installing new pads on my 98 explorer XLT?

[jwgeetar]

hey all, i've had my explorer for 2.5 years now and it still runs great at 112,000 miles. trouble is, the brake light came on 2 weeks ago intermittently. last 3 days it's on all the time. they put new tires on my explorer yesterday and it appears the pads are real worn.

hmmm,since i never worked on brakes on an explorer, are there any surprise's i need to be aware of? i found some $24.99 cheap pads at Oreilly auto parts.anything else i need to be aware of?

BTW, do i need to change the rear's right now? (haven't looked at them yet) thanks, jw

 

[jimbo74]

the rears are normally good for a long time, have they ever been changed? you might want to look at them at least... nothing special, they are dual caliper pistons htough... lots of tricks to compressing both at the same time, i use c clamps or 2 pairs of channel locks.....

 

[mikeh]

I just did all of mine recently. No real tricks to it. You can just pull the bottom bolt and lift up to replace them. My rear pads wore out before my front pads did. I replaced the rear at about 70K and the front at about 90K and the front still didn't really need it. My rotors were all good and checked out so I didn't need to turn them or replace them. As long as you are down there you should go ahead and drain and replace your brake fluid. I coated the backs with that blue no squeek stuff and used locktight on the caliper bolts when I finished.

Good Luck,
Mikeh

 

[Kamaaina]

I just got a set of pads (front & rear) for my '96 XLT and will change them pretty soon. Tiny little suckers aren't they? I can't believe pads this small can stop a 4000 pound truck the way they do.

 

[Texplorer]

Bringing back a dead thread. I just purchased rear pads from auto zone and they dont even look right. They are a little bigger and dont have the same metal clip on the back of them. So I checked the auto zone website and the part number and they match. Am I seeing something wrong here??

 

[jgilbs]

prob not. it just seems you are experiencing autozone's "quality" parts

 

[Texplorer]

Well I went back and took them one of my pads and they got another box with the same part number as the one they had given me. This box had the right pads in them. So whoever packed these at the factory put the wrong ones in the box.