who's been working on a whole range of vehicles professionally.

And truth be told, given that all my cars tend to be stickshifts, it's been a long time since I've done a brake job on one of my personal vehicles. A set of brakes tends to last my entire ownership of any given vehicle...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

forgot to mention, you've almost convinced me to try the ceramics. I will have to ask how much they cost when I bring my rotors into my FLAPS. Given that they often will turn your rotors for free when you buy other brake parts, it might work out to be worth it.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

update: got the hoses and "hardware kit" today, and the hardware kit consists of two of the pieces you were talking about up at the top of your post. I think I understand now (I was expecting a threaded pin like my dad's old Chevy truck, this is more like a rolled piece of steel) calipers haven't shown up yet so haven't visited FLAPS yet. Looks like I'll have a little project to do over the weekend. Haven't decided if I just want to go whole hog and redo the rear brakes as well; inspector said that they were thin, but could last as many as 10K more miles depending on how I drove it (that could be another three years, as much as I use the thing) the thing is, if I'm gonna mess with the brakes, why not just do the whole job once and get it done...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Stick with the front only at this time. If you don't do this for a living, then take only one section apart and get it back up to working condition befor you do another. The Ford's can be real problematic on getting all the air out once you open the system.

How I would do it (i have a few extra tools you don't but I want you to understand what/why i'm up to. Suck all the fluid out of the master cylender, add fresh up to the brim. Do not remove the old calipers from the car untill you have the new ones all bolted up OR pinch off the old ribber lines. Try to Minimize the time the system is open. Get all the new stuff into place, rotors, calipers and pads. Now open the line and replace the hoses. Use a drip pan and let it drip as you work. This is getting the old fluid out from the Master Cylender AND keepingair out of the line from the M/C to the line. Do not let it run dry. Keep the cap on, this will slow the fluid drip a wee bit. Now Hopefully, the lines are easy to get changed- they can be a B*tch. open the bleeder valve on the caliper and let it drip while you do the other side. Sometimes, Gravity bleeding is all you need.

I am almost scared to mess with a Ford ft brakes- Have had no problems replacing calipers on My 92 several times, but dad'e 90 Fought us for a week trying to get a good pedal under it. Steve ASE Master Tech

Reply to
S.Hansen

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.