Rear brake backing plates replaced

rjirvine · June 29, 2006

Well, my 2000 Silverado Z-71 has new backing plates for the rear brakes. It took me awhile, but I am done. If you ever want to do it, here are some tips:

1. Loosen the parking brake adjuster all the way and unhook both left and right cables, that will make taking cable out of the parking brake bracket much easier from the backing plate.

2. When you take the pinion shaft out of the rear diff to pull the axle, for the love of God, put the pin back in. Both my gears came out, and although it wasn't hard to put them back in after a little fidgeting, if I had put the pin back in I would have not had the problem (lesson learned).

3. I put new axle seals in and didn't have a socket the right size to pound them in, so I used a small piece of 2x4 wrapped in a T-shirt. It worked perfectly. The seal puller I had just ripped right through the seal, I had to use a wood chisel and a very light hammer and gently tap around about a third of its periphery to be able to use the seal puller.

4. You can remove the whole caliper including shoes. If you do, and the piston expands, and you have to compress it back again. You have to take the shoes out. You CAN get the inner and outer pads mixed up (ask me how I know) I wound up taking it back off and doing it again.

5. Seriously consider new parking brake shoes when you change the backing plates, I thought mine would be okay, but wound up having to run to the dealer and get new ones. Since I'm in there all the time, the parts guy gave 'em to me for $32 each, spendy yes...but not as much as the $43 he said they go for.

6. When refilling the rear diff, mine took about 2.4 quarts, the book says 2.1 quarts. I figured 2 qts might make it, and it didn't...back to the dealer for 1 Qt of fluid.

I did a test drive and did a few sudden stops to make sure all the brake cleaner etc was off the rotors. I did a few figure eights in the parking lot to see if I could hear any wierd noises due to the fact that I had to put the gears back in the diff. Everything works/sounds okay so far.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask!

ken1mod · June 29, 2006

Sir,

Did you remove the caliper bolts or remove the whole caliper bracket. I'm told the bracket is much easier.

Ken

J45p3r · June 29, 2006

When you filled the rear diff did you fill it to the bottom of the fill hole?

rjirvine · June 29, 2006

My rear diff placard says to fill it from 15mm to 40mm below the filler hole. I filled it to 20mm below. You can use an allen wrench to check it pretty easily.

Yes I did pull the caliper bracket instead of the shoes then the bracket. It's an 18mm bolt.

BrockwayMT · July 23, 2006

your truck must have a different park brake shoe. If mine was $43 I'd replace it but two stores both told me $80 for the park brake shoe for mine.

rjirvine · July 23, 2006

Did they maybe quote you a price for both sides? Which would be 2 sets of 2 pads?

My part numbers were AC Delco 171-834, GM 88982875, the box said Quantity 1, which was 2 pads (which makes sense, because it's for one side). Again it was for a 2000 Silverado ECSB 4x4. I would call the dealer and price them.

rjirvine · July 23, 2006

Crap, I just brain farted...there's not 2 pads, its a horseshoe ring looking part with 2 pads on it, but it's one piece.

etex211 · July 23, 2006

Well, The seal puller I had just ripped right through the seal, I had to use a wood chisel and a very light hammer and gently tap around about a third of its periphery to be able to use the seal puller.

The end of the 10 bolt c-clip axle makes a great tool for removing axle seals. Just catch the groove of the axle behind one side of the seal and the pry the axle against the end of the axle tube. The seal comes right out. You can even remove the axle and the seal all in one motion.

chuck16 · July 23, 2006

How did you know it was time to replace them? I was looking at mine the other day and they are starting to look a little rusty and flaking metal off pretty bad.

Should I rust protect them and paint them to try and prolong the life? Or Start to budget for this job?

Cheers

Evan

rjirvine · July 23, 2006

They were rusting so bad the plate was corroding on to the disk. It was really bad. It happened fast too. Be wary wary the parking brake was about to buckle the plate too.

Frozen001 · July 24, 2006

When I changed mine on my old 2000 Sierra I found out when I rotated the tares and checked the brakes.. I said "man those plates look rusty" and proceeded to push my finger right through them. Depending on where you live they can rust through pretty quick.

Bish · July 24, 2006

When mine rusted, they bubbled and started contacting the rear rotor making noise. I bent it back only to have it occur again so I bit the bullet and replaced them. Really cheasy metal if you ask me. Those things shouldn't rust out that quickly IMO.

chuck16 · July 24, 2006

So What would a guy be looking at, cost wise, to have that done. I'm fairly Mechanically savy but, I don't have all the pullers and stuff like that to do such a job....

Bish · July 25, 2006

The seals were reasonably cheap if I recall. The only specialty too I used was a seal puller. No reason you couldn't pry it out with a screwdriver. At the seam, you just bend the seal in towards the center and pull out with vice-grips.

If you still don't want to do it, I would figure around $100. Took me 40 minutes the first side and 10 minutes the second so they should be able to do it in less than an hour. Backing plates were $35 IIRC.