weekend project :)

[reggiecab2000]

well to start off, I had a long list of things to do to my truck and have been planning this for months and finally got to it all at once.

1) all 5 brake lines (russell braided steel lines)
2) rear brake pads (hawk hps, fronts were done about 6 months back)
3) all 4 rotors (powerslot cryo)
4) all 4 brake calipers
5) both rear axles,bearings, seals, c-lock clips
6) differential fluid
7) and a complete brake fluid flush

well to start off...

the rear brakes, 4 rotors, and rear calipers needed to be replaced badly...the rubber sleeves on both of the rear calipers were torn which was the cause for my croaking brakes as the pedal moved. so if im replacing the rear calipers, i figured might as well do all 4...

got my calipers from rock auto (ironically powerstop makes remanufactured calipers powdercoated red just for my truck! at around $45.00 each caliper after the core charge, I couldnt pass that up) I wouldve sandblasted and painted my calipers myself eventually.

the right rear axle was bent about 3.5 years ago my freshmen year in college when i slid into a curb at about 5 mph after turning left from a stoplight, couldnt believe that such a slow speed did that, but drove on it until now. obviously id rather replace both rear axle shafts instead of just one. and while i was at it it would be completely stupid to not replace the bearings, seals, and c-lock clips.


heres my rear pads.... can you say holy crap?



heres the wheels off



this left rear axle was replaced years ago after i had my first curb incident, when they replaced the left rear axle they mustve used some sort of aftermarket axle because as you can see the hub is a little different...




in order to replace the axle shafts you have to take the differential cover off and work inside there to release the c-lock clips.



a little mechanics trick my uncle showed me... to remove seals, just grab a prybar and put the end of it, like so, and it will pop right out.



of course we had to press in all of the studs too... yay! impact wrench and an oversize nut for a spacer


to remove the bearings I just rented one of the rear axle bearing pullers from autozone, which is a slide hammer device, couple knocks and it was out...

as far as getting the bearings back in, the perfect tool of choice.... a 2" socket and a hammer. 2"socket fits the outside rim of the bearing without contact the bearings themselves and fits right into the axle shaft as well, forgot the picture of this one...



clean the shizz out of the diff. cover before putting it back on... and a nice fat bead of RTV did it right


some finished product pictures....








so for the second year in a row, i did not get a spring break... last year clocked 56 hours at work, this year worked 7:30-7:00 monday tuesday and wednesday, then had to go straight to san antonio because my sisters wedding was saturday. so my break was nonexistent, so between getting there wednesday night passing out and waking up thursday, doing all kinds of preparations for my mother who basically planned everything for my sisters wedding, I finally got to start my truck around 5:00 p.m. thursday, got as far as the bearings which was when i took my break and had to get the puller friday morning. friday worked all day on my truck and finished it up, had to readjust the parking brake too. saturday was the wedding and sunday i got to test drive my truck for the first time, and I was happy!
sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. i left SA back home to CC and missed a few classes, but i think all the work I did was definitely worth it!

brakes feel AMAZING!!! i am so happy i finished this all, best part, because of my sisters wedding we had family from colorado and indiana, of which 3 of my uncles were mechanics, one retired after 42 years..... so I had all the supervision and guidance anyone could ask for and would have never finished the axles without there hints.

what a workout that was... another checkmark off the list!

cheers!

[Sierraowner5.3]

glad you got all that done. good job!

Alex

[TRPLXL2]

Nice work on the upgrades, I bet it stops a lot better now!! One question though, what size brake lines are you running now?? I just redid all of my brake lines to the Russell braided stainless, and I went with 3AN. Just curious on what you chose...

[reggiecab2000]

Nice work on the upgrades, I bet it stops a lot better now!! One question though, what size brake lines are you running now?? I just redid all of my brake lines to the Russell braided stainless, and I went with 3AN. Just curious on what you chose...

as for my answer to you, I am completely unaware of any size choices for brake lines..... I just got the right lines for my truck (well actually the lines rated for a 4"-6" lifted silverado)

[TRPLXL2]

I apologize, I misunderstood your original post. I know what your talking about now, you got the extended brake lines for your lift kit. I replaced all mine, no more factory steel lines. Russell makes all different diameters of brake hose, but for your application you would not want to change it. Sorry for the confusion....

[SurrealOne]

Good job! That's a hefty project ... and it sounds like you made good time, got to do it with family, AND had fun. That's a trifecta!

[SupplySgt]

Nice. I wish I could get that much done on my truck (or Camaro) in one swing. I can't ever seem to avoid the 6 day workweeks (we've only had 4 or so Saturdays off since New Years) so I'm falling farther and farther behind on stuff that needs to get done.

[reggiecab2000]

well ****....
so i was driving my truck to wash it about 2 miles down the road and met a friend there, when i left I turned out of the lot onto the road and heard some scary metal rattling noise.....
then had to turn around to get back to my apartment (road is divided by a median) on the turn the same horrible metal rattling sound...
turned into apartment metal rattle again.... every turn from a dead stop i hear the noise...
sounded like it was coming from the rear end, checked the fluid level and found out my differential was 1 entire quart low!
looked where it was parked for two days and there was no evidence of a leak... the capacity is only about 2.25 quarts, i am in complete shock and confusion about half of my fluid disappearing... i put an entire quart in it until it started trickling out of the fill hole... i am praying and crossing my fingers that nothing happened to my rear end...

obviously there is a leak somewhere but i see no evidence, it was full exactly one-week ago...

[Enkeiavalanche]

Ouch.. Keep an eye or Ear on that After all that work.. I would Hate to hear something happened...