"The first step: Don't be anxious. Nature controls all. And before long, you'll be no one, nowhere - like Hadrian, like Augustus."
"The second step: Concentrate on what you have to do. Fix your eyes on it. Remind yourself that your task is to be a good human being; remind yourself what nature demands of people."
"Then do it, without hesitation, and speak the truth as you see it."
"But with kindness. With humility. Without hypocrisy." - Marcus Aurelius
The post title is an intentional pun.
I've been dealing with brakes on two different vehicles, in my very limited spare time. The little beat-up Subaru began squealing on the way home after my last night shift. The racket was coming from somewhere on the driver's side, and it was really loud and a bit embarrassing. I had to stop for groceries that morning, and people were staring as I rolled screeching into the parking lot.
I figured I better have a look at it, if only to save myself the humiliation of having everyone staring at the poor old beater. The first thing I did was gather all the stuff I need to maintain a good attitude while working on a rust-bucket: Brake Cleaner and Monster Energy Drink. I purchased a set of spare front brake pads, and pulled off the driver's side front wheel.
Surprisingly everything was OK on the front brake, so now I have to return those brake pads. See the front brake image below - perfect condition!
The rear brake on the driver side was a different story though. Look ma, no brake material attached to the plate!!!
This seemed weird, because I expected the plate to be shiny due to rubbing on the rotor. I finally located the brake pad material, which had separated from the plate, but stayed put in the caliper. This is probably why the car was squealing so much. This thing was loose and screeching against the brake rotor.
I replaced the rear pads and the squealing is now gone. No funny pulling when I put on the brakes either, so I'm calling it a successful repair - for how long remains to be seen. Rust never sleeps here.
Onward...
The wife's car is a Dodge Journey, and it's had a rear-end growling noise for some time now. I wasn't keen on replacing the rear differential, so I tried to ignore it, and put off looking at it. Eventually the problem came to me.
Last time she started it, the ABS, engine, and traction control lights all came on. POS Dodge. Never again. To figure out what was going on, I finally had to break down and buy an OBD2 scan tool. Nifty though!
After I got the most recent software revision loaded onto the device from the manufacturer's website, I plugged it into the car and this was the only message from the diagnosis. Pretty straightforward.
It all made sense now: The growling, the ABS light, the Traction Control light. The rear wheel bearing was going bad, getting loose, and the clearance between the speed sensor and the toothed wheel on the rear axle got too large, so the sensor couldn't read the wheel speed!
I took this one apart too.
I took the speed pickup out of the wheel bearing housing and looked in. The bigger hole below held the speed pickup, and it was full of rust.
It was at this point that I decided that I was in pretty deep, and I'd better figure out how to proceed before taking more things apart. So I watched the video below.
After watching that, I was confident that I had the tools and ability to get the job done and probably not f*ck it up.
Below: Brake assembly and bearing assembly removed from the rear axle support structure.
In the end, I replaced both rear rotors and brake pads, plus the damaged right rear wheel bearing. Just how I wanted to spend a rare day off...
I will say this: The new rotors look better than the old ones.
As far as the work goes, this one doesn't pull when the brakes are applied, and the dash warning lights are out. The growling from the rear end is gone as well, so *crosses fingers* - mission accomplished.
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