How to Change Front Brakes in a 1994 Ford F150 Truck

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Park your truck in a safe place where you can work undisturbed for as long as it takes you to finish the job.

   Apply emergency brake and chock the rear wheels. ,, See jacking instructions in your owners manual.
   
   There might be a decal under the hood on the right front, passenger side, top of the radiator frame with jacking instructions.,,,,,, Do not allow the brake hose to kink or be stressed in any way., You might have to wiggle it a bit.
   
   Set it aside., You might have to wiggle it a bit, but it will pull straight towards you.
   
   Set it aside., Set it aside on a clean surface, Discard this cotter pin.
   
   Do not reuse.,, Make sure the front bearing does not fall on a dirty surface as it will come right off the spindle.
   
   I suggest placing some newspapers under the caliper before you pull it out.,, It should not require much force.
   
   Do not damage the seal if you can help it., Place your bearings, seals, nuts and washers in the jug and wash the old grease off completely.
   
   You can use a little gasoline or parts cleaner fluid, just use enough to cover the parts and allow you to clean them.
   
   No need to have any more left over stuff to dispose of later., Take care they do not get contaminated with dirt or any particles that might ruin the bearings later., My rotors were too thin to allow machining so I discarded them and bough new rotors.
   
   They will tell you if they can machine them or not.
   
   You might want to call ahead and make sure they have the new rotors if you need to purchase them., The rest of these instructions refer to the new rotors. the instructions apply to the old rotors as well., If so, just open the plastic to access the hub.
   
   Place the rotor on a clean surface with the rear facing up.
   
   Apply new bearing grease to the hub on the surfaces where the bearing will rest and turn as well as the area where the seal will seat and all in between., If you left the plastic around the rotor, you can handle it without worry of greasing the braking surface., Also grease the surfaces of the seal that will contact the bear bearing.,,, Make sure it goes in the same way it was before.
   
   If the seal became damaged, use new seals.,,, Hold it in place as you place the front bearing and washer over the spindle and into the hub.
   
   Secure it with the clean, greased nut., This is to seat the bearings properly., Do not apply any force with a wrench to the nut at this time.
   
   Replace the castellated nut cover and insert a new cotter pin into the hole (back up slightly if needed to match the hole, do not tighten to gain access to the next hole).
   
   Bend the legs of the cotter pin to prevent it from falling out.
   
   Now you might replace the hub cap by tapping back into the front hub until the ridge sets flush with the hub.,,, Use pliers, you might have tho pull and wiggle them to get them off., You might need to tap them is place to make sure they are fully seated on the bracket.
   
   Otherwise you'll have problems installing the new pads., Avoid contaminating the braking surface of the pads with any grease or other substances.
   
   The front pad only requires lubricant on the edges that contact the shims.,, Remove about 3/4" of fluid and discard., Check periodically to make sure the bake fluid does not overflow from the reservoir.
   
   Remove brake fluid as needed to prevent it from spilling into the engine compartment and onto the floor., Lubricate the pins to make sure they slide easily inside the caliper casting.
   
   This is very important! Binding calipers are the cause of uneven pad wear and premature failure of the brakes., These bushings and screws were the ones you loosened to remove the caliper.
   
   They have some rubber bellows type seals over them.
   
   You might want to lubricate these bushings before reassembling the caliper onto the brake assembly., If you have done this to both sides of the truck, you are done with the brakes., Make sure the rotors spin freely and there is no noticeable play in the rotors.
   
   Replace the cap on the brake fluid reservoir and make sure the level appears more or less right (more about this later)., If you are using an impact wrench, make sure not to over-tighten., Now you can properly tighten the lug nuts.
   
   Use a torque wrench to do it with 1/2" diameter studs use 100ft/lbs of torque as an initial setting.
   
   Verify the proper torque for your particular application., Pump the brakes several times to make sure you have a pedal and it does not sink to the floor.
   
   Remove any chocks from your wheels and slowly drive forward and backwards to test your brakes.
   
   Caution! the brakes might not work as expected if the fluid level is not right of some error occurred during the installation.
   
   Use extreme care until you have verified that the brakes are functioning properly.
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   Step 2: Loosen the lug nuts of the front wheels but do not remove them.

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   Step 3: Jack each side of the truck under the front wheels

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   Step 4: just high enough to lift the wheels about 1" off the floor.

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   Step 5: Use jack stands to support the weight of the truck on each side about 1 foot (0.3 m) inboard the front wheels under the beams that support the front wheels.

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   Step 6: Remove the front wheels and set them aside with their lug nuts.

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   Step 7: Using a clamp compress the caliper as shown to loosen the grip on the brake pads.

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   Step 8: Unscrew the 2 screws that hold the caliper to the bracket.

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   Step 9: Remove the caliper and place it on a support

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    Step 10: or hang it from a hook so it does not hang on the brake hose.

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    Step 11: Remove the old pad from the rear by pulling it straight away from you.

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    Step 12: Pull the front pad off the shims.

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    Step 13: Remove the hub cap using a flat blade screwdriver and prying it off all around the edge.

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    Step 14: Straighten and remove the cotter pin that secures the nut.

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    Step 15: Remove the castellated nut cover and the nut and place them on a clean surface.

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    Step 16: Grab the rotor from both sides and pull it towards you.

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    Step 17: Set the caliper down over a clean sheet of newspaper or other clean surface with the lugs facing up.

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    Step 18: With a round wood dowel (about 1" dia works well) or similar object

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    Step 19: hammer out the rear bearing and rear seal from the rotor.

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    Step 20: Take a plastic milk jug and cut the top portion off so you'll have a makeshift bucket.

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    Step 21: After the bearings

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    Step 22: washers and nuts are clean of grease

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    Step 23: set them out to air dry.

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    Step 24: At this point you might want to take the rotors to an auto parts store where they can machine them if possible.

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    Step 25: If you reuse your machined rotors

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    Step 26: you must also clean them out of the old grease and proceed as follows.

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    Step 27: The new rotors might come wrapped in plastic.

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    Step 28: Turn over the rotor and apply new grease to the front bearing mounting surfaces.

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    Step 29: Take a gob of new bearing grease in your palm and push the grease into the bearings until they are completely packed with new grease.

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    Step 30: Place the packed bearings and other greased parts on a clean surface.

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    Step 31: Place the rotor down on a clean surface with the rear facing up and push the rear bearing into the greased hub.

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    Step 32: Take the greased rear seal and push it into the hub over the rear bearing.

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    Step 33: With a flat piece of wood

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    Step 34: hammer the seal flush with the hub.

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    Step 35: Grease the clean spindle with new grease paying particular attention to the bearing races and grease the recessed area where the rear seal of the rotor seats.

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    Step 36: Pick up the rotor and place it onto the spindle pushing all the way back.

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    Step 37: Tighten the nut with a wrench until snug and spin the rotor.

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    Step 38: Back off one turn of the nut and re-tighten it *only finger tight*.

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    Step 39: Before continuing

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    Step 40: you might want to wipe the rotors clean with brake or parts cleaner because new rotors sometimes have an oil film from manufacturing and packaging.

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    Step 41: Now get your new pads and shims and your brake grease.

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    Step 42: Remove the old shims from the bracket.

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    Step 43: Replace them with the new shims supplied with your new pads.

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    Step 44: Using your brake grease (anti squeal lubricant) coat all the metal to metal contact points of your brake pads.

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    Step 45: Slide/push the rear and front pads onto/over the new shims as shown and press them to the rotor.

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    Step 46: Now open the hood and remove the cap off the brake fluid reservoir (white plastic container on the driver's side.

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    Step 47: With one of the old pads and a clamp

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    Step 48: compress the piston in the caliper until there is enough room to slip it onto the new pads and rotor.

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    Step 49: Clean the caliper and the sliding pins around the mounting screws

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    Step 50: paying particular attention to the sliding pins.

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    Step 51: Push the bushings overt the mounting screws of the caliper to make clearance to mount the caliper back onto the rotor and pads.

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    Step 52: Put the caliper back onto the brake assembly and secure it by tightening the mounting screws back in place with a wrench.

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    Step 53: Make sure all the parts are back on properly and secured.

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    Step 54: Mount the wheels back onto the rotors and secure them with the lug nuts as tight as you can with the lug wrench given the wheels will spin.

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    Step 55: Raise each side with a jack enough to remove the jack stands and lower the truck to the ground.

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    Step 56: Get in the truck and start the engine making sure the transmission is in neutral and the emergency brake is on.

Detailed Guide

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