newbie here

You might also find this site helpful-scroll down to the Brakes area.

Holy crap...the way that website describes the procedure kinda worries me...does just changing the brakes require pulling apart the entire wheel hub and everything..if that is the case I will just take it to a shop.

Couldn't break through your spam barrier, so here is my reply from your e-mail:

THE HORRAH! Boil ribs??? Around here, that's sacreligious-they are pretty darn tender without any of that. Not sure how close you are to Citrus Park, Orlando of Pinellas Park, but if so, hit a BJ's Brewhouse-we brew all their beer, and I think they have our Amber Ale on tap. Dr. Bob can be ---quite thorough-that's why I don't do brakes, but I'm on my third Explorer, and that site has been quite helpful over the years, but I don't know if it's been updated lately. Cheers!

this links to purchase the Ford repair CD - not a copy, a dealer CD. Worth every Penney. You may need to purchase the more expensive DVD for your year.

if you belong to your local library you can get online access to the ebscohost auto repair manuals section. You can then print out the instructions to replace your brake pads. It is a free service.

go to:

look in the forum for your year. there should be step by step illustrated instructions for this very simple job.

You do not need to remove the hub or bearings.

you should inspect the rear pads/rotors before you purchase the new pads. If they are near the end of their service life replace the rears. Normally rears outlast the fronts 2 to 1. Buy the best pads you can get. Ceramic/metallic preferred.

Riddles

Most brakes are pretty simple to do. Especially if they are basically working ok but you just can see that the pads are about shot and need to be replaced. Unless you need to have the rotors machined or replaced you should be able to take out a few bolts, remove the calipers, remove the old pads, and put new ones in and put it back together. If it's a 4x4 and you need to do the rotors it can be more complicated, esp if it's the first time you've done a 4x4. For either case it's worth buying a decent repair manual or as someone else suggested, seeing if your library has an online subscription to a repair manual. Usually the rears will last 2 to 3 times as many miles as the fronts but YMMV. You should pull a wheel and take a look. A lot of times the rears are more trouble then the fronts to work on due to the emergency brake and rust.

That Dr. Bob/Singleton page is mainly for older explorers. Yours, being a

2003 will not have caliper slides, etc. and is very easy to replace pads as long as your rotors are good. Simply undo the caliper bolts and pop out the pads. You should get some sort of reference manual (I have the Haynes which is just OK) so you make sure you take out the correct bolts and torque them properly...