DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

[spamwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close spamwell]

tools you will need


whats your looking at


first step ! jack the car up (jack stands for safety kids !) remove the wheel and remove the first retaing clip, as pictured


second step, use multigrips against pad and caliper to compress the pistons and release the caliper from the disk. some people may need to remove brake reservoir cap if their brake fluid was topped up while pads where severely warn as it may overflow (keep an eye on this i pumped a small amount out).



third step remove the two 17mm bolts holding the brake caliper on and the 12mm bolt holding the brake lines on (ABS MODELS : remove abs sensor)

[spamwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close spamwell]

Re: front disc and rotor replacement walkthrough by Spamwell !

forth step, slide calpier forward of the disc and remove and replace the brake disc (discs need to be cleaned in brake cleaner or similar to remove the oil they are packaged in), this is done simply by picking it up (some may need some hammer help to loosen) then slide caliper back in to place and reverse step 3

once you have your caliper in place as pictured you can go to the fifth step and remove the pad pin safety clip ( this can be done with long nose pliers)

sixth step, knock the pins out with a small hammer, then grab the end of the pin with your long nose pliers and tap the pliers with your small hammer to remove them all the way. you can then grab the pads with your pliers and start to wriggle them out



Seventh step, while you have one pad out compress the pistons using your multi grips, transfer the anti rattle plate from the old brake pad to the new brake pad, slide the new brake pad in and locate it in place by inserting the pins through.



eight step, now that you have one pad inserted remove the second pad, compress the pistons, swap the anti rattle plate and insert the pad, use the hammer if needed to tap the pins all the way through, don't forget to put the pin retaining wire back in, use the pliers to spin the pins to line this up


finally replace the retaining clip, slip the curved piece under the top pin and push, the bottom will clip over the bottom pin. Make sure you check all bolts for tightness


hope this helps someone

(different side, but woo new stuff)

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: front disc and rotor replacement walkthrough by Spamwell !

Thanks spam,
I am gonna have to replace my front discs pretty soon I think the run-out has become excessive. I can really feel the the shuddering when braking at +60km/h.... I can feel quite a pronounced lip when I run my fingers around the edge of the disc too.

Good choice of pads! You cant go wrong with Bendix :wink:

Where did you get your discs and how much? From Mr Toyota?

[spamwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close spamwell]

Re: front disc and rotor replacement walkthrough by Spamwell !

hey mate just used pbr discs got them from carbitz

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: front disc and rotor replacement walkthrough by Spamwell !

Very helpful post. I'm going to change my rear pads and rotors for the first time myslef in about a week because they're very worn and squeeking badly and I don't want to pay $1,000 for new rotors and brakes to be fitted by a mechanic. I was told the rears are supposed to be easier than the front, but I guess I'll learn anyway. I watched a friend attempt to change my rear brakes about 2 years ago, he had the calliper off and the old pad out, but the new pads I bought from Supercheap, which were the right ones by the way (DB1200), just slightly didn't fit by a millimeter it seemed. My friend tried to get them in, but gave up after about 15 mins and advised me to go to a mechanic as he'd never had issues changing brakes before. I just hope I don't run into the same issue again otherwise it'll make me crack. I'm also half expecting to find an ultra tight bolt or two that will take me 30 mins each to loosen. I've never bled brakes either, but it seems easy enough after reading threads on it here. It seems like the sort of thing once you've done it the once it's a piece of cake when you do it again, and you'd wonder why you ever paid someone else to do it for you all the times previously. I've changed most of the other fluids and filters myself already when required such as engine oil, rear diff oil, transmission fluid, powersteering fluid and transfer case oil, so I should be okay I guess. I've always paid somone else to change the front diff oil though as I couldn't find the filler hole. Excellent post by Spamwell though, it really does help.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: front disc and rotor replacement walkthrough by Spamwell !

I was told the rears are supposed to be easier than the front, but I guess I'll learn anyway.

Hi Brett,
I think the rear might be more difficult, because you need to do the handbrake shoes at the same time and you'll need some axle stands to get both rear wheels of the ground to adjust the hand brake (LSD :wink: )

I thought I was gonna have to do the whole lot (disc/drum,pads,shoes,cable) after I left the handbrake on while in low-range :shock:

So much bloody torque in 1st-Low, you don't even notice the handbrake 8)

I the end I just hoisted the rear up and adjusted the shoe pivot to push 'em a bit closer to the drum. HB holds real tight now

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

The handbrake shoe should never wear out during the life of the car unless you're using it to slow the car down I thought, so it shouldn't need doing too.
I'm shopping for axle stands that'll hold my car up within the next few days. I've just got to find some tall enough because my friend has a pair which be bought from Supercheap for his sedan, but they fall about an inch or two short of my rear axle which would be a bit dodgy when you're trying to undo tight bolts. I'm expecting I'll encounter a few minor hurdles when doing it, but I've got to learn sometime. It's just a bit harder when you haven't got someone to show you when you're doing it. I'll figure it out. I've heard off a couple of people at work who are in a car club that there's not a lot to it and when you've changed a set of brakes all round it's really easy in the future. They explained a few of the details to me about bleeding the brakes correctly and clamping, etc.

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

The handbrake shoe should never wear out during the life of the car unless you're using it to slow the car down I thought, so it shouldn't need doing too.
I'm shopping for axle stands that'll hold my car up within the next few days. I've just got to find some tall enough because my friend has a pair which be bought from Supercheap for his sedan, but they fall about an inch or two short of my rear axle which would be a bit dodgy when you're trying to undo tight bolts. I'm expecting I'll encounter a few minor hurdles when doing it, but I've got to learn sometime. It's just a bit harder when you haven't got someone to show you when you're doing it. I'll figure it out. I've heard off a couple of people at work who are in a car club that there's not a lot to it and when you've changed a set of brakes all round it's really easy in the future. They explained a few of the details to me about bleeding the brakes correctly and clamping, etc.

Make sure you have someone with you that knows what they are doing so they can guide you if needed. It may only cost you a beer or two or three, and maybe a pizza, but that is alot less than buggering the job up.
ALSO
DONOT skimp on the stands, your life is worth living I would expect!

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

The handbrake shoe should never wear out during the life of the car unless you're using it to slow the car down I thought, so it shouldn't need doing too.

Fair point. But if you're gonna strip the brakes down to that level, you may as well no? Its a little bit like leaving the clutch when changing the rear seal.... MADNESS

Well maybe not madness, but I'd at least get price for new shoes.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

I'll see how I go with it and have taken on board your helpful info. I've got the pads (Ferodo DB1200WD) and will source the rotors tomorrow. I'm giving myself two afternoons and nights of tinkering around and taking my time in the garage with it. I'll post my feedback afterwards of how I went. I'm just not interested in throwing away so much hard earned money for someone else to do these things for me with massive mark-up when I can do it myself which I should've learned to do long ago. I can save myself a minimum of $600 by doing this myself. I'm just glad I change my own oil, oil filter and air filter which is such a simple job because that saves me a bare minimum of $200 every time I do it and it only takes approx 45 mins to an hour. The last time I went to a mechanic to get that done was Ultratune in Stafford, Brisbane, approx 3 years ago. $360 they charged for an oil, oil filter and air filter change. I nearly died when he read the receipt out to me with what they did and the charges. First time I ever had an engine flush done on a car of mine too, not at my request mind you as they just went ahead and bloody did it. In my opinion it's just another miscellaneous charge that they can hit you up $60 for, which is what they charged for it. They charged $90 for the air filter and $30 in miscellaneous charges whatever the hell they were. Last time I ever had a "trusty" mechanic change my friggin oil. I was told afterwards by several people I told the story to that I should've argued the cost and not left until it was reduced to a reasonable price as that was a bit of a rip-off, but I'm not an argumentative person in the slightest and prefered just to pay it and leave, rather than cause a scene (even though I was very unhappy about it). I'm a salesman in the building industry, so people haggle with me every day to get a better price, but I just can't bring myself to doing it to other people as I consider it a bit rude. But that's just how I am.

I've got a few other bad stories to tell about Ultratune though. I've used them prob half a dozen times over the years and 3 of those occassions were not good ones.
Once at U'Tune Milton in winter, they were changing my sparkplugs & fuel filter, and didn't put the protective cover over the side of the car, and scratched the hell out of the paintwork with the zipper on the jumper that the apprentice must've been wearing it. I did raise it with the manager in person 2 days later after noticing it and he fobbed me off by saying it must've already been there as they wouldn't do that. I knew those scratches weren't there previously. Went back to the same store a while later to replace a broken upper control arm... Big mistake!!! They told me they'd have the part in the next morning, so I came back with car the next day. They phoned me 10 mins before closing to say they ran into problems and had to keep my car overnight. I was pissed as my wife had to drive 45 mins to collect me from the footpath outside of the XXXX brewery. Went back to collect my car the next day when they called me 15 mins before closing, and they informed me they had trouble re-fitting a rear suspension bolt. So they drilled a new hole for it, and couldn't get it to fit into that new hole. They grabbed a spare suspenion bolt from stock that fitted, which wasn't even meant for my car, and fitted it even though that bolt was an inch and a half shorter than the one meant for my Prado. They expected me to pay $30 for the bolt and $320 in labour because they were incompetent in doing their work and it took them 5 times longer than normal. To top it off, the manager even told me that my rear tyre wear will increase because the rear axle was left very slightly out of alignment due to the "bolt not fitting back in to the original hole." That's why I'm not big on mechanics charging like wounded bulls. I know there are some very excellent, reputable ones out there, but my experiences are not good overall. I do have other stories about mechanic experiences, not as bad as these though but enough to leave you fuming. I asked the manager to put that in writing and attach it to the receipt (so that I could look into it further with taking some sort of action), but he straight up refused as "we don't attach short stories to receipts for mechanical work" as he put it. I asked for the original bolt for my car and he pointed to the industrial bin outside and apologized as it was "in there somewhere."

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

That's shocking Brett. They prolly said to the newbie on his second day, "Houd ya like ta do ya ferst prah-doh mate".

You'll be fine. If you wanna start doing hard core stuff, the $60 for a Haynes manual would be money well spent.

http://www.motortraders.net/store/item.asp?code=HA92760

Haynes and Gregory's have the exact same content (word for word.... I bought both from the above) but I prefer the layout of the Haynes.

If you want things done right, you have to do it yourself.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

Thanks very much for letting me know abou the book. I'll buy it. Thankyou very much. It'll help with many things to come.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

Okay, I haven't completed the job yet, but as far as I've gotten, replacing brake pads is very basic and would be a very simple job if that was all you had to do. I'm having a little trouble trying to get the rotor off though. It's fused with a bit of corrosion it seems and won't budge. Has anyone got any suggestions or encountered this before. There's not enough exposed room on the rotor to give it a good bash with a hammer really hard, which probably wouldn't do a hell of a lot. And the screw holes left behind after removing the anchor plate seem to be no good for fitting longer screws into and forcing the rotor loose by screwing screws into the back of it, because the screws will hit the backing plate. Or is it absolutely necessary to remove the backing plate and do this. Any feedback welcome.

Ps: The caliper and anchor plate bolts were done up so tight that I had to use a "G" clamp to clamp down on the wrench and pull it down to get them undone. I used the rear axle as leverege for the other end of the clamp. Worked a treat. And for some other bolts I put the bottle jack under the wrench and levered it up to loosen the bolt.

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

Hi Brett,
If you haven't done so already; I'd loosen the hand brake cable as much as you can from inside the cabin and then (working outside of course) using a flat head screw driver loosen the shoes half a dozen or so notches.

I don't think you have to remove the backing plate to do this job.

Cheers,
Declan.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Re: DIY - front disc and rotor replacement

Thanks Williade, I'll see how I go with that. I undertook this job becausde I wanted to learn how to do it. I've got no regrets in the slightest, it's just part of the leaning curve which is good to know for the future. I do enjoy doing my own maintenance and learning new skills.