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Brought to you by 1AAuto.com-- your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the internet.
Hi, I'm Mike Green. I am one of the owners of 1AAuto. I want to help you save time and money repairing or maintaining your vehicle. I'm going to use my 20 plus years of experience restoring and repairing cars and trucks like this to show you the correct way to install parts from 1AAuto.com. The right parts installed correctly, that's going to save you time and money. Thank you and enjoy the video.
In this video, we're going to show you how to replace the front brake pads and rotors on this 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. This is a full-drive. This procedure is generally the same for most of this generation truck. Tools you'll need are 7/8, actually, or a 22 millimeter, pretty much the same size, 13/16", 13 millimeter sockets, ratchet. You'll probably want a breaker bar or a pipe to get some leverage on your ratchet handle. A sledge hammer if your rotors are rusted like they were on our vehicle, a large screwdriver or a small pry bar, wire brush, large C-clamp and we also use some penetrating oil.
First, you want to remove your wheel. If you're just using hand tools, start with the vehicle on the ground, loosen the lug nuts first and then raise it, secure it with jack stand then remove the wheel. I've got air tools and I use them. Either the 7/8" or 22 millimeter, both will work. Okay, and we'll fast forward here as I remove the lug nuts, the cap and the wheel. Now, with the wheel off, you can check the condition of your brakes or your rotors. Use the back of your finger. Just run them up and if you're feeling hard ridges, or this actually has some pretty deep bruise here so I'm actually going to replace these rotors. Then you can check the condition of your pads. As you can see, my pads are actually in pretty good shape. The pad is right there and I will only turn the rotor. On the rotor, you can see turning for pads right next to it. There are some pretty good bites in the pad but I don't like the look of these rotors so I'm going to replace the rotors and pads.
What you want to do, take a large pry bar or large screw driver or a small pry bar like this. You're going to pry out on the caliper. It pushes the pistons. These are pistons right here. By prying out those pistons, get pushed back into the caliper. You remove the caliper; you're going to want to remove two 13 millimeter bolts, one here and then one up here. Pretty easy and it's loosen up, supposed to be too tight but it will come up with a small ratchet and then socket or wrench. The caliper comes off, take that, just left it up here for now. Now, your brake pads, it will just come right out. You'll need your pry bar and I got it right out. Now, you can see that rotor is still blocked by this bracket. To get the bracket off, it's two bolts, one here, one here. What I'm finding the best is a 13/16", 21 millimeters looks like is a little too big. It's kind of odd that they go back and forth between standard and metric.
When these bolts are done, you'll either want a breaker bar like this or you could just have a ratchet and a piece of pipe, put it under your ratchet or your breaker bar, give yourself an extra leverage and loosen up the bolts. Just be careful when you do this, you'd pull nicely so it doesn't jerk. I mean, you're putting not much torque on it. You don't want to pull off the bolt. After showing you how to do the leverage, I just cheat and use the impact wrench anyways. I'm going to spray the rotor with tons of penetrate. Hopefully, it's getting there. On your vehicle, you maybe want to do this, just sit it overnight and come back on the back side of the rotor and the hub. Pull out the big gun.
You probably noticed the shiny, new hub there. I did do this brake video along with a couple of other repairs. If you like to see the other steps involved in replacing that hub, then just check out our other videos. You go on nicely. I would just take a lug nut. Just sort of somewhat hold on there while I put the brakes together. This is the bracket that the caliper bolt too is on and has a stainless steel slide here. This one will take a wire brush to clean those off real good.
Now, we have two lug bolts, 13/16", just put the bracket on like that. Just a reminder, the bracket goes on the disc side and the bolts go in. I'm going to tighten these bolts a little bit. Made my tool crunch and tighten it to 110 pounds. Now, I'm just going to wipe rotors down, just a little bit of Mineral Spirits here, just to make sure there's nothing on, Mineral Spirits brake cleaner even gasoline as long as it cleans off grease and then evaporate quickly. Okay, my new pads from 1AAuto, exactly the same as the old pads. On here, I assemble around within a minute. It's pretty to put to these on, but what I found was that the brake disc was wobbling around and preventing me so I put another bolt on it and just another, that's all set.
For the next step, you may want to loosen your brake fluid cap a little. When we pried out the caliper, we attempted to reset the pistons. You see the pistons are still slipping out. What we can do is just take an old tab and then a large C-clamp. Then you have the C-clamp to reset pistons, as I tighten the C-clamp, the pistons go further in. Caliper back on just to make sure that these are sliding nice and free. Got to push them all the way that way, and then put this back on. You put the top up in first and then the bottom. You'll now start your 13 millimeter bolts and we'll put these in. Then torque comes to 25 pounds.
Then we'll fast forward through the preliminary tightening of those bolts. I'll fast forward it a little bit here. Remove those two lug nuts that I used to hold the rotor in place, then put the wheel back up on. Hand-thread the lug nuts and then I just tighten them up preliminary with the air wrench. Then, as you lower the vehicle on the ground and then tighten the lug nuts, 120 pounds and you want to create a star pattern as you're torqueing them.
Last very important step, make sure you reset your disk brakes by pumping them and then before you road test, you stop from 5 and 10 miles an hour just to make sure your vehicle just stop before you enter the roadway.
We hope this helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com- your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the internet. Please feel free to call us toll free, 888-844, 3393. We're the company that's here for you on the internet and in person.
Tools used
Now I'm gonna remove the wheel. Use a 22-millimeter socket. Take the lug nuts off. Take the wheel off. Now I'll take these caliper bracket bolts out. Use a 13-millimeter socket. Loosen those up. And if you have to, you can use a pair of pliers to hold the stud from spinning or the brake slide. Take those out. I'm gonna take that off. And I'm just gonna use a straight blade screwdriver and just try to pry the piston in a little bit. Just be careful, don't rip the boot. Just go in between the rotor and the caliper. That's good. And slide the caliper off. Use a brake caliper hanger and just attach it somewhere so that there's no tension on the brake hose. And then use a straight blade screwdriver. Slide the pads off the bracket. Then take a 21-millimeter socket and take these caliper bolts out, the caliper bracket bolts out. And just slide the bracket off. And take the rotor off. Slide it off. If it doesn't come off that easy, just take a hammer and just hammer in these locations. Just be careful. Don't hit the studs.
And now we're gonna clean up this hub surface. You can use a die grinder or a wire brush and just take some of the rust off just to clean it up before we put the rotor on. Now I'm just gonna do a thin coat of anti-seize just on the hub surface just to prevent corrosion. That's good. Now, first thing I take the new rotor and put it on backwards. Take some brake parts cleaner, just rinse the deck of the rotor. Just wipe it down. That's good. Flip it around. Do the same on this side. Now just take a lug nut and just put that on. That's just temporary to keep the rotor from falling while we're installing the rest of the brakes. Now clean up the caliper bracket. Just use a wire brush, clean up some of this rust. That's good. Do the same on this side. Then we'll just take a little bit of caliper grease and just put it on that surface right there and right there. Same on the other side.
Now take out the caliper slide pins and just use a little brake parts cleaner and a rag and wipe this off. And if they were extremely dirty or you see a lot of corrosion, you can clean out the hole that the pin goes in and just put some new caliper grease on here. Slide it back on. Make sure it moves freely and then do the same on the other one. Now I'll take the caliper bracket, slide it over the rotor, take the bolts. And you can put some thread lock adhesive on there if you want. And now we're gonna torque those bolts to 130-foot pounds. Now take the brake pads. You wanna put these clips on the brake pads just like that. They just slide right on. Just make sure that this spring part is towards the outside of the pad and then slide those in place. Do the same on the inside. That's good. Now just grab the brake caliper, take the hanger off. And I wanna compress these pistons. Use a brake caliper tool and just compress the piston slowly. And those pistons are compressed. Just make sure the hose is not twisted and slide the caliper over the pads. Line that up and get these bolts in. And then I'm gonna torque those bolts to 31-foot pounds. And you can use pliers to hold the slides from spinning.
Now that's all together. Take this lug nut off and install the tire. Put the lug nuts on. Now I'm gonna torque the lug nuts down to 130-foot pounds in a star pattern so that we tighten the wheel down evenly. Now you wanna pump the brake pedal nice and slow. There's gonna be an air gap between the brake caliper, piston, and the brake pads. And once it feels good, that's good. And you wanna double-check the brake fluid reservoir. Make sure you have plenty of brake fluid. Make sure it's up to the max line. Adjust accordingly.
Tools used
Now I'm gonna remove the wheel. Take a 22-millimeter socket and remove the lug nuts. And pull the wheel off. Now we're gonna take the brake caliper off. Use a 12-millimeter socket and take these two caliper bolts off. And grab the caliper. You might have to wiggle it back and forth a little bit. And slide it out. Use a brake caliper hanger and attach it to the coil spring or somewhere that the brake hose is not being pulled on too hard. And just take a straight blade screwdriver, pry out the brake pads. Now take a 21-millimeter socket and take the caliper bracket bolts off.
Pull those bolts off and slide the bracket back. Now take a hammer and just tap on the rotor in those locations. Make sure you don't hit the studs. Now it's loose from the hub itself, but the brake the parking brake shoes are holding me up a little bit so I got to loosen those up. On the backing shield, there's this little window right here. There's a rubber grommet. Just take your screwdriver, take that off. On the passenger side, this is on the bottom. On the driver's side, it's on the top. And then, there's a little wheel right there that if...it's like a star wheel, that's the adjuster. You can take a screwdriver and just find something that fits or a brake spoon, it's what they call this. And to tighten this up, you're gonna go and turn the wheel up. Just like this. And grab the rotor and slide it right off.
Now we need to remove these clips that hold the shoes on. I'm just gonna use a right-angle pick. Just get underneath the clip. Then I'm just gonna use a trim tool and just push down on this side of it as I slide the clip up. I'm just gonna take it off the pin. Just like that. And just try to pry this out a little like that. And do the same on the other side. Now I wanna get this adjuster out under here. It's kinda hard to get that spring off with the adjuster on there. So, I'm just gonna take two pry bars and just pry this out and just hopefully the adjuster will fall. There we go. Then with the shoes closer together, then the spring just comes out pretty easily. Grab the spring. Ther's the adjuster just fell out. And slide the spring out. Now there's two springs, there's a spring on the front side and a spring on the backside. And what you're gonna do is just try to get this off of out of this bracket right here. So, I'll use a pry bar and a screwdriver. Just try to pry this out a little bit. Same on this side.
There we go. Pop that spring out. And the other spring, let's pop that one out as well. There's that one. And here's that front shoe and the springs. So these springs, one spring goes on the backside, one spring goes on the front side like that. I'm gonna take these pins out. I am gonna re-use them because I don't have a hardware kit, but I just need to take them out. It's just gonna make putting the new shoes on easier. Put those aside and just take a wire brush and just any of the surface where the shoes touch the backing plate. Just clean those up a little bit. You could put a little grease on there if you want to. Now take the new shoes. Now, there is a top and a bottom and it's gonna be the opposite on the driver's side. There you go like that. So, for this side, this arch area it's gonna go on the top for both shoes.
Now, we want this spring we're gonna put both springs on before and we want one of the springs to end up behind here. So it has to go in behind there. So, it's a little tricky to get it in there. So hook that on right there and then there. The other spring you put it on the outside, right there and right there. So, these are together like this. Now what I'm gonna do is take the shoes and just go like this and then just rotate. This makes it easy, easier. And then take the shoe, and it has to go in between here and here. Just make sure that other spring doesn't pop out. And it's good like that. And then I'll take a screwdriver and just pry this one out, just like that. And there we go. Those are in position. And check your adjuster. If the adjuster doesn't move too easily, you wanna take it apart and just clean those threads up and then put some lubricant on those. This one moves pretty good. Now, I'll just put a little grease on here, just on the threads. To make putting the pins in a little easier, I'm just gonna put this adjuster in. Just pry this apart. You could use a pry bar if you want. That's lined up right there. Now take the pins, sometimes they call these nails. And then going from the back of the shield. And just get it lined up through the shoe. Now I'll just take this retainer and slide it up through here. And I'm sure they have special installers to put these on, but use what you can. I'm just gonna use this trim tool. There we go. It might take a little bit of effort. It's not too bad. Do the same on this other one.
Now I need to put this spring in, but it's gonna be very difficult to get that spring in with the adjuster in there. So, what I'm gonna do is just spread these shoes apart, take the adjuster out temporarily. And I can take the spring, push the shoes together. I'm just gonna use a screwdriver or a tool, get the spring lined up, so that's in there good. Now we can put the adjuster back in position. Just get it past the spring. I have to turn the hub a little bit. Now I'm gonna use two pry bars. Just pry this out a little bit and push the adjuster in place.
Just like that. Now you wanna clean the hub surface. Just use a wire brush or a die grinder. Just clean up some of the rust. And now take your rotor and slide that on. And now we wanna adjust this up a little bit. Just use a little, either a screwdriver or a parking brake tool, and just tighten it up. Just want it tight enough so that it just drags a little bit. That might be a little too tight. I'm just gonna loosen it. And you can always adjust it later. If it's not tight enough, tighten it up. And then take this little cover. Just use a screwdriver or a pick and just reinsert that. That's good. Now take the bracket and slide it in position over the rotor. Put the bolts back in. You can put some thread locker adhesive on these if you want to and then torque these to 132 foot-pounds. You can put a little grease just where the pads are gonna slide on the slides. That's good. And then take the pads themselves. Line those up. Do the same on the inside. Just like that. Now take the brake caliper off the hanger. Now we wanna compress the caliper and slide that compressor tool in there and slowly compress the caliper.
All right. Now that pistons all the way in, now on the passenger side, you're gonna start with the caliper on the top and fold it down and on the driver's side, it's gonna be the opposite. And put the bolts back in and get those started. And then torque these bolts to 24 foot-pounds. And then put the tire back up and the lug nuts. Now we're gonna torque the wheel, tighten this down to 130 foot-pounds in a star pattern so you tighten the wheel down evenly. Now you wanna pump the brake pedal nice and slow. There's gonna be an air gap between the brake caliper piston and the brake pads. And once it feels good, that's good. And you wanna double-check the brake fluid reservoir. Make sure you have plenty of brake fluid. Make sure it's up to the max line. Adjust accordingly.
Tools used
Now I'm gonna remove the wheel. Take a 22-millimeter socket, remove the lug nuts. And pull the wheel off. Now, we're gonna take the brake caliper off. Use a 12-millimeter socket and take these two caliper bolts off. And grab the caliper. I'm gonna have to wiggle it back and forth a little bit and slide it out. Use a brake caliper hanger and attach it to the coil spring or somewhere that the brake hose is not being pulled on too hard. And just take a straight blade screwdriver, pry out the brake pads. I'm gonna take a 21-millimeter socket and take the caliper bracket bolts off. Pull those bolts off and slide the bracket back.
Now take a hammer and just tap on the rotor in those locations. Make sure you don't hit the studs. Now it's loose from the hub itself, but the brake, the parking brake shoes are holding me up a little bit, so I've got to loosen those up. On the backing shield, there's this little window right here, there's a rubber grommet. Just take your screwdriver, take that off. On the passenger side, this is on the bottom. On the driver's side, it's on the top. And then there's a little wheel right there that it's like a star wheel, it's the adjuster. You can take a screwdriver and just find something that fits or a brake spoon is what they call this. And then to tighten this up, you're gonna go and turn the wheel up just like this. You can grab the rotor and slide it right off.
Now you wanna clean the hub surface. Just use a wire brush or a die grinder. Just clean up some of the rust. I'm gonna take the rotor, put it on backwards first. Take some brake parts cleaner and just clean the rotor. Use a rag, wipe it off. Put the rotor around. Same on this side. And now we wanna adjust this up a little bit. Just us a little...either a screwdriver or a parking brake tool and just tighten it up. I just want it tight enough so that it just drags a little bit. That might be a little too tight. I'm just gonna loosen it. And you can always adjust it later. If it's not tight enough, tighten it up. And take this little cover. Just use a screwdriver or a pick and just insert that. That's good.
Now I'm gonna take the clips off. Take a wire brush, just clean off this area. Do the same on the other side. And take some brake caliper grease and just put it on this point and same on the other side. I'm gonna take these pad clips or pad slides, press that there. Same on this side. Now take the bracket and slide it in position over the rotor. Put the bolts back in. You can put some thread locker adhesive on these if you want to. And then torque these bolts to 132 foot-pounds.
You can put a little grease just where the pads are gonna slide on the slides. That's good. And take the pads themselves, line those up. Do the same on the inside, just like that. Now, take the brake caliper off the hanger. Before we compress the caliper, we have these slide caliper slides. You just take a screwdriver and push these through. Slide those out, clean these off with a little bit of brake parts cleaner, and wipe them down. Take a little brake caliper grease and grease them up. And if they were extremely dirty, you could take these and clean these out in here, but these weren't too bad so I'm just gonna take a little grease, slide those in there, and slide it back in. That's good. And then you can do the same for the other side. Now we wanna compress the caliper, slide the compressor tool in there, and slowly compress the caliper.
All right. Now that the piston's all the way in, now on the passenger side, you're gonna start with the caliper on the top and fold it down. And on the driver's side, it's gonna be opposite, and put the bolts back in and get those started. And then torque these bolts to 24 foot-pounds. And put the tire back up, and the lug nuts. Now, we're gonna torque the wheel, tighten this down to 130 foot-pounds in a star pattern so you tighten the wheel down evenly. Now you wanna pump the brake pedal nice and slow. There's gonna be an air gap between the brake caliper, piston, and the brake pads. And once it feels good, that's good. And you wanna double-check the brake fluid reservoir. Make sure you have plenty of brake fluid. Make sure it's up to the max line. Adjust accordingly.
