Ram 2500 Brake Rotor Question
From : jackvt80
Q: i have the shop manual and it looks like you have to remove the hub-bearing assembly from the steering knuckle and then free the rotor from the inside of the flange connected to the outside of the bearing/hub. yes. on the 3/4-ton trucks the hub bearing is pressed onto the rotor. the manual shows the rotor with a kind of square center hole that is cut out large enough to fit slide the hub through. right. the square flange of the hub that mounts to the knockle has to pass through. the after market rotors ive seen napa and pep boys have a round center hole through the rotor that doesnt look near as large as the shop manual drawing. make sure youre looking at rotors for a 2500 or 3500 4x4 application. i put aftermarket rotors on my 95 3500 and they had the same profile as the stock units. also dodge dealer says dont try it at home... the axle nut can be a pain. ive done jeeps that are similar so im willing to give it a start if nobody has bad experiences to the contrary. it can but if you have a large socket set its usually not a problem. leave the brake caliper on put a big screwdriver down into the rotor cooling vanes so that it jams against the caliper and use a cheater bar to back the nut off after removing the cotter pin of course. ive done this half-a-dozen times not all on the same vehicle and never really had a problem. you have an fsm so you have all the torque specs already. one tip about actually removing the hub bearing... after removing the axle nut back off the four hub-to-knuckle bolts the 12-point 14mm bolts on the back side of the knuckle a couple of turns and pound on these with a hammer so that you push the hub off the knuckle. these things can get stuck in place although not nearly as bad as it is on the 1/2-ton trucks and some people have had bad experiences using a hub puller splitting the hub in half. hammering the knuckle bolts helps break the ruse bond and it wont damage the hub just take care not to damage the points of the bolt - maybe protect it with a box-end wrench while im on a roll... any ideas why inner pad would wear completely while outer pad shows little wear sticky caliper slides stuck piston one or the other... probably sticky slides. if it were a stuck piston youd notice a pulling tendency. if the slides dont operate then youre just using the inner pad for all your braking. check the slides over carefully - clean them up with some fine sandpaper if necessary and use a decent amount of hi-temp grease when you re-assemble them or just get a new set .
Replies:
From : jackvt80
on wed 26 jan 2005 210137 -0500 jbarts johnbarts@yahooo.com wrote 1996 dodge ram 2500 5.9l engine i was changing my plugs and one broke. the body of the plug came out but the part that bottom part screws into the head is still in there. what can i do to remove this ive tried my tap and die i could not move it. out of all the plugs it had the most rust. ive wd40 it and will let it sit overnight. is there anything i can buy that will help me take this out im guessing it might have to be drilled out. if i have to take it to a shop what will something like this cost to fix please reply here and if you need more info just ask ill be checking the thread hourly! thanks! i think you mean the plug broke in half where the threads are left in the block along with the bottom part this is time for real penetrating oil not wd40 which is not a real penetrating oil. use real penetrating oil. everybody owns at least some. then let it soak go out and give it a tap every now and then with a hammer and a screwdriver and add more real penetrating oil. repeat as often as necessary until youve loosened the corrosion enough to get it out of the spark plug hole. lg .
From : jackvt80
1996 dodge ram 2500 5.9l engine i was changing my plugs and one broke. the body of the plug came out but the part that bottom part screws into the head is still in there. what can i do to remove this ive tried my tap and die i could not move it. out of all the plugs it had the most rust. ive wd40 it and will let it sit overnight. is there anything i can buy that will help me take this out im guessing it might have to be drilled out. if i have to take it to a shop what will something like this cost to fix please reply here and if you need more info just ask ill be checking the thread hourly! thanks! .
From : maxpower
it was kind of interesting how this problem first presented itself. one morning at work i noticed what looked like rust where you would normally find brake dust. i thought... hmmm not a good sign. only a few days later did i start to hear the rotor grinding. i checked em in october when it was warm enough to do a brake job but i guess was lazy and checked only the outer pad. looked fine and still does! .
From : nosey
thanks everyone! glenn yes it is a 4x4 meant to mention that. its snowy and cold here so i didnt remove the wheel to look. what ive seen ive seen by peaking around the tire and through the shield. what i can see looks bad... the rotor isnt so much scored as much as sheared. in any event i think its gonna take a new rotor so the axle nut is going to have to come off. and tom the hub to knuckle bolts trick is a good one. i had to do the same job to replace the u-joints on my sons jeep. took a lot of backing-off and pounding but they eventually came out. for that job i bought a separate set of bolts so i wouldnt round off the heads pounding. the jeep guys have the same concerns about using pullers. i only wish the ram had the floating rotors like the jeep does. a ten minute job there! im sure the aftermarket guys were quoting 4x4 2500 rotors. i even showed the napa guy the manual and the differences so he double checked. i guess if nobody has experience fitting the hub through the circle holes it will be off to the dealer for me. im sure i used anti-seaze on the last job but i didnt sand first. i do drive a lot on the beach so hard to tell between sand and rust what could be binding. .
From : tom lawrence
depending on what you mean by badly scored you may want to have the rotors machined with an on car/truck brake lathe. when i worked for dodge we ran into the problem of the axle nuts taking out the threads when the nut was removed and then you ran into charging the customer for axles and the labor and all that. thats why most dealers had to buy the new lathe. as far as your inner pads wearing out before the outer ones...... 1 caliper housing siezed on slide pins 2 inboard pad binding on bracket or knuckle due to corrosion 3 caliper piston not releasing properly. make sure you clean all the rust build up on the slide and coat with anti seize compound glenn beasley chrysler tech 2000 dodge ram 2500 cummins.... i havent climbed underneath the truck yet but im pretty sure i have badly scored my lf brake rotor. i have a question for anyone that might have changed their rotors themselves. i have the shop manual and it looks like you have to remove the hub-bearing assembly from the steering knuckle and then free the rotor from the inside of the flange connected to the outside of the bearing/hub. the manual shows the rotor with a kind of square center hole that is cut out large enough to fit slide the hub through. but the after market rotors ive seen napa and pep boys have a round center hole through the rotor that doesnt look near as large as the shop manual drawing. does anyone know if the hub/bearing assembly will fit through the round center holes that are listed for this vehicle in other words are they showing me the right xref the manual might just be trying to show a cut-away version to make a point but it looks a lot different. dodge wants $192 for the rotor and aftermarket sells for $60 to $100. also dodge dealer says dont try it at home... the axle nut can be a pain. ive done jeeps that are similar so im willing to give it a start if nobody has bad experiences to the contrary. while im on a roll... any ideas why inner pad would wear completely while outer pad shows little wear sticky caliper slides stuck piston thanks.. jack .
From : lorne guess noguess net
does anyone know if the hub/bearing assembly will fit through the round center holes that are listed for this vehicle in other words are they showing me the right xref the manual might just be trying to show a cut-away version to make a point but it looks a lot different. dodge wants $192 for the rotor and aftermarket sells for $60 to $100. you mention the hub/bearing assembly. is your truck a 4x4 .