JimM

ok, well, that was fun... NOT. It is done tho. 4 new rotors. 4 pairs of new ceramic pads. 4 bilstien shock. tires rotated front to rear and inflated to 35 lbs. Would like to go for a test drive, but I musta left the key on all night, she'll be on the charger for another couple hours. Talk about "whatever can go wrong will go wrong." The front caliper bolts, at least on my 2004 AWD SS, are T55. This cost me 30 minutes I didn't plan on. Caliper bracket bolts are 21mm, all four corners. Both front rotors were big time stuck. I finally fashioned a pair of "pushers" I put bolts thru the caliper bracket holes in the spindle, and nuts and washers so when I tightened the nuts, they pushed the bolts against the rotor. Applied heat and Ford tool, it finally came off. Ran into some weirdness in back. First, the calipers are held on by short 12mm BOLTS that thread into sleeves that are between the caliper and the bracket. The sleeves spin free, and have tiny wrench flats hidden. you'll need a 16mm open end wrench to hold these while you loosen the bolts. I had one thank goodness, but it's an unusual size. Then the pads I bought didn't fit. At autozone, the computer gave a choice of 1 or 2 piston calipers. Not having seen them I picked 1 piston. Wrong, of course. Went back to Autozone to swap pads. Book shows NOT AVAILABLE. For fun, I ask the guy for a set for an 04 Escalade... AWD, 2 piston... Bingo, they gotten in ceramic, and they match up perfect with my old ones. Just as one last unsult, the right side ebrake wanted to be a permanent part of the rotor. Persuaded it reasonably quickly. Total time 23 hours, minus 3 meals and 8 hours of sleep. Total cost $563.

haha, ya, started with the dead blow. Graduated quickly to a good size claw hammer, then a 3 lb sledge, finally a 10 lb sledge. That, combined with some pb blaster and a propane torch, got the first one off in 45 minutes. I got 45 minutes in the second one now, and it hasn't budged. The one I got off, the hub was a rusty mess, took a wire wheel to it to clean it up. The rotors GM used must be the cheapest chinese crap a dollar can buy, these things are nearly rusted to dust. The pads aren't even wore out, still got maybe a quarter of the lining left. the rotors just rusted out around em. Truck is 4 years old, 122k on original everything, daily and chicago winter driven, not garaged.

Well, as I actually get wrenching on this... Front caliper bolts are T55. Had to run to autozone. Front rotor had 2 of those clippy things on the studs, no sign of any screw. No sign of any "screw type place" on the new rotors. first rotor won't budge, Seems to be rusted to the hub, I can see lots of rust where the OD of the hub fit into the rotor hat. Been spraying and beatinf for half an hour, won't budge. Damned truck is only 4 years old, pads are actually still good, but they've ground halfway thru the nasty rotors, half the wieght of this one is in the form of red dust on my garage floor. Tips on getting this thing offa there are most welcome.

Perfect, sounds like my toolbox holds all I will need then. Can't wait to get the new brakes and bilstien shocks on! Can you believe she went 122k on the original set of brakes?

I have a set on the way, which I'll install (myself) on Saturday. I'll let you know what I see. I would "guess" that the original bushings are soft rubber, and the new ones are hard poly, and I wouldn't be surprised at a diameter difference. The hard poly bushings (are these for "stud mount shocks, I haven't even looked yet....) should be pretty readily available. Both energy suspension and PST sell them, and you might even find some on the shelf at an autozone.

Mornin all, haven't been here since my truck was new... but gotta quick question today. Gonna replace all 4 rotors and pads this weekend, and I'm wondering exactly what tools I'll need to get the calipers off? I have allen sockets up to 3/8" (but I know I ain't gonna be lucky there...lol) and Torx Sockets up to T50 What size are the caliper bolts? Am I correct in assuming once the calipers are out of the way, all 4 of the rotors will pretty much fall off? Past (non-abs) brake jobs, I've just done one corner at a time, and used a c-clamp to crank the pistons back into the calipers, any problem with this procedure on the SS? Thanks in advance!