Front Brakes and Jacking

[Timberline]

Hi there. I'm new to this forum and need some advice or pointers. It's been longer than you want to know since I have replaced brakes, either drum or disk, but with the price of things these days I decided to go back to some DIY where able.

Regardless, my wife has an '02 Explorer XLT and I need to replace the front pads. Several questions:

• Where's the best location to place the jack stands?
• Where should I lift from? I'm thinking I should lift from some central point and then set it on the stands rather than lifting from each side.
• Are there any SPECIAL tools required? I have just about anything one might need, both standard and metric.
• Are there any gotchas that I should be looking for?

Thanks.

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

Welcome to the forum!

I usually jack up one side at a time, on the each side on the frame just behind the front tire. Put your jackstand on the frame right near where you jacked.

There's not a whole lot to brakes on these...Pretty straightforward. Pick up a Haynes manual from AutoZone, Advance, etc. if you need some photo walk-thrus. There aren't any special tools required to do the job. Just your typical precautions, such as making sure you open the master cylinder cap before you compress the pistons back into the calipers. This will allow the fluid to push back up without risk of splitting the plastic reservoir.

I recommend Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads for these. You can get them at AutoZone. Out of everything I've tried, these are the best balance of longevity, stopping power, pedal feel, low dust, and cost. Mine have about 40,000 miles on them, and they're still about as thick as the day I installed them.
I'd stay away from a ceramic pad, even though they were OEM. The aftermarket ceramics are mostly garbage...I haven't found any yet that impressed me, regardless of how much they cost. Other good brands are Hawk HPS, and Bendix TitaniuMetallic. They might dust and squeal a little more, but they give you nice stopping power and a good firm feeling pedal.

Any other questions, just fire away!

 

[IZwack]

I'd use a jack to lift the front of the vehicle at the front cross member, but use a piece of 2x4 wood or something between the jack and the frame rail to spread the load (jacks can dent the front cross member, its not that thick). As for the jack stands, place them on the frame rails behind the the front tires. Remember that most floor jacks move in an arc so be aware that the vehicle might move a little bit relative to the jack stands when the jack is coming down -- this is always a pain when trying to line up the jack stands at a precise spot.

 

[Timberline]

Thanks. It turned out to be a straightforward project, once I got the lug nuts loose.

The gorillas who last swapped our winter/summer tires must have had an air gun set at it's highest setting. I even bent a breaker bar trying to get them off after only being able to loosen five of the ten with the two air guns I tried using.

 

[IZwack]

I <heart> gorillas with air guns