Rear brake pads?

[1976gmc20]

2002 K2500HD Duramax SRW

Is there any trick to getting the calipers off and replacing the pads, or are they pretty much like any other disc brakes: two long bolts and push in the piston a little with a C-clamp?

Shop wants $360 to replace pads and rotors but I think the rotors are okay from the little triangle that I can see between the caliper and the dust cover. There's no noticeable problem with the brakes; shop just said the rear pads were getting thin.

Thanks

[hatzie]

The parking brake on the AAM 11.5 axle is a miniature old fashioned drum brake setup inside the rotor hat. The caliper is a good old fashioned disc brake caliper. Crack the bleeder and push the piston back then gravity bleed it while keeping the master full of fresh fluid to clear the 20 year old brake fluid out.

Rotors should be right around $50-$70 each.
Quality pads are about $40-$50.

The parking brake is about $30 in parts, shoes and spring kit, if the backer plate and cables are serviceable.

So $220 in parts if you use the high numbers. That's about $140 in labor. Depends on how cash strapped you are whether it's worth the couple hours of your time kneeling in the gravel in the cold to do the brakes yourself.

I would replace the rotors and parking brake shoes in any locality that you drive in the snow because they tend to get pretty rough. You can do a pad slap and ignore the parking brakes for about $50.

[1976gmc20]

You can do a pad slap and ignore the parking brakes for about $50.

Thanks! That was my idea.

I threw out my hip about a week ago and I'm hurting all over. Don't get to see the bone doctor until Thursday, so I didn't try to buy the pads yesterday. I haven't talked to my daughter about it yet; she's flying out the 28th to take it home. I spent a bunch on baseline maintenance last week but drew the line at the brakes. If she's not in too big of a hurry we could do it together while she's here.

Her new pickup and what it's replacing:

[hatzie]

If I were doing this for the wife, girlfriend, daughter I would check the parking brake to make sure it's functional. The men in the family can do their own brakes.
If you're trying to be frugal maybe get the rotors cut and give em a once over in the blast cabinet to make sure the friction surfaces are parallel, don't have the outer and inner rust rings on the friction surface, and the hat doesn't have a bunch of rust. It costs around $20 each here.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by hatzie

If I were doing this for the wife, girlfriend, daughter I would check the parking brake to make sure it's functional. The men in the family can do their own brakes.
If you're trying to be frugal maybe get the rotors cut and give em a once over in the blast cabinet to make sure the friction surfaces are parallel, don't have the outer and inner rust rings on the friction surface, and the hat doesn't have a bunch of rust. It costs around $20 each here.

Back in the mid-1970s I worked at a service station and did brakes all the time. Of course we had lifts so you could stand up to your work

I could check the parking brake easy enough on the hill that our house is built on

Taking anything into a machine shop or anywhere else requires at least 120 mile round trip, assuming you can get it done and back the same day. Maybe I should have let Chevy do the whole thing but I was freaking out over the cost. I've bought pretty good used trucks in the past for less than what it was going to total counting the brakes!

a/t flush/refill
coolant flush/refill
a/t coolant lines replace
f/r differential drain refill


Oh, and our Jeep is losing brake fluid so I need to work on it too sometime soon Probably the r/r wheel cylinder.

[hatzie]

Usually the dealership service depts around here "find" things that "must be done before it leaves here".

I don't trust those people as far as I could throw em. I stopped getting someone else to service my machines 40 years ago or so because I don't like being lied to.

One of the good and bad things about being way out in the bush is that you're far away from everyone and everything. It's only 48 miles to the nearest machine shop here. If they're in operation now. I have a 14x42 toolroom lathe. Cutting rotors, drums, and even a flywheel would make a mess but I could do it. Cast Iron is miserable to clean up after.

[1976gmc20]

I finally talked to her on the phone. Turns out she has replaced disc pads on other vehicles, so I'm just going to buy a set of pads when we're in town Thursday. We may jack it up and pull a wheel and check it while she is here. Otherwise she can take the pads back home and put them on before she hauls or tows anything. Her twin sister's father in law can help her if necessary, also.

[Greg58]

I like your daughter's new ride, it looks pretty clean.
A Montana truck?

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Greg58

I like your daughter's new ride, it looks pretty clean.
A Montana truck?

Yeah, apparently. It has a Denny Menholt (Billings) sticker on it so probably bought new there. The independent lot claimed it was one owner and they traded it in to another Chevy dealer (Miles City or someplace) for a near new one, but I guess that Chevy dealer sold it off rather than putting it on their lot.

They must have hauled a gooseneck with it but it only has that one ding on the drivers door.

She had bought her F350 in AZ and you can't find any older vehicles not rusted out back in Michigan. I just happened to be in town for a dump run a while back and saw this one sitting at the old Texaco station on main street.

I bought rear pads for it in Billings today ($76) but I dunno if I will get them put on before she flies in Sunday night.

[BigBird05]

How many miles are on the rear pads? Are you sure they need replacing or do you just want to do it for piece of mind for your daughter. I have 212,000 miles on my Yukon and believe the rear pads are original. I know I bought the Yukon at 130,000 mi. and I haven't had to replace either fronts or backs.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by BigBird05

How many miles are on the rear pads? Are you sure they need replacing or do you just want to do it for piece of mind for your daughter. I have 212,000 miles on my Yukon and believe the rear pads are original. I know I bought the Yukon at 130,000 mi. and I haven't had to replace either fronts or backs.

I have no idea since I just bought the pickup used. The truck itself has 183K. It has a gooseneck ball in the bed so I assume it was used for towing something fairly heavy, and maybe parked the rest of the time since the mileage is fairly low for 2002.

The shop said the rear pads were getting thin when I had it in to get a bunch of baseline maintenance. They wanted to replace rotors too but I don't see anything wrong with them. I looked and stuck my finger through the holes in the wheels, and the surface looks and feels pretty good to me. I figure she can probably make it okay 1600 miles back to MI running empty, but she should definitely install the pads before she tows her gooseneck horse trailer that she just bought to replace the wrecked bumper pull.


But, yeah ... I don't think I've ever replaced the rear brakes on any pickup that I've owned - except the 89 K1500 that had no rear brakes working at all when I bought it. Turned out the left side wasn't put together right or something, and all the pieces were all out of place and chewed up. I still don't have a parking brake on it because I need to find a lever at a salvage yard since they don't make that part anymore.

[1976gmc20]

She left for Michigan with the pickup this morning, so it's all hers now

We think maybe it needs shock absorbers too.