Hey guys,

I just had my truck in for state inspection and it passed (thank god) but the mechanic told me I should do the rear brakes ASAP. I just did them about a year ago! I did front and rear pads and rotors all at the same time. I went with DBA Gold 4000 drilled and slotted front and rear rotors and EBC Greenstuff pads all the way around. The mechanic said that the fronts looked great but the rear pads were shot. I haven't had a chance to pull the wheels off yet to look for myself but why would the rears go so quickly? The wear is soo excessive that driving habits shouldn't have anything to do with it especially since the fronts are in such good shape. My wife drives it mostly and she's heavier on the gas than the brakes. I'm gonna pick up new pads and put them on this weekend but I want to solve the problem not just put a bandaid on it. Any thoughts?

Ken

 

Do you back up alot?
When you do back up is is while going down hill?

 

No Spike...no crazy backing up stuff. I am clueless.

 

There must be something wrong. I have always changed brakes on my Discos, since new, and have never seen rear go out before front. The ratio is aprox. 4 to 5 (F/R), meaning front would go about 24K miles and rear 30K miles.

 

Which of the Green stuff pads did you install and how many miles on your pads?

 

They were the regular green stuff pads. They were the only ones I could find for the rear by EBC at the time. (I still haven't found the 6000 or 7000 greenstuff ones for the rear of the 03 disco)

I have about 10,000 miles on the brake job. Way too few miles for this to occur. My wife drives this vehicle most often and she says that occasionally when she applies the brakes it feels like the brakes aren't grabbing like they typically do. I never felt this but she's not crazy either...at least not completely crazy. Does it make sense that the fronts aren't engaging all of the time causing the rears to work harder? Do the master cylinders go bad in these things? I read about the guide pins in the calipers...could they be the culprit?

Ken

 

Yes it is possible that your front calipers are not grabbing as much as they should or even not at all.
Start with a full brake fluid flush.
The SLABS unit controls 90% of the driveline stuff on a DII, when it fails you are basically screwed.
If it is clogged with old crude ridden brake fluid it can cause problems.
So...start with the brake fluid flush, that is a good project for you and your wife to do tomorrow, good bonding time for the two of you.
If that does not cure the problem, and only she will know because she was the one to complain about the brakes to begin with, then you probably need new front calipers.
Remember that there is proportional valving inside the SLABS unit that can get clogged.

 

Yeah, sounds like fun for the whole family! How do I go about it? Do I need anything special or is there a special way to go about flushing the system? Any recommendations on fluid?

 

Follow the sticky on the top of the page.
Pretty easy job.
Read the whole sticky.

 

Awesome! The sticky is real thorough...thanks for the write up. I have a Harbour Freight store just a few miles from me. I stop by and see if I can get the one man bleeder thing there. If not I'll enlist the help of the wife, she'll love that. Once again thanks for the help!!!