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Coming from someone with a relatively recent history of being completely mechanically inept and who did a brake job for the first time only a few short years ago, here are the things that come to mind that may not necessarily be thought of:
* When you remove the calipers, make sure you have already lined up a way to secure them, whether that is tying them to the UCA or setting them on a tall sturdy box or whatever (for the rears, you can just set them on the leaf spring). You don't want to hang them by the brake lines.
* Pay attention to the way the little spring clips on the side are holding the pads in place. When you put the new pads in, you'll have to squeeze those little clips together. If you've never done a brake job with a similar style clip, this may not be intuitive...and your brakes will make funny noises if you put them together wrong (ask me how I know...).
* You may already know this, but you'll need a way of squeezing the pistons back to get the new pads to fit over your rotor because they'll be thicker (I use C clamps).
* Apply a very small amount of grease to the backing plates and you may want to add a little more under the slide pin boots as well.
* The bolts for the slide pins are only torqued to something like 20 or 25...I'd have to look it up, but make sure you don't overtorque them.
* Definitely plan on applying anti-seize or blue Loctite (whatever your preference for your climate) to the caliper bolts and torque them properly.
* The brakes may feel really soft the first couple times you apply them after replacing the pads. They should firm up quickly.
* Never top off the brake fluid prior to doing a brake job. If the fluid reservoir is near max, you might want to consider loosening the cap on the reservoir before you start (just make sure to tighten it back down afterward).
I'm assuming you are very new at this and tried to list out the things that the "how to" manuals didn't necessarily mention when I did this for the first time. I hate learning things the hard way.
Brakes are pretty straightforward on these trucks though. The hardest part is usually trying to wrestle the new pads into the side clips.
* When you remove the calipers, make sure you have already lined up a way to secure them, whether that is tying them to the UCA or setting them on a tall sturdy box or whatever (for the rears, you can just set them on the leaf spring). You don't want to hang them by the brake lines.
* Pay attention to the way the little spring clips on the side are holding the pads in place. When you put the new pads in, you'll have to squeeze those little clips together. If you've never done a brake job with a similar style clip, this may not be intuitive...and your brakes will make funny noises if you put them together wrong (ask me how I know...).
* You may already know this, but you'll need a way of squeezing the pistons back to get the new pads to fit over your rotor because they'll be thicker (I use C clamps).
* Apply a very small amount of grease to the backing plates and you may want to add a little more under the slide pin boots as well.
* The bolts for the slide pins are only torqued to something like 20 or 25...I'd have to look it up, but make sure you don't overtorque them.
* Definitely plan on applying anti-seize or blue Loctite (whatever your preference for your climate) to the caliper bolts and torque them properly.
* The brakes may feel really soft the first couple times you apply them after replacing the pads. They should firm up quickly.
* Never top off the brake fluid prior to doing a brake job. If the fluid reservoir is near max, you might want to consider loosening the cap on the reservoir before you start (just make sure to tighten it back down afterward).
I'm assuming you are very new at this and tried to list out the things that the "how to" manuals didn't necessarily mention when I did this for the first time. I hate learning things the hard way.
Brakes are pretty straightforward on these trucks though. The hardest part is usually trying to wrestle the new pads into the side clips.
