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  #1  
Old 05-28-2012, 06:04 PM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Default Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

A little history on my truck. It was a repossession and I purchased it with 56k miles approximately 4 years ago. I have been very fortunate and have not had a lot of trouble with it but the owner before me did not take very good care of it. Since I have had it I do the normal maintenance, have been using Lucas fuel additive to clean the fuel system and have fixed the few things that have gone wrong with it since I have owned it.

Because money is tight right now I have become a DIY. I just finished replacing the front and back shocks and the upper and lower ball joints and the outer tie rods on my truck. While I was doing that I noticed that the front brake rotors have some major grooves in them. I assume this is because the previous owner ran the original pads down to metal and then just slapped in new pads without turning the brake rotor. Rather than trying to turn them now, I am going to install new brake rotors and new brake pads on the front. (The back are drum brakes and I had those replaced last year).

After researching what is involved in replacing the brake rotors it looks like I am going to have to remove the entire wheel bearing assembly. As far as I can tell the current wheel bearings are still good. I do not hear any noise nor do I have any movement in the wheel.

But, that said, I have some questions:

1) Even though I do not see any evidence that the current wheel bearings are bad, but given that I have 97k miles on the truck should I just replace them or can I clean them up and then repack them? I am not sure how many miles is normally expected out of a set of wheel bearings and I do not want to have to do this again 10k miles down the road.

2) If I need to replace them what is a good brand to use that will not break the bank? I read on another thread that Timken was the best brand but it also appears to be the most expensive.

3) What are all the parts that I need to purchase? I am a little confused because I read about inner and outer wheel bearings, seals, etc. Can anything I pull off be reused?

4) What brand of brake rotors are decent but will not break the bank when it comes to cost? I have been looking at Advanced Auto store brand call Wearever and also O'Reilly's store brand but I do not know enough about them to know if they are any good.

I have used both RockAuto.com and Advanced Auto Parts in the past but I am open to going somewhere else if they have a quality part that is reasonably priced.

I do not do any heavy braking or off road playing so I do not necessarily need the best but I also do not want to get something really cheap that may not be safe or may have to be replaced after a short period of time. I admit I am a novice at this DIY repair work, but I recognize that replacing the same cheap part 3 times for every one of the more expensive parts is not really saving money.

Any help or information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 05-28-2012, 06:11 PM
doyouquaxu doyouquaxu is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

go to rockauto. use timken bearings only, everything else is junk. can't hurt to replace the bearings while you've got everything off, cheap insurance and prevents you from pulling everything apart in a little while if a bearing did go bad.

check out rotors, buy what you can afford. new pads may be a good idea too.
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  #3  
Old 05-28-2012, 06:23 PM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

Quote:
Originally Posted by doyouquaxu View Post
go to rockauto. use timken bearings only, everything else is junk. can't hurt to replace the bearings while you've got everything off, cheap insurance and prevents you from pulling everything apart in a little while if a bearing did go bad.

check out rotors, buy what you can afford. new pads may be a good idea too.
Thanks for the input. I purchased Wagner Thermo Quiet Ceramic pads at the same time I purchased the ball joints and tie rods thinking that I would just swap them out with the old brake pads while I had everything apart. After seeing the condition of the rotors I decided to leave them in the box.
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  #4  
Old 05-28-2012, 06:29 PM
RagerTom RagerTom is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

x2, get what you can afford. I just did mine this today. Don't forget the new seals for the inners and the new cotter pins my parts were all timken/moogs and the total was 65ish bucks and some of my bearings were clearly newer already so i just cleaned the crap out of them and repacked them with some mobile1 red grease.
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  #5  
Old 05-28-2012, 06:36 PM
RoberticusMaximus RoberticusMaximus is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

yeah, get some extra cotter pins, cause if one breaks, you're up the creek!
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  #6  
Old 05-30-2012, 12:25 PM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

Ordered the inner and outer bearings and the inner seals today from partgeeks.com. Cost me $70 including shipping. I could have gotten National bearings for approximately $8 cheaper but I went with Timken based on the recommendations on this site.

Thanks for the suggestion on getting some extra cotter pins. O'Reilly Auto Parts shows that they have them for $ .03 to $.08 each so I figure I can pick up 2-3 of each size and just have them on hand.

Next up is getting the brake rotors.
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  #7  
Old 05-30-2012, 12:35 PM
RagerTom RagerTom is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

FWIW My National brand bearings had Moogs stamped on the box
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  #8  
Old 05-30-2012, 02:49 PM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

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Originally Posted by RagerTom View Post
FWIW My National brand bearings had Moogs stamped on the box
Thanks for that information and confirmation. In my research I had come across a post that said that National and Moog were either owned by the same company or one had bought out the other but I wasn't 100% sure the poster knew for sure that was the case. The fact that yours actually came stamped Moog confirms that is the case.

After reading so many posts on this forum that recommended Timken I decided to spend the extra $8 and get what is considered the top of the line bearings. I have 97k miles and if Timken is top of the line I should get another 97k out of their bearings before I have to replace them again - that of course assumes that I get them properly greased and installed.
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  #9  
Old 05-30-2012, 03:11 PM
RagerTom RagerTom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by USTPC

Thanks for that information and confirmation. In my research I had come across a post that said that National and Moog were either owned by the same company or one had bought out the other but I wasn't 100% sure the poster knew for sure that was the case. The fact that yours actually came stamped Moog confirms that is the case.

After reading so many posts on this forum that recommended Timken I decided to spend the extra $8 and get what is considered the top of the line bearings. I have 97k miles and if Timken is top of the line I should get another 97k out of their bearings before I have to replace them again - that of course assumes that I get them properly greased and installed.
And.......pop them out every 30k and clean and repack. They'll last forever.
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  #10  
Old 06-11-2012, 07:14 AM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Smile Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

I decided to go with Advance Auto Wearever Rotors. I purchased the ones that have a new wheel hub in them so that I also got new wheel bolts. With a promo code I got $30 off for a cost of approximately $80. By doing the repairs myself I will have new rotors, bearings, and brake shoes for approximately $180 and I estimate will save me between $600 - $1000 in labor charges.
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  #11  
Old 06-11-2012, 07:16 AM
RoberticusMaximus RoberticusMaximus is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

yep, DIY is the gift that keeps on giving
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  #12  
Old 06-16-2012, 04:48 AM
AnimalStyle AnimalStyle is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by USTPC
I decided to go with Advance Auto Wearever Rotors. I purchased the ones that have a new wheel hub in them so that I also got new wheel bolts. With a promo code I got $30 off for a cost of approximately $80. By doing the repairs myself I will have new rotors, bearings, and brake shoes for approximately $180 and I estimate will save me between $600 - $1000 in labor charges.
What about tools? Anything strange/expensive you needed to borrow, rent, or buy? I'm gonna be doing a full brake job on my '03 Ranger and am also a beginner/novice DIY'er.

2003 2WD v6 4.0 SOHC +/- 106,000 miles
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  #13  
Old 06-16-2012, 01:20 PM
03rangdang 03rangdang is offline
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Default

For tools you could use a C-clamp to put the caliper piston back in, second bearing packer, hand tools, ie wrenches, brake clean. I think that is it.
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  #14  
Old 06-16-2012, 06:58 PM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnimalStyle View Post
What about tools? Anything strange/expensive you needed to borrow, rent, or buy? I'm gonna be doing a full brake job on my '03 Ranger and am also a beginner/novice DIY'er.

2003 2WD v6 4.0 SOHC +/- 106,000 miles
I have not actually done the work yet but am planning to next week. I am not aware of any special tools that are needed but you might want to have a 27mm and/or 1 1/8" socket to remove the locknuts. I have read where some people use vise grips or a hammer and screwdriver but I do not feel comfortable loosening or tightening the lock nut in that manner. I am also planning on using a thin piece of wood (long enough to cover both calipers) with the c clamp so that both calipers are pushed back in at the same time.

Other than that as best as I have been able to find out it is just standard set of tools that you need.

There are some videos on you tube that show you how to do this and I plan to use those videos as reference. Here are a couple links:


Good luck.
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  #15  
Old 06-26-2012, 07:39 PM
USTPC USTPC is offline
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Default Re: Brake Rotors/Wheel Bearings

I replaced my rotors, brake pads, and wheel bearings today. The bolts on the caliper bracket were a bitch to get out but other than that it was a pretty simple job. I finally had to use a torch to heat the lower bolt and then used an impact wrench to get the lower bolts out. That allowed me to move the caliper bracket to break the rust seal on the upper bolt. If it had not been for the bolts being rusted in I would have been able to do both sides in about 4-5 hours instead of the 10 it took me. I slapped anti seize on both bolts before putting the caliper bracket back on so I should not have to fight with them next time.

I also did not need any sockets or tools to remove the wheel bearing nut. It was finger tight only and came of pretty easy.
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