[jdmartin]

Well, with everything in life I've got going on the wife convinced me to just bite the bullet, put away my cheapskate hat and let someone else do my back brakes. This pains me to some extent because I know how to do brakes, all the way around, and in fact did my back brakes a few years ago. However, at this point I need rotors too, and parking brake shoes, and parking brake adjusted, and last time I did the back brakes I could not for anything get the driver's side rotor off to adjust the shoes. I suspect they're just busted and frozen in place just enough to catch the rust on the rotor.

Besides, I did the numbers and the labor on this job they're charging me is less than $200. Consider that the older I get the worse laying on the garage floor concrete treats me, that seems like a reasonable trade off for a week's worth of arthritis!:big_grin:

 

[Pale Rider]

I hear ya. this is where a moving blanket comes in handy and acts like a cushion. but doing brakes at arms level on a lift is nicer.
I recently swapped all that stuff over from the D44 to the D60, so in essence it was like doing a complete rear brake job. Those rear shoe clips can be an ultra PITA. getting to the point where Oil services are a nuisance , not just the change but filling up a 5 gal pail and driving over to dump it at a local auto store... Guess we are getting up there in age JD... lol

 

[LaxDfns15]

BFH takes care of rotor rusted onto the hub. Couple smacks and it's good to go. You guys are too old!

 

[jdmartin]

I hear ya. this is where a moving blanket comes in handy and acts like a cushion. but doing brakes at arms level on a lift is nicer.
I recently swapped all that stuff over from the D44 to the D60, so in essence it was like doing a complete rear brake job. Those rear shoe clips can be an ultra PITA. getting to the point where Oil services are a nuisance , not just the change but filling up a 5 gal pail and driving over to dump it at a local auto store... Guess we are getting up there in age JD... lol

No doubt! I like doing my own work, but I have to admit that after 30 years of oil changes, brake work, manhandling transmissions, pulling engines, fuel pumps, and all the rest of it, it sure is nice when I can just drop off the vehicle somewhere and let someone else bust their knuckles :big_grin:

 

[Pale Rider]

No doubt! I like doing my own work, but I have to admit that after 30 years of oil changes, brake work, manhandling transmissions, pulling engines, fuel pumps, and all the rest of it, it sure is nice when I can just drop off the vehicle somewhere and let someone else bust their knuckles :big_grin:

ah yesss, but the TERROR is still there, you know it. you should have seen the clown Nissan tech doing a clutch/flywheel/slave cylinder R&R on my juke. the azzhat fcked up a lot of little parts and a handful of stuff is missing. besides the detailer who smoked the clutch in the first place. yeah, trust you say! bwahahahaha... years ago when I wrenched in certain shops, those guys had common sense and were great mechanics, not some parts changers and paper on the wall to display what they don`t know techs... look at the guy that just fcked up Cory`s truck, wow!!! I have zero respect for those clowns. and I`m sure I`ll find a way for my motorized scooter to fit under the vehicle for service, then just bury me with my tools... thank you! hahahahahahahaha

 

[Pale Rider]

BFH takes care of rotor rusted onto the hub. Couple smacks and it's good to go. You guys are too old!

and I`ll still out work most of you banana heads... lol... we work smart not DUMB!

 

[LaxDfns15]

and I`ll still out work most of you banana heads... lol... we work smart not DUMB!

Pretty sure I've caused more damage to my truck trying to fix things than anything anyone else has done to it :big_grin:.

One thing I would absolutely love and will most likely have built for my next house is a separate garage with a lift. I'm potentially inheriting an Xterra and am tempted to make it into a crawler. Tired of doing everything with the truck jacked up off the ground.

 

[LSturbointeg]

i'm sure you're going to double check the techs work to make sure it's right lol! i don't know if i'll ever get to that point where i'll pay someone to do the work when i've been doing it myself? time will tell i guess

 

[Pale Rider]

plus jd you can check your wheels bearings while doing so. and whatever, never smack the bearings with a BFH! I know you knew that!:devil::laugh::big_grin:

 

[Indy]

BFH takes care of rotor rusted onto the hub. Couple smacks and it's good to go. You guys are too old!

I wish it was just a couple smacks, I beat the hell out of mine with the BFH before they came loose.

I've learned the pitfalls of buying a vehicle out of Canada. I thought the Midwest was hard on things for rust, holly heck.

 

[Indy]

and I`ll still out work most of you banana heads... lol... we work smart not DUMB!

I'm an old farm boy, I'd accept that challenge. Now knowledge, no where near your level, but hard work I can still do, even if my back goes out or shoulder falls out of place, grit the teeth and just keep going until the job is done, then collapse in a heap.

 

[jdmartin]

Well, I got my brakes done today.

The Good:

1. I didn't have to do it. I dropped the truck off this morning and 4 hours later I picked it up. Magic!
2. They used better parts than I would have used, as I probably would have done Advance Auto parts.
3. The labor was only $200, and that included the parking brake shoes.
4. The brakes work nicely! No more dragging and squealing.

The Bad:

1. The parking brake isn't quite adjusted tight enough. I live on a hill and it wouldn't hold in my driveway.
2. I had to spend more money than I would have if I did it in the garage.

Tomorrow I'll get them to adjust the brake the rest of the way, and if that's still unsuccessful I guess I'll finish the adjustment myself. Also on the plus side: on my way out of there I stopped at the Nissan dealership to get a new lug nut - one of mine is a generic replacement that's round on top and rusting, because the tire place cross-threaded one of mine and had to bust the stud and replace it when they rotated tires. Having one rusty lug nut bothers me, as well as having a non-OEM lug nut (yeah, I'm dumb like that). The parts guy gave me 2 lug nuts for free! So a cheap victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm kind of happy I had this done as I got a lot of work done on my properties today that otherwise would have been spent swinging a BFH

 

[LaxDfns15]

Isn't the parking brake adjustment at the pedal in the cab?

 

[Blackbeauty]

That's the "cheater" location... You should adjust at the rear brakes themselves, not just tighten the nut to the cable.

 

[Funky2me]

Well, with everything in life I've got going on the wife convinced me to just bite the bullet, put away my cheapskate hat and let someone else do my back brakes. This pains me to some extent because I know how to do brakes, all the way around, and in fact did my back brakes a few years ago. However, at this point I need rotors too, and parking brake shoes, and parking brake adjusted, and last time I did the back brakes I could not for anything get the driver's side rotor off to adjust the shoes. I suspect they're just busted and frozen in place just enough to catch the rust on the rotor.

Besides, I did the numbers and the labor on this job they're charging me is less than $200. Consider that the older I get the worse laying on the garage floor concrete treats me, that seems like a reasonable trade off for a week's worth of arthritis!:big_grin:

Get a big sheet of that foam that is high density and you can use for outlining tools in a tool box.. I have a 4x6 foot sheet I use to keep my butt off the concrete.. I am 65.. works great..