Thursday, July 21, 2011

Farm Girl to Car Girl

Yippee! I now know how to put on front brakes. It takes a whole ten minutes and the hardest part is getting the tire off!!! I am so excited no more $45 fees for me!
Once again my wonderful brother came to the rescue. My Hubby can build a house from the ground up but forget the car. I think it's just a personal choice not to touch the car. Anyway. I called my brother. My brakes are grinding I tell him. He says front brakes are no problem. Hmmm... I want to learn how to do this myself. then I won't have to pay someone or beg brotherdear to help. I bought the brakes which was no easy thing. I had to know if my back brakes were drums or disks and if I had ABS and what size my tires were. Once that was figured out the brakes were $26. Brother came over and talked me through the first wheel.
Loosen the lug nuts
Put the jack under the frame and pump it up
remove lug nuts, put them in a pocket or the brake box
take off the tire
Hunk of metal attached to the rotor(big circle disk)is called a brake caliber
remove upper and lower bolts on the back of the caliber
put them in a safe place too
pull caliber off and slide out brake pads
using one of the pads, you have to push the piston back into place. It looks like nesting cups. place the old brake against the piston and using a c- clamp, press the piston back in. Remove the C- clamp and the old brake.
slide the new brake pads into place, put the caliber back in place, replace the bolts, make sure they are tight.
put the tire back on and tighten the lug nuts, lower the jack and tighten the lug nuts more.
Repeat process on other side of the car.
Make sure you start the car and pump the brakes until you feel resistence. That is pushing the brake fliud back into the piston. Check the brake fliud under the hood to make sure you have enough and didn't loose too much during the process.
I think I have the process down.
So I know how to fix a flat, change my oil and replace front brakes. I don't want to learn how to fix anything else right now because I can't afford to have anything else break!

But I am WOMAN

2 comments:

  1. Woo Hoo! Woman Power! Doesn't it make you feel good?

    Thanks fro your suggestion! It worked!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're amazing! Great job on the brakes! Ready to do mine?... ;)

    ReplyDelete