I've read this thread 3 times, but just to be certain before I go spending money on things that won't work...

Does it matter if I have a 2001 or 2001.5?
If it does, how do I know which one I have?

 

If you have the rotors that slip off like a car, then this will work for you, mine was built Mar 00, but the regristration says its an 01, mine also has the dual piston calipers and rear drums, I'm also fairly certain if you have rear discs then the front will acept the 03+ upgrade

 

Are the brakes the same for 03-08 or was there another upgrade?

 

If you have rear discs this will work. Just go out and buy '03-'06 rotors, pads, and calipers with brackets. It's a simple bolt-on solution that works incredibly well....

 

thanks a bunch guys!

 

I do understand that the front upgrade works

I read through the whole post and cant for life of me decipher if anyone knew whether or not the read disks on an 03 were bigger than on the 01's and if this same kind of upgrade can be done on them.

I am definitely going to be doing this upgrade when my fronts wear down a little more. They just started squealing recently.

Thanks to the brave souls that pioneered this upgrade!

 

just as an update... everything went without a hitch on my 2001.
i dropped some hawk superduty pads in there with some powerslot cryo rotors and the stopping power is fan-friggin-tastic.
the dust shield is only minimally smaller diameter than the new rotor - i don't think i'll be worrying about swapping that out.
the biggest PITA was spreading the calipers - the cheapo spreader from Checkers wasn't exactly designed for these calipers and I ultimately had to unscrew the brake fluid reservoir to relieve pressure easier (which of course made the fluid spill out). but that's just typical brake pad swap annoyances.

The crazy thing was that only the inside pad on the passenger's side was worn down.... but it was so worn down that it was already halfway through the metal backing... Anybody know if that's an indication of some kind of problem?

 

Almost always with this type of caliper set up the inner pad wears long before the outter, mostly because the caliper piston pushes on the inner pad, contacting the rotor then it pulls the caliper towards the ball joints, allowing the outter pad to now contact the rotor. so the inner pad sees the most abuse first.
A good tip is to ensure that you instal the brake pad with the "squeeler" on the inside, I dont know why but most vehs from the factory have the squeeler pad on the outside.
Another tip is after doing a brake job make a note of the brake fluid level in the resivoir, and DONT add any fluid (unless you deleloped a leak) this way when you see that the fluid level is down to the add mark or lower you know its time to pull the wheels and have a boo as likely you will be needing pads again. it gives you a pretty good idea of your brakes condition any time your under the hood doing checking your oil before going on a trip for example. all this goes out the window if you visit a jiffy lub place and they top off your fluids.
if the guide pins are siezed then typically you have no outter pad wear and the inner pad would be wore out, and you'd have extremely poor brake performance, usually resulting in a brake pull. that being said the dodge set up makes it very hard to sieze as it uses a steel bushing that slides thru a rubber boot, I've found they usually are so loose that the caliper is flopping around all over the place. you can get replacement bolts/bushings and rubber "bellows" for cheap, IIRC I paid 14$ per side. make sure that you lub the guide pins every time you do a brake job

If you had only one pad that was wore out I'd suspect that that caliper or brake flex line is the culprit. it is likely causing the brakes to stick and burning off the pad.

 

I just re-read your post, I've never seen that loosening off the MC cap can relieve pressure, likely you have a siezing caliper, the piston should have slid back smoothly and if it did not there is an issue. I've done countless brake jobs and I never loosen off the cap, most times the fluid leaks out around the cap.

Seeing as I'm handing out tips heres another, when changing a caliper or brake line and you dont want the brake fluid to be dripping out of the line and empting the MC, causing more air in the brakes issues. get a stick/broom handle, me I use a crowbar that I jam between the seat and the brake pedal, apply just enough pressure to cause the brakelites to come on, this will stop the fluid from draining while your replacing brake parts, if your going to be awhile pull the brake lite fuse so you dont kill the battery

 

awesome, thanks for the info.
any reason to do a flush after this?

 

the guide pins definitely didn't seem seized at all, they were plenty lubed up. is there any way to test for the caliper or brake flex line short of replacing the caliper and line?

 

Here is a link to my write up on the install. Super easy!

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...k-t245515.html

 

thanks for the info and write-up, guys!
everything's all done, but I will probably be taking her apart soon again just to make sure that the squeelers are on the inside

the hardest part was just getting those darn pistons back inside... i don't have any scrap wood lying around like you do Jason, so I ran out and bought a stupid $8 checkers brake pad spreader that I thought was designed specifically for it when I could've just fabbed one up with whatever junk I had lying around. The kicker was that the checkers spreader wasn't worth crap. The whole process is so much easier on the Brembos on my EVO... just stick a flathead in there and slowly pry until they're at the max.

Anyway, I guess I'll be checking the pad measurements every fluid change to make sure they're even.

BTW as an aside, what brake fluids do you guys use when hauling major stuff?

 

I use a C-clamp and one of the old brake pads, works good every time, You should be able to see the squeeler from the outside thru the rim openings.

 

Rear disk brakes usually have to be screwed back in as they have the parking brake function too. It usually takes both pressure & turning to get the pistons back into their bores.