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Backing Plates For Rear Brakes

Trav_13

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Trav_13 Senior Enthusiast

Trav_13

Posted
Posted

On my 01 Suburban with 170K miles the guys down at the garage, when doing an oil change, told me I need to redo the brakes on the back of my Suburban...yes I already knew I did the backing plates are rusted out and falling off, however it still stops decent but the pads are also getting thin. Anyway I realized that in order to install the new backing plates, you have to remove the axle shafts as the backing plate sits behind them. With that being said I'm not sure what to do....I got quoted about $1,000 for the New Backing Plates, New Calipers, New Rotors, New Pads, and all the Parts and the Labor that go with doing this job. My question is, since I know how to do the regular brakes, but I don't know how to take the axle apart, is it really worth spending the money on to have the backing plates? I can do the brakes myself without the backing plates for realatively cheap...I guess my question is this...How important are those backing plates? Again this is a 170K mile truck, which I hate to drop that kinda money into, and the axle/G80 Locker work great now, I'm basically afraid of taking them apart and messing with something that works just fine, only to maybe have it break in the near future as it has a pretty high amount of miles on it already, and I don't know if the rear end has ever been serviced anyway? What do you guys think??

Gone Again Enthusiast

Gone Again

Posted
Posted
On my 01 Suburban with 170K miles the guys down at the garage, when doing an oil change, told me I need to redo the brakes on the back of my Suburban...yes I already knew I did the backing plates are rusted out and falling off, however it still stops decent but the pads are also getting thin. Anyway I realized that in order to install the new backing plates, you have to remove the axle shafts as the backing plate sits behind them. With that being said I'm not sure what to do....I got quoted about $1,000 for the New Backing Plates, New Calipers, New Rotors, New Pads, and all the Parts and the Labor that go with doing this job. My question is, since I know how to do the regular brakes, but I don't know how to take the axle apart, is it really worth spending the money on to have the backing plates? I can do the brakes myself without the backing plates for realatively cheap...I guess my question is this...How important are those backing plates? Again this is a 170K mile truck, which I hate to drop that kinda money into, and the axle/G80 Locker work great now, I'm basically afraid of taking them apart and messing with something that works just fine, only to maybe have it break in the near future as it has a pretty high amount of miles on it already, and I don't know if the rear end has ever been serviced anyway? What do you guys think??

Depending on ring gear size, Dorman makes a two piece backing plate to eliminate removing the axles. If it is a 1500 series and has a 8.625 ring gear, which it probably does, the part # is 924-213 and available through Carquest. However, many auto parts stores sell Dorman products and I'm sure there are other sources.

MS3DALE Senior Enthusiast

MS3DALE

Posted
Posted

Yeah,If you can go with 2-piece plates go with those!

Vortec-Z71 Enthusiast

Vortec-Z71

Posted
Posted
Guys, this is GREAT!! I'm going to call Napa and see if they have them...

 

Thanks

Travis

 

 

I just bought two on Ebay the other day from summit racing as mine are rotted out. Rock Auto also has good a good price.

zedbear Enthusiast

zedbear

Posted
Posted

I recently replaced mine with the one piece plates but I had to pull the shafts anyways to replace seeping axle seals. Make sure it's not wet around the seals before deciding to go with the two piece plates. Otherwise, I definetly would have used the two piece units, lol.

nickvrebel Senior Enthusiast

nickvrebel

Posted
Posted

that's interesting, never heard of the two piece, but then again around here we don't usually don't have to replace backing plates (no snow/ salt)

 

to pull the axles is a relatively easy job, just remove brakes, pull diff. cover, center bolt, slide axle in a hair and remove C clip and axle will pull right out, but as stated above - the axle seals would need replacing after you disturbed them at that age most likely, and that's adding another chore to do while you are in there. By the time you finished you would have a mostly rebuilt rear axle lol

wages999 Enthusiast

wages999

Posted
Posted

My backing plates have been gone (rusted off) for three years and I haven't bothered to replace them. The brakes have lasted just as long without the backing plates as they did with them.

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