Any special tools or anything special about r & r'ing the front brake rotors on a '97 x-cab 4x4 CTD?

John

 

Well a BIG hammer and many different pry bars and maybe a torch. and some bandages for you hands afterwards :
DM01

 

towin1JT,

I have the '97 Chrysler Service manual and it does not mention any special tools needed.
The removal/re-install procedures are different for vehicles with tapered roller bearing or vehicles with unit bearings.
If you let me know which ones you have I will type the instructions here.
The tapered bearings have races that can be seperated from them.
I can also give you torques specs from the manual if you need them.

 

I would get a new cotter pin for when you put the castle nut back on.
I would think about replacing the bearings and would inspect the grease cup as well.

Rob

 

That castle nut is pretty big, I dont remember exactly what size... 1&1/8 ... maybe... maybe not, I should probably know I have taken my rotors off twice in the past 2 months :. But just make sure you have plenty of ample sized sockets on hand.
Wheels

 

Thanks hotdram and dsljunkie. I have a cruddy haynes manual and it didin't say anything about any special tools either but I didn't trust it. I should be able to use it to do the job.

dsljunkie: I have every tool known to man (says my wife). I know I have sockets big enough.

John

 

towin1JT,

On the installation procedures for rotors with tapered bearings, the manual is very explicit in pointing out this fact: "after the caliper has been reinstalled Do not seat caliper pistons at this time. Pistons must not be seated until after wheel bearing adjustment has been completed."


Also, this piece is from the Front Wheel Bearing section of the book: "On vehicles with unit style hub bearings the unit is bolted to the knuckle. 2500 and 3500 model vehicles with unit sytle hub bearing have the disc brake rotor pressed onto the unit with the wheel studs. The wheel studs must be pressed or driven out in order to separate the rotor from the hub bearing for replacement".

Hope this helps. Again if you want the step-by-step how to from the Chrysler manual let me know.

 

These wheel studs come out fairly easy with a little persuasion ( with a large hammer) and a center punch.When your ready just hammer em back into the new rotor and your good to go .
Wheels

 

I just did the front brakes on my 3500 4x4, it wasn't to bad but I know what you mean about the manual, not realy any help. I don't know if you have a dually or not, if you do then start off with removeing the addapters, they are held on by 8-nuts (7/8&quot you can tap it off, I took a piece of 2 x 2 angle iron and drilled two holes (6 1/2" on center) for the wheel studs to pass through, then one in the middle and welded a 1" nut, took a 10" piece of 1" threaded rod weld a nut on one end and used it to pull the addapter off. Then remove the caliper, hang it to the side (wire to support). Remove cotter pin then get a 1 1/2" socket and lossen the castle nut, remove. Here i took the same puller I made and used it to pull the rotor/hub off. I would not like to hammer on it or use pry bars, but I guess you can. Once thats off, protect hub race end, and knock out studs, the two will seperate. To install, I greased up bearings, race and put some grease on the splines, then just pushed and turned till I had enough thread showing through to screew on nut. Then just tighten down to 175 lbs. To hold wheel from spining I used another piece of angle iron and placed it in between the studs, other end on ground.

 

Ricky Palmer (CattleHauler) has a very good step-by-step sequence for the 4X4 front brakes on his web page. Can't locate the link right now but it may be able to be found via a search under his member name.

 

Quick up-date

thought you might like a little more info?

I used RAYBESTOS brake parts on the last brake job and they worked great, and were relatively modest in price.
1. loaded front caliper RC10184SS 68.95
2. RC10183SS 68.95
3. hd rotors 56324 64.95
4. super stop rotors croos drilled and gas slotted
ST56324L, ST56324R 109.00ea.

 

Getting a step-by-step would be great. It is a 4x4 truck. I did get the spindle nut off but the rotors still won't budge
Thanks

 

Theres 4 9/16 12point bolts on the back side that you have to remove. Then the fun begins, trying to get the hub assm off. I put the wheel back on and let it down and jacked it back up until it finally came loose, but I have read you can put a big socket in between the knuckle and the bearing then start the truck and use the power steering to push it out.

 

Well I finaly got around to doing this job. I don't see what all of the fuss is about! Once I removed the front wheels and calipers I sprayed liquid wrench penitrant on the four 12-pnt 9/16" hub/knuckle bolts, the 1 11/16" castle nut and the joint where the hub fits into the knuckle. By the time I drove down (in another vehichle) to pick up a 1 11/16" socket for the castle nut, returned home and removed the castle nut I was able to break the 12-pnts lose with a standard 1/2" ratchet. When it came to removing hubs I simply hit the edge of the rotor with a soft-faced dead-blow hammer to break the hub/rotor assembly loose then used a very small crapy puller to pull them off (even though I could have removed them by hand after hitting them with the hammer by working them off). After the hub is off it's a breeze. I used a piece of 1" aluminum rod to beat the studs out (of course I put a lug nut on each stud before I did this).

The key here guys is to use penitrant to avoid all these breaker bars and puling your bearings apart etc. I used to scoff at penitrant pretty good until I used it once! It works very very well!!

Also I used a 1/2" impact (air type) to remove the castle nut...came right off! If you don't have an impact gun go out and buy one today!! You will thank me for spending the $60 the next time you rotate your tires on you truck and the job goes from taking well over an hour down to 15 minutes.

The morale of the story here is "Brute force and a little ignorance will get the job done, but it will probably take much longer and cost twice as much"!

Take care everyone,

John